Chapter 72

Chapter 72:
William stepped forward, his voice calm but clear. “Stella found the plant. There’s a lot of moss around—everyone, be careful. Let’s head back.”
He didn’t say much, but his words accomplished two things—first, he gave Stella credit for finding the plant; second, he made it clear that her fall was simply an accident—not anyone’s fault, but certainly not hers.
He didn’t directly blame Nathalia, but the tone was unmistakable. Nathalia stood frozen as William walked right past her without even a glance. Her heart sank.
He defended Stella.
He never used to speak up like that—especially not for someone else.
“Let’s go, let’s go! It’s getting dark!”
The rest of the group urged one another to move. Stella stayed at the rear, gently tugged along by her colleagues, not sparing Nathalia a single glance.
Behind them, Nathalia stomped her foot in frustration, seething silently.
Back at the institute’s communal dining hall, everyone gathered for dinner. Stella sat with her usual group, and Laura Brooks, her roommate, plopped down beside her, practically buzzing with words of praise.
“Stella, you’re seriously amazing,” Laura beamed. “We searched all afternoon and came up with nothing. If it weren’t for you, we’d still be out there in the dark!”
A few other team members chimed in, eyes filled with admiration.
“Yeah, how did you even know to check the river?”
The plants they had to search for in the mountains were rare.
Stella gave a modest smile. “I just looked at its properties—it likes moisture and shade. The river made sense.”
“Wow, that’s impressive! We should all learn from you. We’ve been going off pictures and merely matching appearances. You actually read the material?”
New chapters now on.cøm
Stella shrugged with a soft chuckle. “It’s just luck. You’ll all get used to it with time.”
She genuinely didn’t feel like she had done anything special. The guess had just paid off.
Laura sipped her soup, then suddenly remembered something. She leaned closer, whispering, “By the way… Did you know Nathalia and William used to be a thing? Back in the day. She went abroad for further studies, and their research took them in different directions. They split after that.”
Stella hadn’t heard a word of this.
Laura continued, “No one really knows who broke it off, but they’ve always been a bit… competitive. Kind of like rivals now.”
Stella raised an eyebrow. William didn’t strike her as someone who cared about rivalry. But then again, what did she really know about him?
Laura gave her a reassuring pat. “I think you just got caught in their unresolved drama today. Nathalia might not’ve been aiming at you; she probably just can’t stand William.”
Stella nodded. It wasn’t worth overthinking. As long as Nathalia stayed out of her way, she had no interest in getting involved in their past.
After dinner, Stella headed back to the dorms for a shower. A day of hiking through the woods meant one thing—dirt, sweat, and the desperate need to scrub it all off.
She was rubbing her sore neck and walking back when she suddenly froze at a corner. A man and a woman were standing close—too close—William and Nathalia. From where she stood, it looked like they were kissing—foreheads nearly touching, bodies close, heads tilted slightly. The whole scene screamed intimacy.
Stella blinked, cheeks flushing with awkwardness. It felt wrong to stand there staring. She quickly turned around and took the long way back, her heart thudding a little too fast.
But the reality was different. William was staring down at Nathalia, his expression cold, brows slightly furrowed.
“Nathalia,” he said flatly, “I’ll say it one last time—I never agreed to be with you.”
This misunderstanding had been dragging on for years. He’d ignored it for too long, but now that they were face-to-face again, he figured it was time to end it.
Nathalia looked up at him, her voice trembling. “I don’t believe that. If I hadn’t gone abroad, we would’ve been together, right?”
Her eyes shimmered with unshed tears, and she bit her lip, holding onto one last thread of hope.
William exhaled sharply, the beginning of a headache forming. “No. Even if you’d stayed, I still wouldn’t have dated you. This has nothing to do with you leaving.”
He had no idea where that rumor came from—about them being together and breaking up because of distance—but it wasn’t even remotely true.
Nathalia’s eyes reddened, her gaze refusing to accept his bluntness.
“I’m not interested in you, Nathalia,” William said coolly. “I’m here to do research. I hope you are too. And I don’t want to see anything like what happened today again.”
He hated drama, especially the kind built on false assumptions. He turned to walk away, done with the conversation. But before he could take a step, Nathalia grabbed his arm.
“Wait!”
And then, without warning—without hesitation—she closed her eyes, tiptoed up… and kissed him.
.
.
.