"I don't believe you'd just change your mind out of nowhere, and definitely not this completely!"
Sasha's shrill voice echoed across the courtyard.
"That's a really bizarre way to look at it. She refuses to accept his feelings, yet she expects him to just endlessly pour his heart out and keep trying day after day?"
"Ask yourself honestly, is that fair? Sterling is a human being with his own emotions. Trying to melt a block of ice is exhausting, and giving up when you're tired isn't called 'changing your mind'—it's called making the right choice."
Elena delivered her verbal takedown with agonizing slowness before turning her sights back to Lydia. "What do you think, school belle?"
Lydia stood quietly in her uniform, the spring breeze catching her long hair and giving her a fragile, almost heartbreaking beauty.
"Whatever is going on between you and your boyfriend is none of my business, and I have no obligation to answer you."
From start to finish, her attitude was glacial, as if she truly couldn't care less.
Sasha was frantic. "Lydia, this is not the time to be stubborn..."
"Sasha, stop embarrassing me."
Lydia's eyelashes fluttered slightly, a hint of desperation bleeding into her voice. "Sterling has a girlfriend now. I just want to keep my distance from him."
Inside the car, Sterling listened to her words, a heavy, suffocating weight pressing down on his chest.
"Lydia, are you crying?"
Sasha's sudden gasp made him snap his head up.
Lydia was looking down, hiding her face from him.
He only heard her quiet denial, laced with the faintest hint of a sniffle. "No. I'm not crying."
She was definitely crying!
Sterling let out a soft sigh, ready to end the charade once and for all.
"Babe, didn't we agree you'd follow my lead?"

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