a thread unseen

Chapter 3: A Thread Unseen

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The following week, the air turned sharper. Autumn was settling in—firmly now. The wind carried the scent of woodsmoke and drying leaves, and the world around the university shifted into softer hues of copper and gold. It was beautiful. But to Aurelia, it also felt like the universe was shedding something it no longer needed.

She walked slower these days, unconsciously listening for footsteps behind her or glancing toward certain corners, expecting to see someone. Hoping to see someone. But she didn’t admit that, even to herself.

Caelum hadn't approached her again after that conversation in the courtyard. Not directly, anyway. But she felt him in the air sometimes—like the shadow of a thought that refused to dissolve. His presence had cracked something open in her, something tender and unspoken. She had always been good at guarding herself, at stitching her silence into armor. But with him, her silence had become transparent.

And then there was Lucien.

He’d always hovered in the periphery of her life, like a familiar figure in a half-remembered dream. They had shared classes, exchanged occasional words, and once or twice walked back from lectures when the timing aligned. But nothing had ever grown between them—until now, when he started appearing more often. Too often.

She first encountered him properly that week outside the university café, where she'd gone to escape the sudden storm of memories brought on by a particular passage in her reading. She sat at the farthest corner, one hand wrapped around a lukewarm cappuccino, the other idly flipping through a novel she wasn’t really reading.

She looked up when a shadow fell over the table. Lucien.

“Mind if I join?” he asked, already pulling the chair back.

Aurelia blinked, caught off guard. “Sure,” she said automatically, then internally winced.

He sat, resting his elbows on the table like they’d done this a hundred times. His dark eyes studied her—not intensely, but with a kind of ease that felt deliberate. As if he'd already decided the outcome of this encounter before it began.

“You’ve been avoiding me,” he said without preamble.

Aurelia stiffened. “I’ve been… keeping to myself.”

Lucien tilted his head, a smirk playing at his lips. “Is that what you call it?”

She gave him a guarded look. “I’ve had a lot on my mind.”

“Caelum, for instance?” he said, voice deceptively light.

Her eyes narrowed. “Excuse me?”

Lucien leaned back in his chair, folding his arms. “It’s written all over you. The way your thoughts drift. The way your eyes flicker when you think no one’s watching.”

“I didn’t know you were watching,” she replied, a cool edge entering her tone.

He smiled, slow and measured. “People like us always watch. It's how we survive.”

People like us. She bristled at the suggestion.

“I’m nothing like you, Lucien.”

“No?” he said, amusement flickering in his gaze. “Then tell me—why do you look at him like you’ve met before, in a life you don’t remember? And why do you look at me like you wish you didn’t?”

Aurelia’s hands clenched under the table. She didn’t answer.

Lucien leaned closer, his voice dropping into something lower, silkier. “You can feel it too, can’t you? That pull. Between the three of us. Threads don’t form for no reason. Some are destiny. Some are... karma.”

She flinched. “Don’t talk to me about fate.”

His eyes glittered. “Fate doesn’t need your permission to move.”

He stood abruptly, his presence still lingering like the echo of a challenge. “I’ll be around,” he said, his tone almost kind. “And when everything begins to unravel—don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

With that, he turned and walked away, disappearing into the ebb of students across the courtyard.

Aurelia sat frozen, heart thudding. She hadn’t realized how tightly she was holding her breath until her vision blurred. What disturbed her wasn’t just what Lucien said—but how right he felt saying it.

And yet, even in that unsettled moment, her phone vibrated softly in her pocket.

She fumbled for it, needing something—anything—to cut through the shadow he’d left behind.

A message from Caelum.

You’ve been on my mind all day. Just wanted you to know that.

Her breath hitched. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard, unsure of what to say back. And then, she simply typed:

You too.

She didn’t hit send right away. She stared at the words like they held more than they should.

Finally, with a trembling thumb, she pressed the screen.

The message delivered.

And something shifted in her chest.

For the first time in a very long time, she felt suspended between two echoes—one from a darkness she knew too well… and one from a light she didn’t yet understand.

Maybe it was foolish. Maybe it was inevitable.

But something inside her whispered that this wasn’t just a story of feelings. This was a collision of lives long intertwined—of wounds, threads, and promises older than memory.

She didn’t know if she was ready. But she did know one thing.

Something had begun.

And there would be no going back.

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