The café finally closed for the night, leaving only the lingering scent of coffee and freshly baked pastries in the air. Elias and Lila remained behind to finish cleaning, their movements quieter than before. The usual playful banter between them was absent, replaced by something more uncertain.

  Lila had been avoiding his gaze ever since their conversation. She wiped down the counter with more effort than necessary, her brows slightly furrowed, her lips pressed together in a way that suggested she was thinking too hard about something.

  Elias, meanwhile, continued to process the situation.

  Jealousy.

  Lila had admitted—somewhat reluctantly—that seeing him receive attention had bothered her. She had called it annoying, but there was something more to it.

  Was it because she disliked seeing others interested in him?

  Or was it because… she wanted that attention from him instead?

  The thought lingered in his mind, yet he had no clear answer.

  As he wiped down the last of the tables, he glanced toward her. “Lila.”

  She tensed slightly but didn’t look up. “What?”

  Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

  “You are still behaving differently.”

  She groaned. “Elias.”

  “It is true,” he said. “You are avoiding eye contact.”

  “I am not!” she snapped, only to immediately look down at the cloth in her hands.

  He tilted his head. “You just did.”

  Lila let out a defeated sigh. “You’re so frustrating sometimes.”

  “That is not my intention,” he said plainly.

  She finally turned toward him, crossing her arms. “Look, Elias. I just—” She paused, biting her lip. “Never mind.”

  “You frequently tell me to ‘never mind,’” he observed.

  “Because you always ask questions about things I don’t want to talk about!”

  “Then why not want to talk about them?”

  Lila groaned. “You really don’t get it, do you?”

  “I do not understand emotions as you do,” Elias admitted. “But I wish to. That is why I ask.”

  Lila’s expression softened, her annoyance giving way to something else—something quieter.

  She sighed, rubbing her temples. “You don’t realize what you do, Elias. You don’t see how people look at you. How they react to you. You’re just… you. And somehow, that makes people want to be around you. It’s unfair.”

  Elias considered this. “Would you prefer if people did not react to me in such a way?”

  Lila hesitated. “…No. That’s not it.”

  “Then what is it?”

  She took a deep breath, gripping the edge of the counter as if bracing herself. “I guess… I just don’t like seeing other girls act like that around you.”

  “Why?”

  Lila looked at him. The answer was in her eyes, unspoken yet there. But instead of saying it aloud, she just shook her head, smiling in a tired, almost fond way.

  “You really are hopeless, huh?”

  Elias frowned. “I am not without hope. I am seeking understanding.”

  Lila laughed. “And that is what makes you impossible.”

  She reached over and poked his forehead lightly, as if trying to imprint something onto him.

  “One day, Elias, you’ll get it,” she murmured. “And when you do, I’ll be right here to say, ‘I told you so.’”

  He didn’t know what she meant.

  But for some reason, the weight of her words lingered in his chest long after they left the café that night.