The envelope felt too heavy in her hands for something so small.
Elena stood in front of the student finance office, the air thick with tension. Inside the thin paper was a receipt—one she hadn't expected to see for another five years, maybe longer.
Her student loan balance: Paid in full.
She blinked, her hands trembling as she unfolded the paper again. She had asked about it three times already. Thought maybe it was a mistake. Or a system glitch.
But the office lady smiled brightly. "You should be grateful. Someone out there must really care about your future."
Elena nodded slowly and walked out.
But her heart dropped like a stone.
Who?
---
She didn't tell anyone. Not Liam. Not the girls in her class. Not even her reflection.
Instead, she went quiet.
Numb.
The name attached to the transaction was blank. Just initials.
But she already knew. Somewhere deep in her bones.
L.R.
Her breath had hitched the first time she saw it. A soft ache pulsed at the base of her throat. She tried not to cry, but the tears wouldn't listen.
Luca Romano.
---
The next few days, she searched.
Quietly.
Desperately.
She walked past the old alley near campus three times.
She stayed a little longer at the café where they first locked eyes.
She sat at the back of the library, by the window, where she used to feel his presence—like the weight of an invisible gaze.
But it was empty now.
No footsteps.
No notes.
No eyes.
Just silence.
---
Luca stood in a parking garage one block away, watching her from the monitor of a hidden camera.
Her expression—lost, searching, tired—made his chest tighten.
He hadn't wanted her to know.
But he also wanted her to know everything.
The war inside him grew worse every day.
He had paid her debt so she would be free. Free of stress. Free of worry. Free of him.
But maybe that had been crueler than staying.
---
That night, she sat at the edge of her bed, hugging her knees.
"I didn't even get to say thank you," she whispered into the dark.
There was no reply.
Only the rain tapping gently on the window again.
She hated the rain now. It reminded her of someone who had been everywhere and nowhere all at once.
You saved me. And now you're gone.