Chapter 47

The soft orange glow blurred Julian's sharp features a bit, and his eyes—those charming, almost mischievous eyes—just quietly locked on Anna. It was honestly their first real sit-down, just chatting without any tension. Also the first time she actually opened up to him about her past, and it was so real, so full of life. She was just like the girl in the report but... not exactly. More vivid. More her. As Anna kept talking, she suddenly caught on—wait, it'd been mostly her doing the talking. Julian was barely adding a word. She paused, her eyes flicking up to meet his. "Getting bored, huh? I talk way too much—once I get going, it's hard to stop. If you've got stuff to do, don't mind me! Go ahead." Julian just shook his head. "I'm not busy. Keep going. Didn't you say there was a second time you got sick?" Ah, that second cold... Anna frowned slightly, thinking hard. After a moment, she replied hesitantly, "That was the summer after senior year. I was kind of out of it... probably burnt