Chapter 108 Too Close To Ignore
The clinic hallway was too quiet after the chaos outside.
Like nothing life-altering had just happened a few rooms away.
Lenora stood near the vending machine, staring at nothing in particular.
Kylen and Lilibeth had gone to talk to Coach again.
She stayed behind.
She didn’t even fully know why.
Maybe because she couldn’t walk into that room yet.
Not after hearing “blood on the ice.”
Not after realizing how easily it could’ve been worse.
Footsteps approached behind her.
She didn’t turn immediately.
She already knew.
“Still standing here?” the hockey boy’s voice came.
Lenora exhaled lightly.
“You’re supposed to be resting.”
“I did enough resting,” he said.
Now she turned.
He looked fine.
Too fine for someone who’d been injured earlier.
But his walk was slightly careful. Controlled.
Like he was ignoring pain on purpose.
“You shouldn’t be up,” she said.
“I could say the same about you,” he replied.
Silence settled between them.
Not awkward.
Just… charged.
Lenora shifted her weight slightly.
“Everyone thinks it was me.”
“I know.”
That was fast.
Too fast.
She frowned slightly.
“You’re not arguing with them?”
He stepped closer.
“Would it change anything?”
That stopped her.
Because the answer was no.
Not right now.
He leaned lightly against the wall beside her.
Close enough that she had to consciously not look at him too long.
“You scared?” he asked quietly.
Lenora let out a short breath.
“No.”
A pause.
“Annoyed,” she added.
That made him smirk slightly.
“Good.”
She shot him a look.
“That’s your response?”
“It means you’re still fighting it,” he said.
Lenora rolled her eyes.
“You’re impossible.”
“Yet you’re still here.”
That landed differently.
She didn’t answer immediately.
Because he wasn’t wrong.
She could’ve left.
Gone home.
Avoided this entire moment.
But she didn’t.
Instead she stayed.
That realization made her more aware of how close they were standing.
The hallway empty.
The noise distant.
Just them.
“You’re staring again,” he murmured.
“I’m not.”
He tilted his head slightly.
“You are.”
Lenora exhaled slowly.
“Do you always point things out that don’t need to be said?”
“Yes.”
She shook her head slightly.
“You’re exhausting.”
“Yet here you are.”
Silence again.
But different this time.
Heavier.
ed briefly to her lips.
Just honest.
Lenora noticed immediately.
Of course she did.
“You’re doing that thing again,” she said quietly.
“What thing?”
“That look.”
He didn’t deny it.
Just stepped slightly closer.
Not touching.
But closer than before.
“You don’t move away,” he said.
That shouldn’t have mattered.
But it did.
Her throat tightened slightly.
“I should.”
“But you don’t.”
The air between them shifted again.
Smaller.
Sharper.
A distant door opened somewhere down the hall.
Neither of them moved.
Lenora should’ve stepped back.
Should’ve created space.
Should’ve reset everything.
Instead she looked up at him.
And for a second—
Neither of them spoke.
Neither of them moved.
Then his hand lifted slightly.
Not grabbing her.
Just resting near her side against the wall.
Caging her in the smallest way without forcing it.
“You’re making this hard,” she whispered.
“I know,” he said quietly.
That honesty again.
Too simple.
Too direct.
Lenora swallowed once.
“You got injured today.”
“Barely.”
“That’s not the point.”
His gaze stayed on her.
“Then what is?”
Silence.
Because that question had too many answers.
Her voice dropped slightly.
“You shouldn’t be standing here like nothing happened.”
He leaned in just a fraction closer.
“I’m not thinking about that right now.”
Lenora’s breath caught slightly.
“Then what are you thinking about?”
A pause.
Long enough to matter.
“You,” he said simply.
That shouldn’t have been allowed.
Lenora looked away immediately.
Not because she wanted to.
Because she had to.
“That’s not helping,” she muttered.
“It’s honest.”
She exhaled slowly.
“You’re going to make everything worse.”
“Everything is already worse.”
That was true.
Annoyingly true.
Footsteps echoed again.
Closer this time.
Lenora stepped back quickly.
So did he.
Just enough.
Just in time.
Kylen appeared at the corner.
Stopped immediately.
Looked between them.
“…What did I walk into?”
Lilibeth arrived right after him.
Eyes narrowing instantly.
“Oh no.”
Lenora straightened.
“Nothing happened.”
Lilibeth pointed at the space between them.
“That is a LIE.”
The hockey boy grabbed his hoodie from the chair nearby.
“Coach said I can leave soon,” he said casually.
Kylen didn’t take his eyes off him.
“You were standing very close to her.”
“Observant,” he replied.
Kylen’s expression tightened.
“I don’t like this dynamic.”
“You’re not supposed to,” the hockey boy said.
Lilibeth groaned.
“I need this entire situation to calm down or I’m moving schools.”
Lenora crossed her arms.
“You’re all dramatic.”
Kylen pointed at her.
“You were literally leaning into him five minutes ago.”
“I was not.”
Lilibeth nodded.
“You kind of were.”
Silence.
Lenora glared at both of them.
The hockey boy adjusted his hoodie.
Barely hiding a faint smile.
And somehow—
That irritated her more than anything else.
Later that evening, Lenora finally went home.
But the house didn’t feel like home anymore.
It felt like another waiting room.
Her grandmother was in the living room again.
Waiting.
Of course.
Lenora didn’t even sit down.
“I’m not stopping this,” she said immediately.
Her grandmother looked up slowly.
“Stopping what?”
Lenora held her gaze.
“Whatever this connection is between our families.”
Silence.
Then the grandmother spoke.
Calm.
Too calm.
“You’re already inside it,” she said.
Lenora stepped closer.
“Then I want the truth. All of it.”
The older woman studied her for a moment.
Then said quietly,
“Then you need to understand what your mother chose.”
And for the first time—
Lenora didn’t feel like she was chasing the truth anymore.
She felt like it was finally about to catch up to her.