Kiera’s POV
The footsteps faded into the distance.
With them went the last shred of attention—the final piece of dignity she had left.
Kiera stayed crouched on the hard ground, clutching her knees so tightly her fingers ached.
The world around her felt muted, like someone had wrapped her in a heavy, suffocating blanket.
Why?
Why had it ended like this?
She wasn’t supposed to lose.
She wasn’t supposed to be humiliated.
Her chest twisted painfully.
She tried to swallow the storm of emotions churning inside her—the shame, the anger, the deep sense of betrayal she felt toward everyone... and most of all, toward herself.
She had truly believed that if she worked hard enough, screamed loudly enough, someone would see her.
He would see her.
But Leo hadn’t looked at her with disappointment.
Or even frustration.
He had looked at her like she was nothing.
"Do you really think you’re even worth hating?"
The words echoed through her mind, sharper, crueler each time they repeated.
The same line.
The exact same words she had flung at that loser earlier that day.
She hadn’t imagined Leo would throw them back at her...
Not so effortlessly.
Not so devastatingly.
Kiera wiped her face roughly with her sleeve, but fresh tears kept spilling, blurring her vision no matter how hard she scrubbed.
She wasn’t even worth hating.
All that clinging, all that chasing, all that desperate need to prove herself—it hadn’t mattered.
Not to him.
Not to anyone.
She had been a joke.
A nuisance.
Pathetic.
The sobs threatened to break free again, but she bit the inside of her cheek until she tasted blood.
No.
She wouldn’t let it end like this.
Not here.
Shaking, she pushed herself to her feet.
Her legs barely held her weight, and her face was hot and swollen from crying, but she stood.
Kiera wiped her eyes one last time and stared down the empty path Leo had disappeared down.
Her fists curled tightly at her sides.
If she was nothing, then she would rebuild herself from nothing.
Next time, she wouldn’t cry.
Next time, she wouldn’t beg for scraps of attention.
Next time, she would be someone nobody could ignore.
Even if it meant tearing herself apart and piecing herself back together again.
Without looking back, Kiera staggered away into the night—carrying nothing but her shattered pride and the stubborn ember of something new burning deep within her heart.
She didn’t know it yet, but this was only the beginning.
From now on, she would feel exactly what she had made others feel.
And it would be far more brutal.
...But for tonight, all she wanted was to lock herself away and cry—somewhere far from anyone else’s eyes.
---
The Next Morning
Embarrassment.
That was the overwhelming emotion Kiera felt when she woke up the next day, her pillow still damp from yesterday’s tears.
Being rejected by Leo?
That, she could handle.
It could happen to anyone.
What really stung was the memory of the girl she had been yesterday—the pathetic mess who had sobbed in front of everyone.
She hated that version of herself.
A flicker of resentment sparked when she remembered Leo’s cold, indifferent stare—but she quickly pushed it down.
To Leo, yesterday’s incident probably meant nothing.
Just another moment.
A minor annoyance, already forgotten.
She had admired him alone, one-sidedly.
She had no right to expect anything more.
What truly mortified her, though, was not Leo.
It was the fact that she had broken down in front of him.
In front of that loser.
Rin Evans.
Just thinking about it made her stomach churn.
If Leo’s indifference had been a clean cut, then Rin’s silent witnessing of her breakdown felt like someone rubbing salt right into the wound.
The loser she had spent days looking down on—he had seen her at her absolute worst.
And now, no matter how hard she tried, Kiera couldn’t get the image out of her head: her, collapsed and sobbing on the ground; him, standing there quietly.
Watching.
Judging.
No matter what happened from now on, Rin Evans had carved himself into her memory in the worst possible way.
And she hated it.
She hated him.
She hated herself even more.
What stung even worse was the sparring match from the day before.
"Was he hiding his strength all along...?" she muttered under her breath, leaning against the cool wall outside the classroom.
Because when she thought back carefully, Rin didn’t seem like someone who could barely lift 30-kilo dumbbells, like she’d assumed.
During the spar, he felt different—steadier, sharper.
Not at all like the loser she had mocked so easily.
Kiera had tried to overwhelm him quickly, thinking it would be over in minutes.
But no matter how fast or hard she attacked, he didn’t go down.
He didn’t even seem fazed.
Her whip had missed him completely.
And then—
Before she knew it, Rin was standing right in front of her, smiling.
—"Don’t worry. I’ll teach you a lesson you won’t forget."
Those words. That look in his eyes.
Right after, he stabbed her cleanly with a practice dagger—
and she had panicked, striking back desperately.
That wild, desperate strike had luckily landed, earning her a draw instead of an outright loss.
But deep down, she knew.
He could have dodged it if he wanted to.
He let her land that hit.
Why?
Why would he go easy on her after everything?
And then, there was the scene later that evening—the one she wanted so badly to forget but couldn’t.
After Leo ripped her apart like she was nothing but a speck of dust, she thought Rin Evans would be next.
That he would laugh at her. Mock her. Rub it in.
But he didn’t.
He didn’t say a word.
He didn’t humiliate her further.
He didn’t even offer pity.
His gaze of course was Judging her like she was committed some kind of crime.
Still he didn’t say anything to her, after all he had gotten perfect opportunity to do so.
He just... looked at her quietly—and left.
At the time, she was grateful for it, even if she couldn’t admit it.
She had wanted to be left alone, to sink into her misery without witnesses.
Maybe Rin understood that somehow.
Now that she thought about it, maybe he wasn’t such a bad person after all.
No matter how much her pride screamed otherwise, she had to acknowledge it.
She had planned to tease him just to impress Leo, but Rin had withstood it far better than she expected, and in the end, she was the one who went too far.
She sighed heavily, steeling herself.
’Fine. I’ll just apologize to him today. Clean slate.’
And after that, she’d find a different way to get Leo’s attention.
Something smarter. Something that wouldn’t backfire so badly.
With that thought, Kiera opened the classroom door and strode inside.
She headed straight to the usual spot—right to Rin’s desk—and sat on it with a casual smirk, tossing her bag onto the floor.
"Hey guys~ I’m here!"
But something was off.
Instead of the usual cheerful greetings, her friends just glanced at her—then looked away.
Not just her friends.
The whole class.
There was this strange, heavy silence in the air, thick with something she couldn’t quite place at first.
Contempt.
They were looking at her like she was dirt under their shoes.
Kiera’s stomach twisted.
She was sharp enough to notice these things, even when others tried to hide it.
The sideways glances.
The slight sneers.
The whispered mutters she could almost hear but not quite make out.
Her throat felt dry.
’What... the hell is this?’
She laughed awkwardly, flipping her hair over her shoulder like she didn’t notice.
But inside, panic gnawed at her.
Something was wrong.
Very, very wrong.