PopularNovelChapter 321 The young man was silent for a long tbefore suddenly speaking. "You wantto take responsibility for you?" Mila took a deep breath.
Right now, she honestly just wanted to find a brick and hurl it at Lysander, consequences be damned.
Calm down. Breathe.
She knew she'd never win in a fight against him. And if she actually managed to hurt him, she'd probably end up in jail-and she was about to graduate. Her future was more important than this.
Gradually, Mila forced herself to regain her composure.
"No," she said, voice steady at last. "I want you to stay away from me." She met his eyes, refusing to flinch. "I have no idea what's going on in your head, but I stopped expecting anything from you a long tago. I don't think you can givewhat I want-and honestly, I don't want it anymore." "I don't want anything to do with you. I don't want to see you-ever again." She thought that was clear enough. Mila turned to leave, but Lysander's low, chilly voice stopped her in her tracks.
"So, Forrest can give you what you want?" Mila's brow furrowed.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtShe and Forrest had known each other since they were kids. Their relationship was close, but not romantic. Still, if having someone else in her life meant Lysander would finally let her go, then fine.
She nodded. "Yes. He can. Being with him makesfeel... lighter than I ever have." Lysander stood in the shadows, silent.
Mila let out a slow breath, as if finally exhaling all the heaviness that had been weighing on her chest. Her footsteps felt lighter as she walked away.
Behind her, the young man remained rooted to the spot.
After a long while, Leonard-who had been waiting nearby-approached and placed a steadying hand on Lysander's arm. In that instant, the man's posture collapsed, his striking face catching the light of a streetlamp, pale as paper and slick with cold sweat.
A dark sedan pulled up.
Leonard helped him into the car, then spoke in a clipped tone to the driver. "Take us to the old man's estate." The hospital was out of the question.
The car slid smoothly into the darkness.
In the back seat, Lysander lay half-reclined, eyelids heavy. Suddenly, his frail voice broke the silence. "Do it. I'll give her one last chance." Leonard's eyes flickered, but his expression didn't change. "Understood." The sun had dipped below the horizon.
A black SUV sat parked on a desolate stretch of highway, surrounded by snow-capped mountains tinged gold and crimson by the sunset.
The wilderness was vast and untamed.
Mila woke with a pounding headache, clutching her woolen hat as she tried to steady herself. It took her a moment to realize she was alone in the car-Archie was nowhere to be seen.
She peered through the windows, but the landscape was empty.
Hurrying outside in search of him, she was greeted by a cheerful, boyish shout from above.
"Hey, you're up!" She looked up to see Archie perched on the roof of the SUV, scanning the distant, glowing peaks with a pair of binoculars.
Relief flooded her. "Why'd we stop?"
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmArchie hopped down, swinging the binoculars carelessly from one hand. "Well, I did the math. If we keep m driving, even with good luck, we won't even reach Luminara until two or three in the morning. The roads are dangerous at night out here. This spot's perfect for camping, so I figured, why not spend the night?" Luminara was their last stop before reaching Solaris City-a notorious stretch of road, and the most perilous one.
Mila understood, and didn't argue. Together, they found a patch of flat ground, pitched their tent, and used the electric cooker to make a simple meal-something warm and filling to keep their energy up in the biting cold. By the tthey finished eating, night had truly fallen, and the temperature had plummeted below freezing.
It was far too cold.
After sdeliberation, they decided against sleeping in the tent. Instead, they folded down the back seats, rolled out their sleeping bags inside the car, and settled in for the night.
There was nothing but wilderness for miles around-not a soul in sight.
An eerie, almost cosmic silence settled over them, and for a moment Mila felt a strange sense of abandonment, as if the whole world had left them behind. Sleep wouldn't ceasily.
Archie, on the other hand, was out like a light, already snoring gently in his sleeping bag.
Mila hugged the oxygen tank to her chest, took a careful breath, and let the soft hum of the car's speakers fill the emptiness. The loneliness faded, replaced by a fragile sense of peace, and soon she was shivering herself to sleep.
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