"They're never coming back."

Those words echoed again and again in Lance's ears, freezing him to the spot. He felt his blood run cold.

Lance hurriedly yanked out his phone. His hand was trembling so hard that he almost dropped it. He frantically scrolled through his contacts to find the name "Enna".

The moment he found it, he pressed the call button. But all he heard was a cold, mechanical female voice saying, "The number you have dialed is no longer in service."

He dialed once, twice, thrice… After over a dozen calls, the results remained the same.

He opened WhatsApp. Below Sienna's familiar profile picture, only a single gray tick appeared beside his messages. After trying Snapchat and sending her text messages, Lance realized that she had blocked every way he could use to reach her.

"No, this is impossible… She wouldn't…" Lance muttered to himself, his eyes unfocused. 

It was a

The registration stand in the faculty of arts was packed with people. Lance squeezed inside and scanned every face one by one, yet he never found the familiar one he longed to see.

He then went to the dorm building they had once agreed on and asked the dorm manager, who told him that there was no "Sienna Coleman" on the lodging list at all.

It stunned Lance. A stronger wave of unease surged through him, and it was far more intense than before.

Pulling out his phone, he tried calling Sienna again. The result was the same—she had blocked him. He tried her parents' numbers, but those, too, would not connect.

"How… How can this be?" Lance muttered, his voice trembling.

Could it be that she truly had given up on him and left? But what had he done wrong?

Closing his eyes, he painfully replayed the recent events.

In the alleyway, Sienna was cornered by thugs and called him 33 times. But 

Sienna found Lance utterly ridiculous and unreasonable. Completely disillusioned, she no longer wished to say a single word and turned to leave, but Lance grabbed her wrist.

"What are you doing? I will never apologize!" Sienna spat as she turned around. Her voice was trembling uncontrollably, but her eyes remained resolute.

Lance stared into her unrepentant eyes with a look of pained righteousness. "Enna, you're already 18. When you commit a crime, you must learn to take responsibility and accept the consequences. Otherwise, you won't go far in the future. So… I called the police."

His words struck her like a bolt of lightning, leaving her frozen in place.

Before long, the police arrived. After hearing about the situation, and with Lance as the eyewitness, they detained Sienna for intentional harm to another person and sentenced her to three days in custody.

The small, dark cell triggered her claustrophobia. Her breathing grew rapid, and cold sweat streamed down her back. She felt as if the walls themselves were closing in.

The combined torment on both her body and mind pushed her to the edge of collapse.

Three days later, pale and walking unsteadily, she finally stepped out of the police station.

Lance was waiting outside. Seeing her wan and frail condition, he felt his heart go out to her. "You're finally out, Enna. I've been thinking these past few days that maybe my approach was wrong, but I only…"

Sienna wrenched her hand free and stared at him with eyes devoid of emotion, as if she were staring at a stranger.

Feeling bad from her hollow stare, Lance tried to explain himself. "I know the conditions inside were awful, and you suffered. I just wanted you to know what you've done wrong…"

Sienna was tired of listening to him. She didn't feel like saying anything. So, she silently got into a cab and gave her home address. Lance hurried in after her, apologizing and trying to make it up to her nonstop.

When the car reached the villa, they found a moving truck parked outside. Workers were carrying out packed boxes.

Lance seemed taken aback for a moment before following Sienna out of the car. "Enna, are your parents immigrating this soon?"

"Yes," Sienna replied.

Realization dawned on him. He quickly smiled at her approaching parents. "Safe travels, Mr. and Mrs. Coleman. I'll take Enna to visit you in Eglurn when I have time."

Bobby and Fiona exchanged surprised glances. "Lance, aren't you—"

Before they could finish, Sienna cut them off and dismissed Lance coldly. "I'm home. You can leave now. I want to rest."

Assuming she was still angry over the arrest, Lance sighed and said, "Alright, rest well. The day after tomorrow is the first day of college. I'll pick you up, and we'll go together."

Sienna gave no reply and turned to walk into the villa.

Watching her retreating back, a faint unease rose in his chest. But he reassured himself that once she cooled down, everything would return to normal. He believed that she couldn't live without him.

When the door closed, Fiona immediately asked, "Enna, didn't you tell Lance that you're leaving for Eglurn with us tonight?"

Sienna shook her head, weary. "There's no need. Once I'm gone, he'll know."

That night, Sienna boarded a flight to Linton with her parents. Before switching off her phone, she blocked and deleted Lance on her phone and all forms of social media, like WhatsApp and Snapchat. She severed every tie to the past.

…

On the day of the college orientation, Lance packed his luggage and prepared to pick Sienna up.

After getting in the car, the driver automatically headed toward Sienna's house.

But Lance suddenly said, "Go pick up Ashley first. She can't manage on her own. We'll give her a ride."

The driver hesitated and said, "Mr. Xenakis, perhaps you should check on Ms. Coleman. She is your girlfriend, after all. I feel she's been growing distant with you lately…"

Lance's face darkened. "Mind your own business."

The driver fell silent and sighed softly. He first drove to Ashley's house as instructed.

When Ashley got into the car, she smiled radiantly and leaned close to Lance. She chattered nonstop and tried to get more intimate with him.

Lance responded to her advances distractedly, unsettled by what his driver had said earlier.

As they neared Sienna's home, Lance began imagining how she would greet him. Would she pull a long face, or would she have forgiven him already? How should he make it up to her this time?

After a moment, he thought it didn't matter. Sienna loved him so much that a few sweet words from him would no doubt win her back.

When they arrived, he told Ashley to wait in the car and strode toward the familiar door. He pressed the doorbell, but no one answered. Frowning, he used the code Sienna had once given him to unlock the door.

The moment it opened, he was stunned. The living room was empty, and every piece of furniture was draped in pieces of white cloth. The house seemed to have been vacant for days.

"Enna?"

Panic struck as Lance rushed into her room. The wardrobe stood open with not a single piece of clothing inside, and the desk was spotless.

Every trace of her was gone.

Cold terror gripped him. A chill ran down his spine, and his limbs felt numb.

He bolted outside, just as Sienna's neighbor stepped out with the trash.

Lance ran over to her like she was his last hope. He asked in a trembling voice, "Ma'am, why is the Colemans' house empty?"

The lady looked at him in surprise. "Don't you know they all immigrated to Eglurn? They left the day before yesterday. They told me they're settling there for good and never coming back."

"They're never coming back."

Those words echoed again and again in Lance's ears, freezing him to the spot. He felt his blood run cold.

Lance hurriedly yanked out his phone. His hand was trembling so hard that he almost dropped it. He frantically scrolled through his contacts to find the name "Enna".

The moment he found it, he pressed the call button. But all he heard was a cold, mechanical female voice saying, "The number you have dialed is no longer in service."

He dialed once, twice, thrice… After over a dozen calls, the results remained the same.

He opened WhatsApp. Below Sienna's familiar profile picture, only a single gray tick appeared beside his messages. After trying Snapchat and sending her text messages, Lance realized that she had blocked every way he could use to reach her.

"No, this is impossible… She wouldn't…" Lance muttered to himself, his eyes unfocused. 

It was as if the ground beneath him had vanished. He couldn't believe Sienna had truly left.

She had once t

Chapter 11