Chapter 3 :

Gabriel arrived at the library late that evening, as he often did. He preferred the quiet hours when most of the students had already left. He made his way to the poetry section, his fingers brushing along the familiar spine of the book.

When he opened it and saw her response, he exhaled slowly.

"Have you ever had to leave a piece of your heart behind?"

Yes.

The answer came so easily, it almost hurt.

His mind drifted to memories he had buried—of love lost, of mistakes made, of a heart that had once been whole. He tightened his grip on the pen and wrote beneath her words:

"Yes. And sometimes, I still look for it in places it doesn’t exist anymore."

His fingers lingered on the page before he added:

"What about you, Blue? Who did you leave behind?"

---

Juliette wasn’t sure why, but reading Ink’s words the next day made her feel like someone had reached into her chest and pressed a finger against an old wound.

She hadn’t expected him to ask about her past.

Her thoughts drifted to Ethan. Her best friend. The boy she had loved for years without him ever realizing it.

Ethan had fallen in love with someone else, and Juliette had watched, silently, as he had given his heart away to another girl. She had told herself it didn’t matter. That she had moved on.

But had she?

With a steadying breath, she picked up her pen.

"I left my heart with a boy who never knew he held it."

She swallowed, then added:

"And sometimes, I wonder if he ever would have wanted it."

Closing the book, she leaned her head against the bookshelf, exhaling slowly.

This was no longer just a simple exchange of words.

This was something else entirely.

And it terrified her.

Juliette didn’t go to the library the next day.

Or the day after that.

She told herself she was busy—assignments, lectures, errands—but deep down, she knew the truth. She was afraid.

Afraid of what she had confessed. Afraid of what Ink might say in return.

Because somehow, his words had begun to feel real. Too real. And she wasn’t sure she was ready for that.

---

Gabriel waited.

For the first time since their strange, poetic exchange had begun, Blue hadn’t responded.

Every evening, he found himself in the library, pulling the book from the shelf with quiet anticipation, only to find the last note exactly where he had left it.

"I left my heart with a boy who never knew he held it. And sometimes, I wonder if he ever would have wanted it."

The words had stayed with him. Haunted him.

And he had wanted—no, needed—to tell her something in return.

But she wasn’t there.

Had he pushed too far?

That thought sat heavy on his chest as he sat at a café near campus, absentmindedly stirring his coffee. Across from him, his best friend, Elliot, raised an eyebrow.

"You’ve been distracted lately," Elliot noted.

Gabriel sighed. "Just thinking."

"About what?"

Gabriel hesitated. How could he explain it? That he was waiting on an answer from a girl he had never met? That the highlight of his days had become words exchanged in the margins of a poetry book?

"Someone," he finally admitted.

Elliot smirked. "A girl?"

Gabriel huffed a small laugh. "Something like that."

Elliot leaned forward, interested now. "And? What’s the problem?"

"She stopped writing back."

The smirk faded from Elliot’s face. "Oof. Maybe she lost interest?"

Gabriel shook his head. "No. I don’t think so."

Because the way she had written that last note—it had been raw, vulnerable. It hadn’t felt like someone who was about to walk away. It had felt like someone who was still holding on.

And for reasons he couldn’t fully explain, he wanted her to keep holding on.

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