Aria walked until the music disappeared.

She didn't check her phone when it buzzed the first time. Or the second. When Liam's name filled the screen a third time, she declined it and kept walking. When Iris called, she turned the phone off entirely.

The silence after that was louder than the party had been.

---

She didn't look at the messages until she was back in her room with the door locked and her shoes still on.

*Aria, please pick up.*

*It's not what it looked like.*

She set the phone face-down.

It was exactly what it looked like. That was the part no one seemed to want to say.

It wasn't the kiss that stayed with her. It was the hand on Iris's waist - settled, easy, practiced. The way neither of them startled. You didn't touch someone like that the first time.

Her phone buzzed against the desk.

Unknown number.

She answered before she'd decided to.

"Aria Cole."

Not a question. She straightened. "Who is this?"

"Jace Hunter."

The name hit before the voice finished saying it. *Hunter. Liam.*

"Why do you have my number?"

"Because I think you're owed an explanation."

"Then Liam should be calling."

"Liam," Jace said, "doesn't know what to explain yet."

She almost laughed. "And you do."

"Some of it."

"*Some* of it."

"Enough to matter."

She moved to the window. The street below was empty - ordinary, unchanged, indifferent to everything that had broken in the last two hours. "Then say it."

"Not like this."

"You called me."

"I know."

"So talk."

A beat. When he spoke again, his voice was unhurried in a way that made her want to hang up. "What you saw tonight wasn't a mistake Liam made with Iris. It was a mistake he made with *you*."

The room felt smaller. "Meaning what, exactly."

"Meaning the relationship had complications you weren't told about."

"What complications."

"That's what I can't do over the phone."

"Then we're done." She pulled the phone from her ear.

"Aria."

She stopped.

"You're not angry because he kissed her." His voice was still measured, still calm, like he was reading from something he'd already worked out. "You're angry because something in that room told you it wasn't the first time. And now you're wondering what else you missed."

Her jaw tightened. She didn't answer.

She didn't need to.

"There's an address coming through," he said. "Come or don't. But if you want to know what you were actually part of - that's where you'll find it."

The call ended.

A second later, the message arrived. An address. Nothing else - no explanation, no time, no softening.

Aria stared at it.

She knew what the smart move was. She could feel it clearly, the clean, self-protective version of tonight where she blocked the number, opened the window, and let this become someone else's problem.

Aria didn't go looking for answers the next day

She went to class.

She sat where she always sat. Took notes when the lecturer spoke. Nodded at the right moments. Even answered a question once, her voice steady enough that no one looked twice.

From the outside, nothing had changed.

That was the point.

Her phone stayed buried in her bag, on silent. She didn't need to check it to know what was there. Liam. Iris. Jace .

Missed calls. Messages. Explanations she hadn't asked for. She ignored all of it.

It wasn't anger holding her together.

Anger was loud. Unpredictable.

What she felt was quieter than that. Colder. Precise. It didn't shake her, It sharpened her.

By the time her last class ended, the campus had thinned out. Students moved in clusters, laughing, arguing about assignments, making plans for the evening like nothing in the world had shifted.

Aria stepped outside, adjusting her bag on her shoulder, and headed toward the gate. "Aria."

She stopped .

Not because she wanted,but because she recognised the voice.

For a moment, she considered walking anyway. Pretending she hadn't heard him.

But that would mean he still had the power to make her avoid things. She turned.

Liam stood a few feet away, like he hadn't been sure she would.

He looked different. Not put-together. Not controlled. There were shadows under his eyes.

Good, she thought.

"You've been avoiding me," he said.

Aria held his gaze. "That implies I owe you access."

He blinked, thrown off by how even her voice was. "I've been trying to talk to you." "I know."

"And you're just... ignoring it?" "Yes."

The word landed cleanly between them.

Liam exhaled, dragging a hand through his hair. "Aria, what you saw "

"I'm not confused about what I saw."

"That's not what I meant."

"Then say what you mean."

A couple of students passed by, glancing at them briefly. Aria didn't look away from him.

Liam stepped closer, lowering his voice like this was something private. Like it deserved to be handled carefully.

"It wasn't planned," he said. "It just... happened."

Aria studied him for a second. Not his words him. "That's your explanation?"

"No, I'm just-"

"Because if it is," she cut in, "it's weak."

His jaw tightened. "It wasn't supposed to get to that point." "Then why did it?"

He didn't answer.

And that hesitation small, almost invisible told her everything she needed.

"You didn't stop it," she said.

"I tried-" "No," Aria said quietly. "You didn't."

Silence stretched. Not awkward. Not uncertain.

She shifted her weight slightly, folding her arms. "I'm not interested in half-truths, Liam. So let's make this simple."

He swallowed, but didn't speak.

"Did you want to kiss her?"

There it was.

No room to twist it. No room to soften it.

Liam looked at her, and for a second just a second he hesitated. That was enough.

Aria nodded once. "Okay." "Aria-"

"No, it's fine," she said. "It actually helps."

"Helps?" His voice edged with frustration.

"Helps how?"

She let out a small breath, like she was organizing something in her head. "Because now I don't have to sit there wondering if it was a mistake.". He frowned "It was-"

"It wasn't," she said, cutting him off again. "And you know that." "That's not fair."

She almost smiled at that.

"Fair?" she repeated. "You don't get to use that word right now."

He stepped closer again, his voice lower, more urgent. "I care about you. That hasn't changed."

Aria didn't react. Not even a flicker.

"Then you have a strange way of showing it."

"It's not that simple, It is."

He shook his head, frustration breaking through now. "You're shutting me out without even trying to understand."

Aria looked at him for a long moment. Not angry.

Not emotional. Just... certain.

"I understand that you kissed my best friend," she said.

He opened his mouth, but she didn't stop.

"I understand that she kissed you back."

His expression shifted.

"And I understand that neither of you told me."

Her voice stayed calm. Controlled. That was what made it worse.

"What exactly do you think I'm missing?"

Liam didn't answer. "Right," Aria said softly.

She turned slightly, ready to walk away.

"Aria, wait." She stopped again.

This time, she didn't turn around.

"There's something you don't know," he said.

She closed her eyes briefly.

There it was.

The complication. The justification. The part where he tried to make it sound like there was more to it than what she saw.

"There always is," she said.

"This isn't just about Iris," he continued. "It's about-" Don't... "Don't try to twist my head"

The word was sharp enough to cut through whatever he was about to say.

Liam went quiet.

Aria turned back, her eyes locking onto his.

"Don't do that," she said. "Don't try to turn this into something bigger so it feels less like what it is. I'm not."

"You are," she said. "You're trying to make it complicated so you don't have to say the simple version out loud."

"And what's the simple version?" he asked, his voice tight.

Aria didn't hesitate. "You wanted her."

The words landed clean. No emotion attached. No accusation.Just truth.

Liam flinched barely but she saw it.

"And maybe," she added, quieter now, "you wanted me too."

That hit harder.

She watched it happen.

Watched the realization settle in his expression.

"But you don't get both," she said.

For a second, it almost felt like everything had stopped around them.

"For what it's worth," Liam said finally, his voice strained, "you're not as unaffected as you're pretending to be."

Aria held his gaze.

"You're right."

That surprised him.

She let that sit there for a moment just enough.

Just enough for him to think he'd gotten through.

"But the difference is," she continued, "I'm not the one who has to live with what I did."

That landed. Deeper than anything else she'd said, She saw it in his face. The way it stayed with him.

She turned and walked away.

,

Aria had just stepped out of the campus library when she saw Iris standing by the stairs.

She stopped. Not dramatically. Not like in a movie. She Just... stopped.

For a second, she considered turning back inside. Sitting down. Pretending she had forgotten something. Anything to delay what this was about to be. But she didn't.

Running would only drag this out, and Aria was already tired of dragging things.

So she walked forward.

Slow. Measured. Like every step needed to be deliberate so she didn't lose control halfway through.

Iris didn't move when she saw her.

Didn't wave.

Didn't try to close the distance.

She just stood there, like she wasn't sure she had the right to come any closer.

That, somehow, made it worse.

Up close, Aria could see it clearly her eyes were swollen, red around the edges, her face drawn in a way that didn't suit her. Her hair was tied back, but not properly. Loose strands clung to her cheeks like she had been pushing them away and failing.

She looked like someone who had been crying for a long time. Aria noticed.

But she didn't care.

"Aria."

Her voice was soft. Careful.

Aria stopped a few feet away. Far enough to keep something intact. She didn't know what, exactly. Pride, maybe. Or whatever was left of it.

"What do you want?"

Iris flinched, and Aria registered it the way someone registers background noise acknowledged, but not engaged with.

"I need to talk to you."

"There's nothing to talk about. "There is."

Aria let out a small breath. Not quite a laugh, but close enough to carry disbelief.

"Is there?" she asked. "Because from where I'm standing, it looks pretty straightforward."

Iris's eyes filled again. "Please don't do this."

"Don't do what?"

"Shut me out." That almost made Aria smile. Almost. Instead, she tilted her head slightly, studying her like she was trying to understand something that no longer made sense.

"You should've thought about that," she said quietly, "before you kissed my boyfriend."

The words landed exactly the way she intended them to. Iris flinched.

"It wasn't supposed to happen," Iris said quickly, like she needed to get the sentence out before it collapsed under its own weight.

Aria's gaze sharpened. "That line again."

"It's not a line. It sounds rehearsed."

"That's not fair.

"No," Aria said. "Fair would've been hearing it from you before I had to see it myself."

That shut her up. For a moment, neither of them spoke. People passed behind them. Laughter somewhere in the distance. A door slamming. Life continuing like nothing had shifted.

But here, right here, everything had.

Iris inhaled slowly, like she was bracing herself. "It didn't start the way you think."

Aria crossed her arms. "Then tell me how it started."

There was a pause.

Too long.

That pause did something sharp and quiet inside Aria's chest. "It started a few weeks ago, Iris admitted.

A few weeks".

Aria repeated it in her head, not because she hadn't heard, but because she needed to understand it properly.

"How many weeks?" she asked.

"I don't know exactly."

Aria blinked once. "You don't know?"

"I mean... it wasn't physical before."

Before?

Aria let out a soft breath. "So there was a before.? That's not what I meant."

"It's exactly what you meant."

Iris swallowed. "We just talked."

Aria held her gaze. "About what?"

Iris hesitated.

That hesitation answered enough.

"About things he should've been talking to me about?" Aria pressed.

Aria nodded slowly. "Right."

She looked away for a second, then back at her. "That's worse, you know."

"I never meant to hurt you."

Aria let out a quiet, humorless laugh. "That sentence is doing a lot of work for people who already did the damage."

Iris stepped closer. Not enough to touch. Just enough to feel like pressure.

"It wasn't planned. We just kept spending time together and he was confused and I-"

She stopped.

Aria's eyes narrowed slightly. "You what?"

Iris looked at her, and this time she didn't look away. "I was there."

That landed differently.

Not softer.

Just... clearer.

Aria exhaled slowly. "So while I was trusting both of you, you were positioning yourself as the alternative?"

"That's not fair."

"It doesn't have to be fair," Aria said. "It just has to be true."

Iris's voice rose, sharp now. "You think this was easy for me?"

Aria stared at her.

"No," she said, her voice dropping, steady and controlled. "I think the difficult part belongs to me."

That quieted her again.

"I hate myself for this," Iris whispered.

Aria's expression didn't change. "That sounds like something you need to deal with on your own. Aria-" No."

The interruption was immediate.

"You don't get to do that," Aria continued, her voice colder now. "You don't get to show up here crying like I'm supposed to help you process what you did to me."

Iris went still.

"You don't get to hurt me," Aria said, each word measured, "and then make me responsible for how guilty you feel about it."

Aria took a breath. Slower this time.

"You were my best friend."

The words didn't rise. They didn't break.

They just... settled.

Iris's face crumpled. "I still am."

Aria looked at her for a long moment.

Long enough to remember things she didn't want to remember.

Then she shook her head. "No."

"Friends don't do this," she said. "They don't stand next to you, learn everything about you, and then use it to get close to the one person they know matters."

"I didn't take him," Iris said weakly.

Aria met her eyes. "Then why did he kiss you back?"

Iris said nothing.And that nothing said everything.

Aria stepped back.

This time, the distance wasn't accidental.

It was chosen.

"I need space."

"For how long?" Iris asked, panic slipping into her voice now.

Aria held her gaze, steady.

"I don't know."

"Long enough to remember who I am without you in my life."

And then she turned, leaving Iris exactly where she had been standing.