Sebastian was just a friend, she told herself firmly. Even if they were to marry, he would still be her friend, and that friendship zone was there to protect her from taking him as anything more than that. She was aware that something inside her had begun to soften towards him and find him more appealing, but she had built a very large wall around that part of herself because she was afraid.
Afraid of being hurt and abandoned.
Viola had been hurt before. She had tasted what it was like to love and then lose it, to be betrayed and broken after she had given everything. Evan's betrayal would forever leave its scar on her, and that scar ran so deep that she had to keep Sebastian at arm's length so he wouldn't come close enough to peel it back open.
