I fell in love with you in my new life

POV - Remin

No podía creerlo.

Mi ropa seguía húmeda. La gélida sensación del agua cayendo sobre mi cara, en público, seguía pegada a mi piel como una maldición.

Y lo peor... no era el agua.

Era la mirada de Emilia.

Esa determinación, esa rabia contenida en su rostro.

Esa claridad con la que me decía que nunca fui nada para ella.

Y él sí lo era.

Luahn.

El maldito mestizo sin sangre pura, sin legado...

Él, que no era nadie, tenía algo que ni siquiera yo podía lograr.

Su atención.

Su voz.

Su mirada.

Su corazón.

Caminé por los pasillos con los puños apretados, ignorando a quienes me saludaban, ignorando las preguntas de mis compañeros, la forma en que algunos intentaban aliviar la tensión con palabras estúpidas como "ya pasará" o "no te lo tomes a pecho". ¿

Cómo no tomármelo a pecho?

Yo, que había sido entrenada desde pequeña para merecerlo todo.

Mi padre me repetía:

«El mundo es de quien lo reclama.

No debes pedir. Debes tomar».

Y así fue durante mi infancia.

Los instructores me elogiaban.

Las demás familias me mostraban respeto.

Incluso Liifa, siempre tan aguda, me tenía cierta consideración, aunque distante.

Pero Emilia...

Nunca me miraba.

No como lo miraba a él.

Recordaba cada palabra que me decía.

«No me interesas en lo más mínimo».

Esas palabras me atravesaron el pecho como cuchillas de hielo.

No era solo rechazo.

Era indiferencia.

Esa noche me encerré en mi habitación, golpeando la puerta con violencia.

Mi madre me preguntó desde el otro lado si todo estaba bien.

Respondí con una mentira.

«Estoy cansada».

Mentira.

Lo que sentía no era agotamiento, era rabia.

Me miré al espejo. Tenía los ojos rojos.

No era de llorar.

Era de no poder gritar.

¿Por qué él?

¿Por qué ese bastardo mestizo que ni siquiera debería haber entrado en nuestra academia?

Emilia era una estudiante brillante pero distante. Tenía una fuerza innegable, pero siempre seria, metódica... inaccesible.

Todos la respetaban.

Y pensé... que con el tiempo, ella lo vería.

Vería quién era yo.

El hijo de una de las tres familias fundadoras.

El chico que nació con talento.

Que comprendía su lucha.

Que podía estar a su altura.

Pero nada cambió. 

No, Emilia cambió. Era más feliz que antes.

No inmediatamente.

Pero ella cambió.

Todo empezó cuando ese tipo despertó sus energías yin y yang.

Sonreía con más facilidad cuando él estaba cerca.

Le hablaba con ternura, con una ternura que nunca había visto dirigida a mí.

Y ahora... me decía en público, delante de todos, que yo no era nada.

Que Luahn era todo lo que necesitaba.

Crucé el campo de entrenamiento. El frío de la noche me abrazó.

Había una luna.

Una de las tres.

La más grande.

La blanca.

La que Emilia dijo una vez que le recordaba a Luahn.

«Tiene el pelo como esa luna», dijo.

Lo recordé.

Porque me dolía oírlo.

Me senté bajo uno de los árboles del campo.

No podía dormir ni entrenar, solo podía pensar:

«¿Qué tiene él que yo no tenga?

No es más fuerte.

No forma parte del linaje fundador».

Pero...

Él la hace reír.

Vive donde yo solo intento encajar.

Siempre estuvo a su lado.

Y eso...

Eso no podía perdonarlo.

No porque quisiera destruirlo.

Pero porque si él existe, entonces yo nunca seré suficiente.

"¿Todo bien, Remin?", me preguntó un compañero esa mañana, al verme llegar al campo de entrenamiento con una cara más seria de lo habitual.

"Sí. Todo está bien".

"¿Estás seguro? Ayer... fue duro".

Lo miré. No con ira.

Pero con algo más cortante.

"A veces, hace falta un error... para ver quién ha estado en tu contra desde el principio".

El chico no dijo nada más.

Y yo, mientras afilaba en silencio la hoja de mi espada de práctica, me repetí:

"No necesito que me quieras, Emilia.

Pero a él...

no voy a perdonarlo".

*

POV – Emilia

Remin no dijo ni una palabra más al respecto.

No se me acercó, ni siquiera me miró.

Pero el silencio que dejó atrás... pesó más que sus palabras.

La clase ya no era la misma.

No porque hubiera un conflicto abierto, sino porque todos sabían lo que había pasado.

Y aunque nadie habló de ello, la tensión flotaba en el aire.

Mis amigas, Liifa y Selena, me apoyaron incondicionalmente.

Y muchas otras también.

Casi la mitad de la clase, de hecho.

Algunas lo hicieron por justicia, otras por respeto a mí.

Y algunas simplemente porque les gustaba Luahn y no veían sentido en marginarlo más.

Pero las demás... simplemente guardaron silencio.

Fingieron no saber.

Actuaron como si nada hubiera pasado.

Como si el corazón de una persona fuera algo por lo que uno debiera disculparse.

No volví a hablar con Remin.

Ni pretendía hacerlo.

Pero esa noche, al acostarme después de cenar, algo me retenía.

Sentí un calor extraño en el pecho.

Un cosquilleo ridículo en las mejillas.

Y no era por la discusión.

Ni por el conflicto.

Ni por el qué dirán.

Era por Luahn.

Por cómo me miró cuando usó el hielo por primera vez.

Because of how her eyes seemed to sparkle when she saw me.

Because of how she laughed now, even if only a little more, when she was with me.

And above all...

Because of how she made me feel.

"Can't you sleep?"

Mom's voice pulled me out of my train of thought.

"Ah. Um... yes, I'm going to close my eyes now."

She crossed her arms in the doorway, still looking at me.

"Liar. I know you, Emilia. You've been tossing and turning for a while now. Are you worried about class?"

"...A little."

Mom sat down at the foot of the bed.

She looked at me with that soft smile she used when she knew something was eating away at me inside.

"How about we talk a little before you go to sleep?"

"Okay..."

I paused.

"...Mom, have you ever... felt like you wanted to be around someone all the time?"

Leyla raised an eyebrow, amused.

"Anyone in particular... or are you talking in general?"

"...In particular."

I pulled the blanket up over my nose.

She giggled.

"Oh, my dear... that's called love."

"W-what?! No, no, no! It's not that! I just—!"

"You only think about him when you're alone."

"Mom!"

"It bothers you if he gets hurt. You want him to see you, to trust you."

"Mom, stop..."

"And to think that if some other girl gets too close to him..."

"MOM!!"

I sank into the blanket as if I wanted to disappear.

She kept laughing, delighted by my despair.

"Oh, Emilia... don't be scared. It's normal. Especially for us, the wolf clan."

"... Normal?"

"Yes. Did you know that those of us in our clan feel more clearly than humans? Our emotional instincts are more intense... more defined."

I peeked out from under the blanket, still red as an apple.

"Does that mean... it's faster for us to find our special someone?"

"Exactly. And earlier."

Mom leaned on the headboard with her arms crossed, looking at the ceiling wistfully.

"I fell in love with your father when I was ten. No one believed it, of course. Everyone thought it was a little girl's fantasy. But I felt it. And I wasn't wrong."

"Really?"

"Yes. When we love, we know it. Even if we don't always understand what that feeling is called... our bodies know."

I looked at my hands on the blanket.

My chest was beating fast.

"So... what I feel for Luahn...?"

Mom didn't answer with words.

She just smiled at me.

That smile that says more than a thousand words.

I shrugged, lowering my gaze.

"I don't know when it happened. I just... realized that I always want to be close to him. That I want to see him happy. That if something hurts him... it hurts me more."

"That's love, Emilia."

"...But we're children."

"And what's wrong with that?"

"...I don't know if he feels the same way."

"It doesn't matter yet. The important thing is that you know it."

Silence.

She got up, kissed me on the forehead, and walked to the door.

"True feelings have no age, Emilia. Only time to grow."

She turned off the lamp.

The room was left in darkness.

And I...

I stayed hugging my pillow, with a small smile.

And my heart beating stronger than ever.

*

POV - Olivia

The aroma of freshly baked bread still lingered in the kitchen when I heard two soft knocks on the door.

It wasn't unusual for someone to come early, especially in a close-knit community like ours, but I wasn't expecting anyone that morning. I wiped my hands on my apron, walked over, and opened the door curiously.

"Good morning."

"Leyla... what a surprise."

There she was, standing there with that knowing smile she only showed when she had something important on her mind.

"Am I interrupting?"

"Not at all. I was just about to put the kettle on. Would you like some dried flower root tea or sweet bark tea?"

"Do you have dried flower? The bark gives me heartburn."

I chuckled as I showed her in. Leyla made herself at home, as she had been doing for years, while I finished preparing the tea. Her eyes sparkled in a particular way. As if her heart had a secret that was escaping through her eyes.

"What's going on?" I asked, raising an eyebrow as I placed two steaming cups on the table.

"Emilia spoke to me yesterday."

I paused for a second before sitting down.

I knew what she meant.

Or at least I sensed it.

"...And what did she say?"

Leyla calmly lifted her cup. She blew on it. Then she smiled.

"That she can't stop thinking about a certain boy with white hair."

I let out a soft laugh, putting my hand on my chest.

"Did she really say that to you?"

"Not in those words. But I saw it. Her voice, the way she stared into space while she spoke... Olivia, your son moves her soul."

I was silent for a moment.

The warmth of the tea in my hands was nothing compared to the warmth I felt in my chest.

"You know... for years I thought Luahn would be alone. Not because he wasn't loved... but because the world didn't understand him. Because he was always one step behind in everything. Because he was born from a place that no one knew how to accept."

Leyla looked down gently. Her expression was that of a friend sharing an old burden.

"I understand. Emilia also carried things she couldn't explain. That stiffness, that way of holding back... now I see that part of it was fear."

"Afraid of what?"

"Of not being able to take care of what I loved most. Of failing.

And now that he's starting to name what he feels... everything gets lighter."

"Luahn looks at her with such devotion..." I whispered, setting the cup down on the table. "As if every day were a blessing for having her around. As if with her, the world weighed a little less."

Leyla sighed, her smile growing warmer.

"They're more alike than they think. That's why they fit so well together."

"And to think they started out just as playmates..."

"No. Not just that.

From the beginning, Emilia chose him.

Before she understood what it meant to choose.

And now... her heart is beginning to catch up with what her soul already knew."

I laughed tenderly.

"You talk as if you were a wise woman of the forest."

"I'm just a mother who knows the sparkle in her daughter's eyes. The one that appears when she's in love."

"And I... am a mother who, for the first time, is not afraid for her son's future."

A serene silence fell between us.

A silence that didn't hurt.

One that filled us.

One that seemed to envelop us like a promise.

"Can you imagine... if one day they..."

"...end up together?"

We looked at each other.

And we laughed.

"We'd be mothers-in-law."

"How awful!"

"What a blessing!"

"What chaos!"

"And what joy!"

We clinked our cups together, as if we had just sealed a little pact.

"We don't know what the future will bring," I said more seriously. "But if there's one thing I know for sure... it's that Emilia will never let Luahn go under. And Luahn... will always be the strength she needs to keep going."

Leyla nodded slowly.

"They're the perfect balance.

Not because of what they can do.

But because of who they are when they're together."

We stayed a while longer, talking. About the past, the future, their little mischief, and how fast they were growing up.

And as the sun rose through the branches of the Hypnos Tree...

We both knew, without saying it, that fate had already begun to intertwine them.

And all we had to do was... watch them blossom.