Elsie seized the moment and broke down in tears. "It's true. I'm sorry… I know I wasn't brought up properly… My parents died when I was born. There was no one to teach me how to be better… The only one who ever tried was Eleanor… and now she's gone too…"

She sobbed into Jared's chest, shaking as if she'd shattered. But when our eyes met, there was no mistaking the hatred hiding just beneath the surface.

"Elsie, none of this is your fault. It has nothing to do with you." Jared looked down at her, sympathy in his eyes. His hand lifted on instinct to wipe away her tears, but stopped halfway when he finally took in what she was wearing.

"Why are you dressed like this…" His voice faded, swallowing hard as desire smoldered in his gaze.

Elsie bit back a smirk. She dipped her head, feigning a shyness she didn't feel. "I've got a club event tomorrow night. It's just a costume for the performance. Professor Hammond, if it bothers you, I'll take it off right now!"

And with that, Elsie actually started to undress. Jared shot forward and grabbed her hands, stopping her. I might as well have been invisible.

"If it's for a performance, then there's nothing wrong with it." Jared shot me a pointed look. "Funny how it's always the ones with filthy minds who cry foul first."

I scoffed. As I watched Elsie put on her little show, all I could think about was the three years I'd wasted on this joke of a relationship.

After Eleanor died, I became Jared's girlfriend. But not once, in all that time, did he ever touch me.

I kept telling myself that grief took time, that if I waited long enough, his heart would open to me. But reality had other plans, and it hit hard.

The second Eleanor was gone, Elsie showed up to take her place.

To Jared, I was nothing more than a stand-in. I tried to take things further, wearing the skimpy outfits my best friend swore would work, hoping he'd finally want me. But he kept pulling away, and every time he looked at me, it was with a little more disgust in his eyes.

I thought maybe I wasn't captivating enough, so I signed up for dance lessons. But in the end, not even my graceful moves earned me a second glance from Jared.

Instead, every effort I made to please him got slapped with ugly labels like "scheming" and "desperate", straight from my own boyfriend's mouth.

All it took was a glimpse of Elsie's face, just enough to resemble Eleanor's, to stir something in Jared, the man who'd always seemed so distant.

Suddenly, everything I'd done felt like some kind of cruel joke. It wasn't that I wasn't enough. I just wasn't the one he'd been holding onto all along.

"Guess I should just move back into the dorm," Elsie muttered, brushing Jared off as she turned to pack her suitcase.

Right on cue, a few photos spilled out. They were pictures of Elsie in old-fashioned outfits. From the look of the backdrop, they must've been taken in the historic streets of Saffbury.

Elsie and Jared stood too close to be casual, their eyes saying everything they didn't.

Tucked away in the locked cabinet of Jared's study was an identical photo album, taken at the same place, in the same costumes, with a woman who looked uncannily like Elsie. It was how he kept reliving his memories of Eleanor, again and again.

I begged Jared a million times to hit that beach just an hour's drive away every summer, but he kept ghosting me with different stories.

He scooped the photos off the floor like they were something delicate, something that mattered. "It's too late to get into the dorms. Just stay here tonight."

Elsie shot me an uneasy glance, and Jared said, "Why are you looking at her? This is my house. I get to decide who stays!"

I studied Jared, calm and distant. "Right. Your house."

I should've been the one to leave. It wasn't like I ever planned on coming back. I brushed past them and headed for the bedroom to grab my things.

Jared grabbed my arm. "You'll take the guest room. Elsie likes to watch the sunrise."

As if that made a difference.

"Fine," I said.

Jared clearly hadn't expected me to give in so easily. For once, the cold look on his face softened just a little.

His eyes flicked to the swelling on my cheek, and for the first time, there was a trace of regret in his voice. "Wait. Let me get you some ointment for that."

"No need," I coldly replied. What was a bruise anyway when my heart was already in pieces?

I ignored them both, pulled out my suitcase, and packed only a few clothes and the bare essentials before heading straight to the guest room.

The rest could be replaced. Nothing new could begin until the old was gone.

Jared tried to follow me, but the door clicked shut behind me and stayed locked.

He knocked a few times. Then he said, tentatively and probing,"Willow, you're not actually mad, are you?"

We always ended up at war every time Elsie came up, be it quiet, tense standoffs or loud, messy arguments. But now, my calmness caught him off guard.

"Of course not. Why would I be mad? Elsie's just your student, not your girlfriend," I responded with a tone dripping with sarcasm.

The silence stretched, thick and tense.

Jared finally exhaled, like he'd been holding his breath. "Don't worry, Willow. Once this is all over, I'll make it up to you."

Make it up to me? I let out a laugh, cold and amused. Too bad I no longer needed anything from him.

"Professor Hammond!" Elsie's voice suddenly rang out from the bathroom.

Jared bolted toward the door, panic written all over his face. "Elsie? What happened? Did you fall? Elsie?"

He kept calling, but there was no answer.

I couldn't take my eyes off the frosted glass. Jared was too rattled to notice the faint shadow moving just behind the door.

He called her name a few more times, but still got no answer. After a beat of hesitation, he pushed open the unlocked door.

Almost at the same moment, Elsie, barely dressed, threw herself at Jared. She let out a soft, breathy moan, her voice syrupy sweet. "Professor Hammond, why don't you just pretend I'm Eleanor?"

"Stop this," he said. He tried to push her away, but his hand brushed against something soft, and he froze.

That hesitation was all she needed. She pressed herself against him fully, emboldened by his silence. "Why? Am I not good enough compared to Eleanor? Or even Willow?"

Defeated, Jared softened his voice. "Be good, okay? We'll talk tomorrow."

I stared at the two tangled shadows on the wall, my fingers drifting instinctively to my right elbow, the same spot I'd fractured when I slipped in that bathroom. It still ached faintly.

Jared left me alone that day. If I hadn't left my phone within reach, I never would've been able to call for help.

The cruel twist? Watching something eerily similar unfold with Elsie now showed me how easily it could've ended another way.

A wry smile tugged at my lips as I pulled the door shut again.