Natalie lay back against her couch with her phone resting loosely in her hand, the screen still lit with Becky’s message as if she couldn’t quite trust it had actually happened. The soft glow painted faint light across her face in the dim apartment, but she barely noticed it. Her attention kept drifting back to the same thing over and over again, the confirmation that Becky had agreed to come on Saturday.She had reread the message thread so many times it had stopped feeling like words and started feeling like proof of something she didn’t fully know how to name yet.Becky was coming.The thought alone kept pulling a quiet smile onto her face even when she tried to suppress it.Natalie exhaled slowly and stared up at the ceiling as if it might offer some kind of explanation for why her chest felt unusually light. It wasn’t confusion, not really. She had never been confused about this part of herself. That had always been clear in a quiet, uncomplicated way she had long stopped questio

Becky didn’t move at first.The words still hung in the air, heavy and deliberate, as if the room itself was waiting for the next reaction. The remaining guests stayed frozen in place, unsure whether they were witnessing a joke, a confrontation, or something far more intentional.Natalie, however, reacted immediately.Her shock wasn’t fear. It wasn’t confusion either. It was the bright, disbelieving kind that came from recognition she hadn’t expected but was still happy to see.“Damien?” she said, her voice lifting slightly as she stepped forward.Before anyone could process that shift, she moved quickly across the room and wrapped her arms around him.For a brief moment, the tension inside the house fractured.Natalie pulled back just enough to look up at him, smiling in a way that made the entire scene feel even more disorienting. “What are you doing here?” she asked, half laughing, still holding onto his arm as if she wasn’t entirely convinced he was real. “You didn’t even tell me

Becky stood frozen in the center of the room, the weight of Natalie’s silence pressing against her chest harder than anything Damien had said so far. Her eyes stayed locked on Natalie, searching desperately for even the smallest sign that what she was seeing wasn’t final, that something inside her could still be reached.But Natalie’s expression had changed in a way Becky hadn’t seen before.It wasn’t anger in the usual sense. It wasn’t even disappointment. It was something sharper, colder, stripped of hesitation. Her brows were drawn tight, her lips pressed into a thin line as she stared at Becky like she was finally seeing her clearly for the first time.Becky took a small step forward, her voice trembling despite her effort to steady it. “Natalie… please, just listen to me properly. I never meant to hurt you. I really didn’t. I care about you.”For a brief second, Natalie didn’t move. Her eyes flickered slightly, as if something inside her was still resisting the conclusion forming

The tension inside the living room had barely settled after Damien released Becky.Natalie remained standing between them, her chest rising and falling unevenly as she struggled to process everything that had happened. Becky stayed several feet away, rubbing her wrist where Damien had held her moments earlier, while the remaining guests lingered around the edges of the room in uncomfortable silence.No one seemed willing to leave. No one seemed willing to speak.Then the front door opened.The sound immediately drew every eye in the room toward the entrance. Natalie frowned slightly. Becky turned instinctively. Damien, however, didn't move at all.Two figures stepped inside.The first was Ethan. The second was Jared.The atmosphere shifted instantly.Whispers spread through the room like wildfire as students exchanged startled looks. Some straightened unconsciously, while others took small steps backward.Jared's gaze swept across the room before settling on the scene in front of him—

The silence that followed Jared's admission felt heavier than every argument that had come before it.Nobody spoke.Nobody seemed willing to interrupt whatever was unfolding in front of them.Jared stood motionless, his eyes fixed on Becky.The realization was still settling inside him, and he hated every second of it.For months, he had convinced himself that Becky was safe because he was around.That his influence protected her.That his power shielded the people close to him.Now, standing in Damien's house while watching the fear Becky was trying so desperately to hide, that illusion was falling apart.Because the truth was staring directly at him and Becky wasn't in danger despite him. She was in danger because of him.Damien watched him carefully. The confidence was gone. The certainty was gone.For the first time since they had met, Jared looked genuinely lost. And Damien noticed every bit of it.A faint smile appeared on his face. "Now you're getting it."Jared slowly turned t