Watching From the Shadows

Kael stood in the alley, hidden by shadows,his cigarette burning slow between his fingers.He wasn't supposed to be here.But he was.

His eyes narrowed as he watched them.

Alea, laughing.Rayzen, smiling like he had everything Kael ever wanted.

They didn't see him.

Of course they didn't.

They were too lost in their own world.

Kael's jaw tightened.His fingers curled into fists.

Alea—the girl he could never touch,the girl who always looked at him with walls in her eyes,was now looking at him—his enemy—like she finally felt free.

It burned.

More than he wanted to admit.

She was never yours.A voice inside him whispered.But Kael ignored it.

He had fought for her.Protected her from the sidelines.Waited.

And now, Rayzen… Rayzen of all people…had her.

He took a long drag from his cigarette,the smoke biting down his throat like the anger in his chest.

"This isn't over," he muttered to himself,eyes still locked on them.

They drove away into the night—Alea holding Rayzen tight.

And Kael, left in the dark,felt something shift inside him.

Not jealousy.Not heartbreak.

But a cold, growing rage.

To be continued…