NOVEL NEXT Chapter 41: Broken Strings...
(Don't jump into conclusions pls, read to the end)
Meanwhile, Selene watched as Ethan calmly walked back to his position, surrounded by the congratulatory cheers of their classmates.
She didn't hesitate.
Moving closer with quick, deliberate steps, she wrapped her arms lightly around his shoulders, pulling herself close enough for their bodies to almost touch.
Then, in a soft, sweet voice tinged with just the right amount of sensuality, she whispered into his ear:
"You're amazing..."
It was supposed to be perfect.
The culmination of weeks of carefully laid groundwork.
A casual, affectionate gesture that would push their relationship one step closer to what she had planned.
But instead of the response she anticipated—the flustered smile, the bashful laugh, the fond reply— There was only silence.
A heavy, suffocating silence.
Slowly, Ethan turned his head to look at her.
Their faces were close, so close that if either of them leaned forward even slightly, their lips would have brushed. A normal girl would've had her heart pounding with giddy anticipation in such a moment.
Selene's heart skipped.
But not from anticipation.
It was fear.
Because the eyes that met hers... They weren't the warm, bashful eyes of the Ethan she had been toying with.
They were cold.
Detached.
Like a winter storm — beautiful, but merciless.
Her breath caught in her throat. A trickle of cold sweat slid down her forehead, a cold shiver running down her spine.
Her slender arm, still resting lightly on his shoulders, suddenly felt numb, bloodless.
'There's something wrong.'
'I did something wrong.'
The thought screamed through her mind, piercing through the haze of confusion.
Rigidly, mechanically, she pulled her arms back, retracting her touch like she had been burned.
"I-I'm sorry," she stammered, voice barely a whisper.
Ethan didn't say a word. He simply turned away, offering her nothing but chilling indifference.
The gap between them — once something Selene had believed she could cross with just a bit more effort — now felt like an abyss.
Selene stood frozen for a moment, humiliation and panic warring violently inside her. Her fingers twitched uselessly at her sides.
'I was too rushful... I shouldn't have done that.'
'I just messed up days of hard work.'
Her vision blurred slightly as her emotions spiraled.
Unbidden, her gaze drifted sideways... locking onto the source of her disaster.
Ryker.
Standing there, grinning sheepishly as classmates clapped him on the back and laughed around him.
Selene's teeth clenched so hard her jaw ached.
'Damn that Ryker!'
Hatred seared through her like wildfire.
'If not for him... If not for that humiliating match... If not for the sight of my body being grappled and manhandled like a common plaything in front of everyone—
—None of this would have happened.'
'I was close.'
'So close.'
Before, she still had a chance.
She was close to Ethan before, though still not close enough to make this move, there was a chance then.
'If only Ethan hadn't changed all of a sudden.'
Everything would have been decided.
Ethan would have been hers. His future, his strength, his influence — tied irrevocably to her Evernight family.
But now...
After her body had been sullied and messed up by Ryker in public, everything was all messed up. Now she had an even lower chance of getting intimately close with Ethan.
It was all ashes.
All because she hadn't acted faster. All because Ryker had ruined everything.
She had seen the shift in Ethan yesterday, but she had been too hesitant, too cautious. She hadn't pressed harder, thinking there was still time.
But she was wrong.
The Ethan standing before her now was a different person. The guy who had once looked at her with hunger and fascination now regarded her like a stranger. Like something irrelevant.
Selene bit her lower lip hard enough to draw blood.
The humiliation was unbearable. The fear — paralyzing. The realization — crushing.
Her moves didn't begin a few days ago but more than two weeks ago, and 'Ethan' then had been really naive and interested in her, after all, she was publicly recognized as the school belle.
Knowing that he was interested in her, Selene wasn't pressured. She kept giving Ethan mixed signals, to make his interest and desire for her grow. If he could even grow beyond lust and fall in love with her, that would be the best scenario.
She knew that with his lustful desires for her, once she let him have his way—though the chance was low—he might discard her after having a taste. But as long as she kept him close while still refusing to give in, sooner or later her plans would come to fruition with her foolproof plan, where she planned to make the big move: kissing him at the Awakening Ceremony.
That was a bold move. Gareth Drakethorne would be attending the ceremony, but it was a good plan nevertheless.
After all, after that, their relationship would be clear. Then she'd just have to direct the pressure that would go to him, and he'd fall in the right direction.
Any mishap would turn out bad for her Evernight family—but Selene was confident.
But this foolproof plan went down the drain when she noticed that Ethan had changed just yesterday when she met him.
She noticed this change quickly; this current Ethan wasn't interested in her...
She panicked. She didn't know how, why, or what changed him. Her plans were all messed up.
With his change, she was forced to propose a date to him. Ethan shrugged it off. She was forced to move it to a later date, which was after the Awakening Ceremony. She wasn't even sure Ethan would accept it, so she twisted it into a favor he owed her so that she'll use his own emotions against him... (Reference: Chapter 20, 49th paragraph)
Little did she know that Ethan cared little about her childish plot
When Ryker used his grappling technique against an unawakened beast, she hadn't thought much about his technique or him either.
He was just an orphan with no backing—how could he possibly make it past the first round? This was her thought, but she was greatly mistaken...