"Delilah, I'm back," Gideon says, stepping out of a car at the campus ring of onlookers.
Pablo freezes mid-verse. The guitar stops sounding right. A hundred phones tilt toward the field.
Pablo grins and keeps kneeling. "You heard him, Delilah. My baby comes home and the world waits."
"Baby?" Delilah says flatly. "Pablo, stop. This is humiliating."
"Humiliating?" Jazmine barks from the edge of the crowd. "Girl, you take this and marry him, okay? Save us all the suspense."
"Jaz, no." Delilah tries to step back. She keeps her hand on her purse strap like it's a lifeline.
Pablo leans closer. "Delilah Mae Bentley, will you—"
"Stop." Her voice cuts through the chant of the crowd. "This is a joke, right? A stunt?"
"Stunt?" Pablo laughs, which sounds too loud. "It's real. It's me."
"Then be real enough to ask without dragging my name across the field," she says.
Jazmine shoves Delilah forward as if she can force the answer. "Answer him! Be dramatic!"
Delilah holds up a hand. "No." The single word is quiet but exact.
The shouters hush because nobody expected that. Pablo's smile slips. He looks ready to plead or to threaten.
"Delilah," he says, lower. "Don't humiliate me. Everyone's watching."
"You're the one on your knees," she answers. "I'm the one walking away."
Someone boos. Someone laughs. Someone starts a livestream.
Pablo stands, then steps forward fast. "You can't just—"
Delilah moves first. Her palm
