This Isn't About Reya

Chapter Fifteen

Svetlana walked into school the next day and found Daniil standing by her locker.

This time, he had his uniform shirt buttoned all the way up and fully tucked into his pants. Svetlana suspected the dean of the academy probably had something to do with it.

She put on her best scowl and strode up to Daniil with composure. "What do you want?" she asked, refusing to look him in the eye and instead busying herself with her locker combination.

Daniil inhaled sharply and inspected the side of Svetlana's face for a moment. What he was searching for, exactly, neither he nor she knew.

"I came to say sorry," he said softly.

Svetlana's eyes narrowed slightly. "For?" she asked. She wondered how he would answer.

"For being so ignorant when I said hello yesterday," Daniil said quickly.

Svetlana paused with her locker. "Mmm," she hummed.

Daniil was quiet for a moment, as if unsure about what to say next. Then he murmured, "I remember how things ended between us, and I'm sorry, and I've often..."

He trailed off, and Svetlana turned to look at him. His bright blond hair was limping to one side slightly, and his eyes were glazed. But when Svetlana looked into those pale green orbs, they seemed to sharpen, and he looked at her, into her, through her.

"I just meant that I'd missed you Svet." His lips were slow as they moved, heavy. "In the excitement of seeing you yesterday, I just forgot everything that had happened between us, I guess. I should've been more sensitive. And I just wanted to say that I'm sorry."

Svetlana was silent, staring into his mossy green eyes. She was lost in them, lost in his words. 

This was not the same boy who had left her a year ago.

At her silence, Daniil looked away. He took a step back and said, "You don't have to talk to me or be friends with me now or anything, I just thought you deserved an apology. I'm sorry. I'll see you around, I guess." And he turned and walked away, down the hall.

Svetlana was still too stunned to speak.

He'd apologized.

Not for everything else, but at least for something. 

And God, but she missed him. It ached just to look at him, and when she looked into his eyes it was like her chest was being torn open, and she was completely helpless. 

She yearned for him, to have him back.

Maybe they could at least be friends. Maybe he deserved that much.

She shut her locker door and listened to the metal locks slide into place.

Maybe she deserved that much.

"Daniil," she called. "Wait."

He stopped, turned around, and for a brief second Svetlana noticed the hope in his eyes.

She walked up to him, clutching her books in her left arm. "I accept your apology," she said with a curt nod.

Daniil nodded in turn, and was about to leave again when Svetlana reached out to stop him, tugging on his jacket sleeve. 

She took a quick breath and said, "And I missed you too. Do you think... Do you think we could be friends again?"

Daniil stared blankly for a moment, and then an enormous smile broke across his face. His white teeth shined in straight rows. "Please," he said.