CHAPTER THREE: Green is Always Quiet

Elara had always thought jealousy was loud.

She imagined it as shouting, accusations, slammed doors. But when it arrived, it came quietly—slipping into moments that were supposed to feel simple and turning them heavy.

The river was calm that evening, the water reflecting the grey sky like a secret it refused to share. Elara sat on her usual flat rock, notebook resting on her knees, pen unmoving. She kept glancing up the path, her chest tightening every time footsteps echoed.

Kai arrived late, hands shoved into his pockets, breath visible in the cool air.

“Sorry,” he said. “Got held up at the shop.”

“It’s fine,” she replied, though she’d been waiting nearly half an hour.

They sat side by side, close but not touching. The river murmured between them, filling the silence neither of them knew how to break.

“You still come here a lot?” Kai asked.

“When I need to think,” Elara said. “Or when I don’t want to.”

He smiled faintly. “Figures.”

They talked about small things at first—school, teachers who hadn’t changed, how Riverbend still felt frozen in time. But underneath it all was tension, buzzing and unspoken.

“You’ve got people here,” Kai said suddenly. “Friends. A life.”

“So do you,” she replied. “You just left it.”

He flinched.

Across town, Jonah was pacing his room.

He hadn’t planned to feel this way. Jealousy had crept in without asking, settling in his chest like a bruise. Elara had always been there—laughing at his jokes, sharing her notes, walking home with him. Now there was someone else in those spaces.

Someone from before.

The next day at school, Jonah noticed everything.

The way Elara checked her phone between classes.

The way she smiled at messages she didn’t explain.

The way Kai stood across the street after school, pretending not to wait.

“Who’s that?” Jonah asked casually, though his voice was tight.

Elara followed his gaze. “Kai. He’s… an old friend.”

Jonah nodded slowly. “Looks like more than that.”

She opened her mouth to deny it, then closed it again. The truth felt too messy to explain.

By Friday, the rumors had teeth.

People whispered in hallways. Friends asked questions that weren’t really questions. Someone joked that Elara was “collecting boys.” She laughed it off, but the words followed her home.

That evening, she found Kai by the bookshop, pacing.

“People are talking,” he said, not looking at her.

“They always do,” she replied.

“They say you’re with someone else.”

Her heart sank. “Jonah?”

Kai’s jaw tightened. “So it’s true.”

“It’s not like that,” she said quickly. “He’s just—”

“Here,” Kai cut in. “Available.”

The word stung.

“You don’t get to be angry,” Elara said, heat rising in her voice. “You left. You came back and expected everything to stay the same.”

“I didn’t expect anything,” Kai snapped. “I just didn’t expect to feel like this.”

They stared at each other, breaths uneven.

At the other end of town, Jonah watched rain streak down his window, phone clenched in his hand. He wanted to text Elara, ask where she was, ask who she was with—but fear held him back.

Fear of the answer.

That night, Elara wrote until her hand hurt. About choice. About timing. About how love didn’t arrive politely—it collided.

She realized something terrifying then.

No matter what she did, someone would get hurt.

And this time, it might be her.

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***