The Last Star Standing ( Celestial Series # 1 )

Stella Sylvara Delaire has always been the one holding everything together.

She grew up believing that being strong meant staying quiet. That her pain was something she had to carry alone. She became the person everyone leaned on ; the listener, the fixer, the constant presence. Yet somehow, no one ever asked how she was holding up. Or maybe they did, she just never learned how to answer.

Stella tells herself she's a burden. That her feelings are too heavy. So she swallows her words, and convinces herself that loving from afar is safer than admitting she's breaking inside.

Until there was Dreven Caelis Veymar. The new transferee.

The one who taught her that feelings aren't weaknesses, that light doesn't disappear just because it trembles. He showed her how to name her pain, how to breathe through the darkness, how to shine, not for others, but for herself.

But the universe never lets light stay untouched. College created distance, time pulled them apart, and rumors of Dreven being with another girl slowly broke her heart.

Because the boy who taught her how to shine became the reason her light began to fade. The one person who made her feel seen now seemed to belong to another constellation.

Now Stella stands at the edge of herself- torn between holding on and letting go, between dimming her light to survive or shining despite the heartbreak.

Will she keep fading into the background, or will she finally choose herself even if it means shining alone as the last star standing?