Watching You Burn In Regret novel Chapter 99

Swain stared blankly into space, utterly lost.

What now? He honestly had no idea what to do.

If they were in the right, he could have marched up to Seren and explained everything with a clear conscience. After all, he knew better than anyone that Seren always listened to reason—logic was the one thing that worked with her, time and again.

But this time, Swain knew he was in the wrong. The more he thought about everything he'd done over the years, the more ashamed he felt.

He'd wanted to make it up to Seren somehow, hoping that would ease the guilt gnawing at his heart. But Seren had torn away the last shred of pretense between them, and now Swain couldn't even bring himself to face her, let alone figure out how.

Slater was anxious enough already, but seeing Swain fall silent only made his nerves worse.

"Come on, man, you and Seren have always been the closest in the family. If anyone can talk her into coming back, it's you," Slater pleaded. "She's always liked you best, ever since we were kids."

Slater pressed on, desperate: "Remember back when you were studying for final exams? Seren stayed up night after night folding those little paper stars for you, eyes red from exhaustion. Just because she read in some book that if you folded 999 stars, every wish would come true for the person you gave them to."

Swain said nothing.

Slater's words cut deep—each memory a blade, digging right into Swain's heart. It felt like a relentless weight rolling over him, crushing and raw.

He couldn't deny it: Seren had always loved her big brother most.

"Seren did all that for you, and you just tossed it aside," Slater snapped, his words coming out sharper now. "You left those paper stars lying around, never caring where they ended up. She walked miles to buy you that cake, and you took one bite, complained it was cold, and threw it in the trash."

"You never appreciated a single thing she did for you. Are you blind? Couldn't you see it?"

Swain's guilt deepened as long as Slater spoke gently, making him feel he'd truly failed as a brother and set a bad example. But once Slater started blaming everything on him, Swain bristled.

"What, like Seren never folded stars for you? Never bought you cake?" he shot back. "And did you ever appreciate her kindness?"

He glared at Slater. "Remember that year you came home and said one of your classmates got a scarf their sister knitted for them, and how nice it looked? Just because you said that, Seren spent almost two weeks learning to knit so she could make you one too."