Emma froze.

Her bright blue eyes darted to the empty space over my shoulder, frantically calculating if she could slip past me.

She couldn't. I had positioned myself perfectly in the center of the narrow, granite hallway.

"I... I don't know what you're talking about, Jin," Emma stammered. Her voice was painfully thin, lacking every single ounce of its usual warmth. She clutched her heavy bookbag higher up on her chest, using it as a physical shield.

"Why were you avoiding us?" I asked, keeping my tone perfectly even.

"You ran from Kyle this morning, and you've been hiding in the library since you got back to campus."

"I'm not avoiding anyone," she replied quickly, her words tumbling out in a rushed, panicked breath. "I've just been... busy. With coursework."

I didn't move, just raised a single eyebrow, letting the silence stretch out between us. Staring right into her eyes. It was a deliberate, silent pressure.

A clear, unspoken message: I know you're lying.

Her knuckles turned white against the leather of her bag. She clenched her free hand into a violently trembling fist by her side, her chest heaving as the forced, fragile mask of indifference cracked into raw frustration.

"What is your problem?!"

Her voice suddenly rising, echoing harshly off the cold stone walls.

"Why are you doing this? Why are you following me?!"

I didn't rise to the bait. Just simply looked at her, dropping my voice into a quieter, more grounded register.

"Because you're part of our group... and if it were me, or Kyle, or Sira standing alone in a deserted hallway looking like our world was ending... what would you have done?"

Emma went entirely rigid.

The defensive anger instantly drained out of her face.

She looked down at the dusty stone floorboards, her teeth sinking so deeply into her lower lip that I thought she might actually draw blood. Her shoulders slumped. I could see the exact moment the fight left her, replaced entirely by the sheer terror Marcus had instilled in her.

She had to push me away.

"I was wrong," Emma choked out, her voice trembling violently.

She took a ragged breath, forcibly hardening her expression as she looked back up at me. She

"I... I shouldn't have been hanging around you guys in the first place," she forced the words out, though her eyes were shining with unshed tears.

"You, Tobias, Sira... you're all nobles. You're rich aristocrats with powerful families and backing. I'm just a commoner. I don't belong at your table."

My jaw tightened slightly, though I kept my face blank.

"Staying with you is just wasting my time!" Emma continued, her voice growing louder, more frantic, as she tried to make me believe the lie.

"I have my own life, Jin! I have my own responsibilities! You don't understand anything about how the real world works for people like me!"

She took a step back, her chest heaving as the tears finally spilled over her eyelashes.

"Just leave me alone!" she shouted, the sheer desperation in her voice cracking violently through the empty corridor.

I just stared at her.

The harsh, desperate echoes of her shout faded into the damp, heavy silence of the stone corridor.

Emma stood there, completely hollowed out, her chest rising and falling in ragged, uneven jerks. A single tear tracked through the dust on her cheek.

I took a slow, measured step toward her, instinctively raising a hand to bridge the gap.

Emma violently flinched. She took a frantic step backward, her boots scraping harshly against the floorboards.

She pulled her bag even tighter against her chest, curling inward.

"No," she whispered, her voice cracking.

"Just don't. Please... leave me alone."

I stopped. My hand hovered in the empty air between us for a fraction of a second before I slowly lowered it back to my side.

Pushing her right now wouldn't help. Trying to comfort her or argue with her logic would only make her feel more cornered. She was trapped in a cage, and rattling the bars from the outside was only going to hurt her.

My expression smoothed over, the quiet concern hardening into a flat, unreadable mask.

"So be it," I said quietly.

Then I simply turned my back on her and walked away.

I kept my pace steady and even, the soles of my boots clicking rhythmically against the stone as I headed back toward the main campus.

I didn't look over my shoulder just listened to the faint, shuddering sound of her exhaling until I rounded the corner and completely disappeared from her sight.

The moment I was out of the corridor, the stoic mask shattered.

My jaw clenched so hard a dull ache radiated up my temples. My cyan interface flared to life behind my retinas, reacting instantly to the sudden, cold spike of adrenaline flooding my system.

If I fought Marcus in the courtyard or challenged him to a duel, Emma's family would pay the price. I couldn't just cut the weed at the surface. I had to rip out the roots.

I bypassed the bustling student pathways, taking the shaded cloisters directly toward the Academy's grand library. It was a massive, multi-level sanctuary of towering bookshelves and quiet study alcoves. I didn't go to the magical theory section or the combat manuals.

And headed straight for the civil archives.

****

{Third Person POV}

The rhythmic click of Jin's boots against the stone floor slowly faded into nothing.

Emma stood frozen in the damp, shadowy corridor, her back pressed hard against the cold granite wall.

The moment the absolute silence of the abandoned wing settled over her, the last of her forced bravado completely collapsed.

Her knees buckled slightly, and she slid down the wall. She buried her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking violently as silent, agonizing sobs ripped through her chest. She aggressively scrubbed at her wet cheeks with the rough sleeves of her uniform, but the tears just kept coming.

"I'm sorry, Jin," Emma whispered to the empty, dusty hallway, her voice cracking into a broken, miserable rasp. "I am really sorry."

She stayed there in the shadows for a long time, crying until her chest physically ached and there were simply no tears left to shed.

Then taking a deep, shuddering breath, she finally forced herself to stand up. She wiped her eyes one last time, smoothed down the front of her jacket, and began the long, heavy walk back to the first-year dormitories.

Once inside the safety of her small, solitary room, Emma marched straight to the washbasin. She splashed cold water onto her face, desperately trying to reduce the red, puffy swelling around her blue eyes.

She then rigorously brushed out her chestnut hair, fixing her appearance until she looked like the perfect, diligent student once more and walked over to her small wooden desk.

Sitting right in the center was a fresh stack of thick parchment and a list of advanced runic formulas...

Emma stared at the papers. The scene in the corridor violently replayed in her head.

She saw the quiet concern in Jin's dark eyes when he blocked her path, and then the chilling, absolute finality in his voice when he simply said, So be it.

Her hands curled into tight, trembling fists at her sides, her fingernails biting painfully into her palms.

She hated Marcus. She hated the Syndicate. But most of all, she hated herself for what she had just done.

Grabbing the stack of papers and shoving them into her leather bag, Emma hurried out the door.

She was a bit late arriving at the academic wing. Through the glass pane of the classroom door, she could see Professor Vance was already inside, charting a complex spell diagram on the blackboard.

Emma pushed the door open as quietly as possible, slipping inside with a murmured apology. As she hurried toward her usual isolated seat near the front door, her blue eyes instinctively swept the room.

She braced herself to see Kyle's hurt expression or Jin's cold stare.

But as she scanned the middle rows, her breath hitched.

Kyle was there, looking unusually subdued, but the seat next to him was completely empty.

Jin wasn't there.

Emma sank into her wooden chair, a sudden, heavy wave of guilt crashing down on her chest. She pulled her textbook out, her hands shaking slightly.

Did I say too much? she thought.

Was I too harsh? Did I make him skip class? Jin never skips class. She squeezed her eyes shut, giving her head a tiny, imperceptible shake.

No. It's for the best, she rationalized, forcefully building the mental walls back up.

If he hates me, he stays away. If he stays away, Marcus's family won't target him or his friends. It's the only way to keep them safe.

Five minutes later, the heavy brass handle of the classroom door clicked.

The door swung open, and Jin stepped over the threshold.

"Apologies for the delay, Professor," Jin said, his voice perfectly even, completely devoid of the panic or breathlessness of a student running late. "I was held up."

Professor Vance paused his lecture, giving a curt nod. "Take your seat, Mr. Raith. We are on chapter six."

Emma's heart hammered against her ribs. She looked up from her desk, her eyes tracking him as he walked down the aisle. She braced herself for a glare, a frown, or even just a flicker of lingering disappointment.

But...

Jin walked right past her desk.

He didn't turn his head, didn't slow his pace. He didn't even cast a single, fleeting glance in her direction.

It was as if she were completely invisible, just another wooden desk in a room full of strangers. His expression was a mask of absolute, chilling indifference as he walked up the steps and took his seat next to Kyle.

Emma sat frozen in her chair.

She slowly lowered her head, her hands dropping beneath the desk to tightly grip the edge of the wood as she stared blankly at the text in front of her. She had gotten exactly what she wanted.

She had successfully pushed him away.

Emma squeezed her eyes shut, a fresh, agonizing knot forming in her throat.

Then why does it hurt so much?