"Do you have to sit that close?" Ethan asked, dramatically narrowing his eyes as he walked into the living room and caught Leo and Alina sharing a blanket on the couch.
Leo raised a brow. "It's a big couch. Your jealousy is showing."
Alina snorted. "He's just mad we're the cute ones now."
Ethan flopped onto the armchair with a groan. "Ugh. I miss when your only crush was on chocolate cake and bad fantasy novels."
"Still love cake," Alina grinned. "But now I've got Leo, too."
Leo smirked, wrapping an arm around her. "Sorry, man. She's got excellent taste."
Ethan pretended to gag. "Okay, okay—can we skip to the part where I pretend to approve but secretly plan to interrogate you under a heat lamp?"
But his tone softened soon after. The teasing came easy—it was how Ethan protected the people he loved. But as he watched them laugh, something tugged at him. A memory. A scar.
Later that night, after Leo had gone back to his dorm and the apartment had settled into silence, Ethan found Alina in the kitchen. She was staring out the window, hands wrapped around a mug of tea she hadn't sipped from.
"You okay?" he asked gently.
She didn't answer right away.
Then: "Do you ever think about that night?"
He didn't need her to say which night.
He sat beside her, suddenly seventeen again, blood on his shirt, holding her tiny hand as they ran barefoot through the woods, heart pounding with the horror of what they'd left behind.
Their house. The screams. The gunshot. The shadow of the man who broke in, intent on taking everything—including Alina's innocence.
"I think about it every day," Ethan said softly.
She turned to him, eyes damp. "They saved me. Mom and Dad. They—" Her voice cracked. "They died protecting me."
"And I would've too," Ethan said, his voice firm. "You don't know how close that was. If I'd gotten there a second later…"
"But you did get there," she whispered.
He nodded. "We survived, Alina. Because of them. Because we fought. And no matter how far we go, no matter how much changes… that night doesn't get to define you."
She leaned her head on his shoulder, quiet tears slipping down her cheek.
"I just want them to see me now," she whispered. "To know I'm okay."
Ethan swallowed. "They do. I feel it. Every day."
A long silence passed. Then a tiny, bittersweet smile tugged at her lips.
"You're still my hero, you know."
He looked down at her, eyes shining. "You've always been mine."