When They Beg I Rise (Lemira) novel Chapter 20

Orion swiftly locked his phone screen.

Thaddeus raised an eyebrow, "Judging by the profile pic, looks like it's a girl. Wouldn't happen to be that girl you helped the other day, what's her name?"

"Your yapping is getting on my nerves."

"You just won’t admit it. You’ve been holed up in the infirmary last week, and now suddenly you're MIA, looking so gloomy these days. Got into a spat with her?"

Orion turned away, his gaze sharp, "Keep your nose out of my business."

"We've been thick as thieves since we were in diapers, what don't I know about you? Cut the act!"

Orion, phone in hand, stepped out to the balcony, glancing briefly at their chat.

“So, she thinks of the health office as some kind of secret base?” thought he. He chuckled to himself unwittingly and opened her Facebook.

Her posts were pretty much everyday stuff, very teen girl-esque. He scrolled through her page, suddenly realizing he'd spent too much time thinking about her. It felt unsettlingly out of control.

Orion quickly exited the messaging app and turned back to the living room.

Lemira waited all day but didn't get a response. Was he mad at her?

But she didn't dare to keep messaging him, deciding to wait until the test results were out on Monday.

The entire weekend, Lemira was cooped up at home, hitting the books hard. Evelina and the brothers didn't come home either, staying at the training camp instead.

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Monday morning.

Lemira went downstairs and finally saw Evelina and her brothers, their bond seemingly stronger than before.

Lemira didn't say a word and headed straight to the dining hall for breakfast.