Chapter 71 Numbers don't lie

Chapter 71 Numbers don't lie

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Elowen did not sleep.
Not really.
She lay awake long after Kieron’s bedroom door clicked shut, staring at the cracked patch of ceiling above her mattress while the landlord’s notice sat folded on the floor beside her bed like some kind of silent execution order.
Every time she closed her eyes, numbers appeared.
The figures marched, jogged and cat walked relentlessly through her mind, stacking and multiplying until they became something monstrous.
By three in the morning, pretending that sleep would come was laughable.
So she gave up.
She sat cross-legged on the floor of her tiny bedroom, laptop open, calculator beside her, receipts and notices spread across the faded rug like evidence from a crime scene.
The weak glow of her desk lamp cast long shadows across the room while her fingers shook as she punched numbers into the calculator again and again and again.
As though repetition might somehow change reality.. It never did.
Every outcome ended the same.
The café job had been barely enough to keep things afloat, without it, they were bleeding money faster than she could compensate.
Lucian’s  training payments bought her time but it was still not enough.
If she cut groceries to absolute minimum, If she delayed her textbook payment, if she skipped replacing the worn soles on her training shoes,if she lied to Kieron about the utility bill, if she stretched every dollar until it screamed.. they could survive maybe three weeks.
Four, if nothing else went wrong amd that realization hit with suffocating force.
Three weeks.. That was all.
She stared down at the columns of figures until the numbers blurred and her chest began to ache.. it was a slow, crushing pressure building behind her ribs and suddenly she couldn’t breathe.
Her hands flew to her mouth to stifle the sound that rose in her throat.
A broken, jagged inhale then another followed by another until… Tears spilled before she could stop them.
Elowen folded herself forward over the mess of papers, pressing trembling fingers against her forehead as her body shook.
She had spent years surviving.. Years learning how to hold everything together with sheer willpower and stubbornness, years refusing to break.
And yet here she was, crying over arithmetic.
Over bills.. Over ordinary numbers on paper.
The sheer absurdity of it made her laugh through the tears because these numbers did not care about effort.. They did not care about sacrifice.
They did not care how hard she worked or how many hours she survived on or how many jobs she balanced.
Numbers only told the truth and as it stood now, the truth was brutal.. She was losing and she had no idea how to win this particular fight.
Eventually, exhaustion dragged her into shallow, fractured sleep.
When morning came, she hid every trace of the breakdown.. The papers went back into her bag, the notices folded neatly into her hidden compartments and her swollen eyes were masked with cold water and sheer determination.
By the time Kieron emerged from his room, she was already dressed.
Already composed.. Already pretending.
“Morning,” he forcefully muttered.
Elowen forced a smile. “Morning.”
He frowned faintly. “You look terrible.”
“Wow. Good morning to you too.”
That earned the ghost of a smirk and the sight loosened something painfully tight in her chest.
He looked tired and a bit pale but he looked far better than he had at the hospital.. That mattered and she would carry every burden herself if it meant he got to heal.
“You heading to campus?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
He nodded.
Neither mentioned the growing tension that had lived between them these past weeks, neither mentioned money.
Or Lucian.. Or all the fractures threatening to split their lives apart.
And for that, Elowen was grateful because if Kieron mistakenly asked the wrong question, she might finally crack.
By the time she reached the gym that afternoon, exhaustion clung to her like damp fabric.
Her limbs felt heavy, her thoughts were a bit sluggish even the familiar scent of leather and sweat did little to sharpen her focus.
Lucian was already there.
He stood near the ring, hands wrapped, pale hair damp from an earlier warm-up and when he saw her, his expression shifted almost immediately.
Concern flickered across his face. “You look really exhausted today.”
Elowen forced her usual cool expression into place. “I’m touched by your concern.”
His eyes narrowed. “That wasn’t an answer.”
“I didn’t realize I was being interrogated.”
“You weren’t.” The quiet firmness in his voice unsettled her because Lucian noticed too much these days and right now, she couldn’t afford his attention.. Couldn’t afford his questions.
“Warm-up,” she said sharply, dropping her bag near the bench.
His gaze lingered for another moment then he obeyed but she could still feel his eyes on her throughout the session and it made her skin itch so  she focused harder.. Called sharper instructions, pushed faster drills..
Anything to avoid thinking, anything to avoid the crushing mathematics waiting inside her bag.
Lucian followed every command flawlessly but midway through pad work, he suddenly stopped.
Elowen frowned. “What?”
“You’re distracted.”
“I’m not.”
“You missed my foot placement three times.”
Heat flared in her chest. “Congratulations. Your observational skills continue to astound my good man.”
His expression remained infuriatingly calm. “Elowen.”
“I said I’m fine.”
Lucian held her gaze and somehow that made it worse because he looked at her the same way she had once looked at him.
As though he was seeing straight through the performance and not believing a word.
“No, you’re not.”
The quiet certainty in his voice sent irritation sparking beneath her skin.
“You don’t know what I am.”
His jaw tightened. “No, but I know what pretending looks like.”
The words struck too close, making Elowen’s pulse kick hard and for one reckless second, she wanted to tell him everything.
About the café.. The rent increase.. The bills.. The terrifying math that had kept her awake all night.
She wanted to unload all of it and to stop carrying it alone but the thought itself felt dangerous because needing Lucian was not an option.
So she did what she always did.. She shut him out.
“Focus on your training Langford.”
His eyes darkened slightly but he stepped back and somehow, that restraint hurt worse than if he had argued.
The rest of practice passed in tense silence and by the end, Elowen’s nerves were stretched dangerously thin.
She stripped off her gloves too quickly, stuffing them into her bag with unnecessary force, papers shifted inside but she didn’t notice.
Just like how she didn’t notice the folded notices slipping free and didn’t notice them fluttering soundlessly to the gym floor as she slung the bag over her shoulder.
She was already moving toward the exit, already desperate to leave before Lucian could ask another question.
But behind her, Lucian bent to gather his wraps.
Then froze as he saw a white envelope lay near his feet, then another beside it and a third.
His brow furrowed but he slowly picked them up.. The first was a utility shutoff warning, the second was  an overdue tuition payment notice.
The third.. His chest tightened.
RENT ADJUSTMENT NOTICE — EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY
The amount printed there made his stomach drop and for several long seconds, he simply stared as the pieces slowly clicked together with sickening precision.
Her exhaustion.. The distraction.. The brittle edge in her voice.. The desperation she had hidden so carefully.
She was drowning and she had said nothing.
His jaw clenched and across the room, Elowen reached the door.. Still unaware and still carrying herself with that rigid, stubborn pride she wore like armor.
Quietly, Lucian folded the notices then lipped them carefully into his pocket and said nothing at all.