I've decided to continue this; I feel like I've bitten more than I can chew with this one, so I'm taking it slow. Behold – the one-shot that took me a year to finally start and is now not a one-shot.

Disclaimer: I don't own the story cover; I don't own Genshin Impact.

Class of '15

September 20, 2020

Amber's feet came to a standstill, a tinge of a sigh lingering in her tiring exhale. She knew he was behind her, she knew… But, fuck, for the love of anything and everything, she couldn't muster the effort to even ask him in a resigned mutter – only that once again came the thought that a generous five years had already passed by since then.

And so she asked, "Why?"

He shrugged, not that she could see, but just when she believed he'd turn on his tail and walk away, he replied in the most confident tone, "We just happened to be going the same way."

The nerve of him.

But if she did see his face-

"Why are you doing this!?"

…maybe she would've stopped herself from screaming.

Amber bit her lip, listening to her echoing voice that seemed to last an eternity between their silence.

"Do you… do you know just how hard it was just to get away from you?"

Her breath shook amidst the quiet.

"Every morning, every night, just the thought of you… the fucking thought that you'd be standing there, alone, calling me, haunting me in my dreams, that…." She brought a hand to her eyes, roughly clearing the hair from her face. "I hated it."

She wanted to yell. She wanted to dig her heels into the ground and whine like a child; for five long years had she tried to rid that face of his from her mind, and now he was back?

"You tortured me, Aether."

She had once thought that it was so far as beautiful to say his name, but now? Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

"I-"

"You broke our promise. When you said those words to me that night, and I looked at you, I believed every word you said. I believed that no matter what happened between us, no matter what deep shit we happened to find ourselves in, I believed you'd still be there. I thought that maybe five, ten years after we'd graduated, I thought we would still be there."

She'd poured her whole heart out, and yet…

"I wanted that, too."

As if to belittle her actions, Aether gave only a small, reserved smile.

No words.

No words at all.

And just as she was about to walk away…. The nerve of him.

"After all that I've said, Aether…."

"What? Amber, I-"

"After all that I've said, all that I've done, all these little hints, now you decide to say that?" She hung her head and scoffed, a derisive snort that rightly deserved to ridicule his measly little efforts. "If you expected this to go well, you're about five years too late."