"..."
For Vivian, time seemed to freeze at that moment.
She stood quietly in the doorway, her ice-blue eyes fixed unblinkingly on the cluster of chattering girls in the middle of the classroom.
A sharp, unfamiliar ache struck her heart.
It was not intense, but it was unmistakable, like an exceedingly fine needle of ice plunging without warning into her softest spot.
Even as her reason frantically reminded her:
Your relationship ended long ago. The moment you signed that termination agreement in black and white, amid everyone's pitying or mocking gazes, the line between you was drawn once and for all.
He is free now. He has every right to accept anyone's advances, every right to have anyone gather around him.
You have no standing, no right whatsoever, to feel even the slightest discomfort over this.
But...
That distinct ache in her chest, along with an icy anger, swept through her entire body like an uncontrollable cold front.
Even the pure, powerful ice magic within her seemed to sense its mistress's violently fluctuating emotions and began spilling uncontrollably from her body.
The temperature of the air seemed to quietly drop around her.
Several students near the door who had been chatting and laughing shivered instinctively and rubbed their arms in confusion. Then, as though sensing something, they stiffly turned their heads-
"!!"
When they saw the ice-blue figure that had appeared unnoticed in the doorway, the entire rear of the classroom seemed to have been muted, its noise vanishing with astonishing speed.
The silence spread swiftly toward the front of the classroom like ink dropped into water.
One, two, three... more and more students stopped moving and closed their mouths, turning toward the door in unison with complicated looks of shock, awe, and confusion.
The girls chattering around Greg belatedly