Chapter 79 Almost Normal
Luna’s POV
THE NEXT DAY
The next morning felt… wrong.
Not in the terrifying, world-ending way I had gotten used to. it was just… quiet.
Too quiet.
I stood in front of my locker, staring at the dull metal surface like it might suddenly crack open and release something horrible. My fingers hovered over the handle, but I didn’t move.
Because for the first time in a long time…Nothing was happening. I mean, there was no whispers, shadows were stretching where they shouldn’t and there was no strange ,pull in my chest.
Just the low hum of students talking, lockers slamming, and the faint smell of cafeteria food drifting through the halls.
It was normal. It should’ve been comforting. Instead, it made my skin itch.
“Are you going to open it,” a familiar voice said behind me, “or just stare it into submission?”
I didn’t need to turn around. My chest tightened anyway. “I’m thinking,” I replied.
A soft breath of amusement. “Dangerous habit.”
I finally opened the locker…more for something to do than anything else…and tried to ignore the way my pulse picked up.
He stepped beside me. Close. Too close.
It was Kai. I could feel him without even looking. The heat of him, the presence and the… him-ness of him.
It felt alive and still here. That alone made my throat tighten.
“You okay?” he asked, quieter now.
I nodded quickly. “Yeah.”
Lie. He didn’t call me out on it. But he didn’t believe it either.
I could feel that.
I grabbed a book I didn’t need and shut the locker harder than necessary.
“You?” I asked, finally turning to face him.
And…. God.
Seeing him like this was normal. Standing there in a slightly wrinkled shirt, hair a mess like he didn’t care enough to fix it, those icy blue eyes watching me like he was trying to read something I hadn’t said out loud…
It hit differently now.
Because I knew how close I’d come to losing him. How close he’d come.
“I’m still here,” he said, like he knew exactly what I was thinking.
My chest tightened. “I can see that.”
“Yeah, well,” he shrugged slightly, “figured I should confirm.”
I let out a small breath that almost turned into a laugh.
Silence settled between us. Not awkward. Just… heavy. Full of everything we weren’t saying, everything that had almost happened, and everything that did happen. My eyes dropped for a second to his hand and the same hand I’d held while he fought something that tried to take him away from me.
The same hand that had almost….
I swallowed. “You scared me,” I said quietly.
The words slipped out before I could stop them. He didn’t joke this time and he didn’t deflect. His expression softened slightly. “I know.”
“That wasn’t funny,” I added, even though he hadn’t tried to make it a joke.
“I wasn’t laughing.”
I looked back up at him. Really looked this time and I saw it. The exhaustion. The lingering tension. The faint shadow of something he wasn’t saying.
“You okay?” I asked again, softer now.
A pause followed and then… “…yeah.”
I stepped closer.Not thinking. Not planning. Just… moving.
“You don’t have to pretend,” I said quietly.
His jaw tightened slightly. “I’m not pretending.”
“You are.”
Our eyes locked ans for a moment, it felt like the hallway disappeared and like it was just us. Again. Like last night.
“You almost lost yourself,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper.
“I didn’t.” He replied.
“You almost did.”
“…but I didn’t.”
Something in my chest twisted. “Yeah,” I said. “Because you fought it.”
His gaze didn’t leave mine. “I didn’t do that alone.”
The air shifted subtle. But real and my heartbeat sped up. Neither of us moved. But somehow….We were closer. “I meant what I said,” he added quietly.
“What part?” I aksee.
“That I trustasked. Hetrust, " asked
My breath caught. Don’t react. Don’t…. Too late. Because something in my chest melted, it was soft, dangerous and real. “You shouldn’t,” I said, even though I didn’t mean it.
“I know.”
“Then why do you?”
Another pause. Longer this time. Then his eyes dropped briefly, to my lips and then back up. And that…. That did something to me. Something I wasn’t ready for. Something I didn’t want to stop.
“Because when everything went wrong,” he said slowly, “you didn’t run.”
“I told you I wouldn’t.” I replied.,
“Most people say that.” He muttered.
“I’m not most people.” I shot back.
“I know.”
Silence again. But this time…It was different. Thicker, warmer and charged.
My heart was racing now, but not from fear and not from danger. But from him. And the worst part? I didn’t want it to stop.
“Luna,” he said softly.
“Yeah?”
He hesitated. Just slightly. Like he was deciding something and then…
He stepped closer. Close enough that I had to tilt my head up to keep eye contact. Close enough that I could feel his breath. “This might be a bad idea,” he said quietly.
My lips parted slightly. “Probably.” Neither of us moved away. That should’ve been the moment we stopped. The moment we laughed it off. The moment we chose safe. But we didn’t. “Tell me to stop,” he said.
I didn’t, because i couldn’t and i didn’t want to. So instead….
I whispered, “Don’t.”
That was all it took. Then his hand lifted slowly…carefully…like he was giving me time to pull back. I didn’t. Then his fingers brushed against my cheek. Warm, steady and real.
My breath caught. And then… He kissed me soft. At first. Like he wasn’t sure or like he was waiting for me to push him away.
But i didn’t.
My hand found his shirt, gripping lightly as I leaned into it without even realizing. The kiss deepened slightly. Still slow and still careful. But no longer uncertain. And something inside me just….Unraveled, it was all the fear, all the tension and all the almosts. Gone. Just this, just him and it was just us.
When we finally pulled apart, it wasn’t sudden.
It was reluctant.
Like neither of us wanted to break it…but we had to breathe. My forehead rested lightly against his and my heart was still racing. “So…” he murmured.
I let out a soft breath.
“…that happened.” He continued.
“Yeah.” I replied.
Silence followed and then….
“Still think it’s a bad idea?” he asked.
I smiled slightly. “Definitely.”
“Good.” He said.
I pulled back just enough to look at him. “But I don’t regret it.”
Something in his expression shifted and softened. “Yeah,” he said quietly.
“Me neither.”.And for the first time in a long time…. The quiet didn’t feel wrong.
It felt like the beginning of something.