Underwater: The Silent Luna novel Chapter 95

Chapter 95

Ashley smiled the moment she saw Cynthia, but the smile did not stay simple for long. It widened first out of surprise, then out of something warmer, older, deeper. She had heard Cynthia was in town. Everyone heard things in Whitewood sooner or later. Rumpurs travelled like smoke through dry grass. Still, hearing that Cynthia was around and actually seeing her standing there in front of the mansion were two very different things. Ashley had not expected this. She had not expected Cynthia to come back here of all places. Not after everything. Not after Ethan. Not after the years. For a second, Ashley just stood there staring, almost afraid that if she

blinked too hard, Cynthia would be gone again.

She could not believe her eyes.

Cynthia had always carried something about her that made people stop and notice. Even now. Maybe even more now. There was no bright laugh on her face, no easy confidence shining from her the way Ashley remembered from her academy days, but she still had that same presence. That same coolness. That same distant beauty that made her feel untouchable and unforgettable at once. Ashley had admired her for years. Back at the academy, Cynthia had not just been some older student to look up to. She had been the one. The one Ashley wanted to grow into. The one who made things seem effortless. The one who had moved through halls and conversations and life like she belonged everywhere she stepped. Ashley had once thought Cynthia would become Luna without even trying, as though fate itself had chosen her for it.

And if Ethan had not lost his legs, she probably would have.

That thought hit Ashley hard the second she looked at her, because Cynthia was not just some old senior from school. She was a ghost from a future that never happened. She was the woman Ethan had loved before everything changed. The woman Whitewood had once almost accepted as its Luna. The woman people still remembered even when they pretended not to.

Seeing her now did something strange to Ashley’s chest. It made her strangely happy. It made her nervous. It made her feel chosen somehow, like the version of herself that used to admire Cynthia from a distance was suddenly being seen in return. Before she could think better of it, she rushed forward and wrapped her arms around her.

Cynthia went stiff.

Ashley felt it immediately. The hesitation. The tension in her shoulders. The small pause that told her the hug had not been expected and maybe not even wanted. For one awkward heartbeat, Ashley thought she had overstepped, but then Cynthia slowly relaxed and lifted her arms around her. It was not a natural embrace. Not easy. Not soft in the way Meadow hugged people or in the way Ashley herself did when she was genuinely happy. Cynthia held her like she was doing something remembered rather than something felt. Still, she did it. She composed herself and let Ashley have that moment. Ashley pulled away with a bright smile, pretending not to notice the stiffness that had come first.

“How have you been?”

Cynthia only nodded at first, and that alone told Ashley more than a full answer could have. Something about her was off. Not broken exactly. Cynthia was not the kind of woman who broke where people could see it. But there was a heaviness around her, a tiredness that did not fit the image Ashley had carried for years. The Cynthia she remembered had seemed sharp and untouchable, a little distant maybe, but never weighed down. This Cynthia looked like she had been carrying something for too long and had finally grown tired of pretending it was light.

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Chapter 95

Ashley did not want the moment to turn strange, so she quickly invited her for coffee. Cynthia hesitated. Ashley noticed that too. She seemed reluctant, like she had somewhere else to be or maybe nowhere at all and did not know which was worse. But after a moment she agreed, and Ashley felt oddly relieved. A driver was called to take them out.

The moment Cynthia stepped into the car, something flickered across her face. Ashley saw it before Cynthia hid it. Memory. Pain.

Regret. Something bitter and private.

This used to be her life.

Ashley did not have to ask to know that was what Cynthia was thinking. Ethan used to dote on her: Everyone knew that. It had

become one of those stories people repeated until it almost turned into legend. Ethan had loved Cynthia openly, fiercely, stupidly.

even. He had given her everything. Attention. Position. Devotion. Security. The kind of love women wrote songs about and later spent the rest of their lives searching for in other men. Ashley knew all that. Whitewood knew all that. Cynthia knew it too.

And now she was back.

Ashley glanced at her while the car moved and saw Cynthia looking ahead, her expression unreadable but tight somehow, as if the simple act of sitting in that vehicle was taking her back to places she no longer wanted to visit. Ashley could almost hear the thoughts she was swallowing. Had Ethan not lost his legs, Cynthia would never have left. She would have stayed. She would have remained at his side. She would have become Luna. She would have had the life everyone once thought was hers. But that was not how things happened. Ethan lost his legs, and suddenly love had looked like labour. Suddenly staying had looked like sacrifice. Suddenly a future with him had looked too heavy for a nineteen-year-old girl who wanted ease, beauty, and certainty.

So she walked away.

Maybe she had told herself she was doing the right thing. Maybe she had called it honesty. Maybe she had said she was too young, too scared, too unwilling to be tied to a wounded man for the rest of her life. Maybe all of that had been true. But seven years had passed, and whatever she had called it back then, she was now back in Whitewood, forced to sit with the shape of her own choice.

Ashley touched Cynthia’s thigh lightly to draw her out of wherever she had gone.

Cynthia turned and smiled at her, but the smile was thin.

“Deep in thought?”

Ashley tried to sound playful, but there was concern beneath it. She was genuinely happy to see Cynthia. Excited too. It felt almost unreal to be sitting beside her like this, no longer a younger girl looking up from below but a woman old enough to share a table and a conversation with her. Still, Cynthia’s mood unsettled her. This was not the reunion she had imagined.

Cynthia shook her head immediately.

Ashley nodded and let it go. She did not want to pry. Not yet. She was too happy just to be here, too eager not to ruin the moment by asking the wrong question too soon.

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12:04 Wed, Jun 17 M DO

Underwater: The Silent Luna