CHAPTER 40: The Space Between Words

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Chapter 40: The Space Between Words

Daisy

They walked in silence, the fading sun spilling gold across the path. The campus gardens were empty now, everyone gone back to their rooms, their parties, their lives.

But she needed this silence. Not the kind that hid pain, but the kind that made room for honesty.

"She was there," Daisy said quietly.

Calvin nodded. "I saw."

"She didn't say anything."

"She didn't need to," he replied.

Daisy stopped walking, eyes fixed on a bed of tulips swaying in the breeze.

"She didn't scare me," she said. "Not really. But I hated how she made me feel—like I wasn't supposed to be there."

"You were," he said firmly. "You belonged there more than she ever could."

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Calvin

She looked at him then. Really looked.

And he saw something in her eyes—soft and scared and maybe a little tired.

So he didn't speak.

He just held out his hand.

For a second, she hesitated.

Then she took it.

Fingers slid into his—quiet, unsure, but real.

They didn't smile. They didn't kiss. They just walked—together.

And that, more than anything, felt like trust.

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