The words blur together as I turned another page, then another, my eyes dutifully scanning every sentence while my mind remained hopelessly elsewhere. The novel lay open in my hands, yet I couldn’t have recalled a single word I’d read if someone had asked me.

With a quiet sigh, I let the book fall shut against my lap. Hours had passed, hours since I’d walked past the guest bedroom and caught sight of Christian with a woman I’d never seen before.

And somehow, that single moment refused to leave me alone

I squeezed my eyes shut, willing the memory away, but It didn’t. Instead, it lingered, taunting me, replaying itself whenever my thoughts drifted for even a second.

“This is ridiculous,” I whispered into the empty room, It wasn’t even my fault.

How was I supposed to know the bedroom door would be left partially open? anyone walking past could have looked, I just happened to be the unfortunate soul.

A frustrated breath escaped me, what if Christian told Lucas? The thought alone twisted my stomach into knots.

I doubted he would, Christian wasn’t exactly the type to run around tattling over something so insignificant. If anything, he probably found the entire situation beneath him.

Still..the possibility lingered

Lucas was fiercely protective of me, If Christian twisted what had happened, or simply mentioned he’d caught me standing outside the guest room, how was I supposed to explain myself without sounding guilty?

‘I wasn’t spying.’ I could already hear how unbelievable it sounded. I hadn’t expected to see..my thoughts halted before they could finish the sentence.

Heat crept into my cheeks as my hands flew to my face, pressing against the warmth spreading across my skin. I shook my head once.

“It happened, It’s over, stop thinking about it,” except my mind had apparently decided to betray me, the memory surfaced again, vivid and unwelcome, refusing to be buried no matter how hard I tried.

The woman’s moans echoed in my ears and Christian’s grunts followed close behind. I groaned softly, dropping my face into my hands.

“La..la..la..” my own voice sounded ridiculous, but I didn’t care as if drowning out my thoughts would somehow erase them.

I lowered my hands with another weary sigh and stared at the ceiling when a knock on my bedroom door made me yelp.

Freezing up, my heart jumping at the sudden sound before quickly runing my fingers through my hair, trying to compose myself and erase any evidence that I had been sitting alone in my room overthinking everything for the past several hours.

“Come in,” I called softly and watched the doorknob twist as the door slowly opened.

Lucas stepped into view, his tall, broad-shoulder rested against the edge of the door, his dark hair that always looked slightly messy no matter how much effort he put into fixing it, falls to his face.

His sharp features and confident presence made him intimidating to most people, but to me, he was still just my older brother.

“Hey,” he said, and a small smile tugged at my lips.

“Hey.”

His eyes moved around my room before landing back on me, “You’ve been in here all day,” I bit the inside of my cheek.

Yeah..because I was trying to avoid a certain someone.

“How would you know?” I asked, keeping my tone light, “you’ve been out all day.”

The corner of his lips lifted. “Because I know you,” narrowing my eyes slightly and his smile grew, “you’re the type to disappear into your room and forget the rest of the world exists.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but quickly closed it because, unfortunately, he wasn’t wrong. “And without your best friend around,” he added, “there’s usually no getting you out.”

Rolling my eyes, but I couldn’t stop the small smile that appeared,

“Go wash your hands and come downstairs,” he said, “dinner’s ready.”

My smile faded slightly, “Can I just eat in my room?” the look he gave me answered before he even said anything, the one that reminded me he wasn’t going to let me get away with something.

Letting out a sigh, “Fine.”

Lucas smiled softly, clearly satisfied. Growing up, he had always had this one rule. Whenever we were together, meals were family time. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner were meant to be shared.

“See you in a minute,” Lucas said.

I nodded. “Okay,” watching as he stepped back out, closing the door behind him.

The second I was sure he was out of listening distance, I released a long sigh and sank back into my chair, before pressing my lips together, biting the inside of my cheek again as I stared at the closed door.

I couldn’t hide forever, eventually, I would have to face him. I just have to walk downstairs, sit at that table, and pretend everything was normal.

Pushing myself to my feet, with a quick trip to the bathroom later, my hands were washed, and there was officially no reason left for me to delay.

I made my way toward the door, my hand rested on the handle for a second, I just stood there. Long enough that I almost convinced myself to turn around but I didn’t and instead pulled the door open to a quiet hallway.

Pausing, I listened carefully for any voices or footsteps before slowly stepping out, making my way toward the stairs, my fingers nervously playing with the edge of my hoodie.

I glanced around as I descended, half expecting to see him somewhere but there was no sign of him. The sound of movement coming from the kitchen pulled my attention towards it.

Still playing nervously with the edge of my hoodie sleeve, I made my way toward the kitchen and when I stepped inside, I found only Lucas. Relief washed over me before I could stop it.

He was standing by the counter, placing plates on the table, his back turned toward me. As if he sensed my presence, his head lifted and a smirk immediately appeared on his face.

“You sure did take your precious little time.”

I scoffed, walking farther into the kitchen without saying anything and instead let my eyes move around, the tantalizing smell engulf me.

“Okay, whatever you’re making smells really good.”

His smirk stretched into a genuine smile. “Because I made your favorite.”

My expression softened as I looked toward the table, my eyes immediately landed on the two plates waiting there which meant no unexpected company or awkward dinner conversation, just Lucas and me.

That simple fact made my shoulders relax as I walked over and took my seat. A moment later, Lucas placed my plate in front of me before taking the seat beside me.

I didn’t hesitate before taking my first bite and second the food hit my tongue, my eyes closed. Lucas could cook like he had spent years training for it, while I could barely manage a meal without somehow finding a way to ruin it.

Taking another bite, enjoying the food while Lucas’s phone suddenly pinged. He picked it up, his attention shifting toward the screen. I continued eating, but after a moment, I noticed the way his expression changed slightly.

My brows pulled together. “Is something wrong?”

His eyes stayed on his phone for another second before he lowered it onto the table. “Nothing that can’t be handled,” then he looked over at me, “So, what’s your plan? Are you still refusing to work for me?”

Lucas had offered me a position at his company months ago, and while I was grateful..more grateful than he probably realized, I couldn’t bring myself to accept it.

His gaming company wasn’t some small hobby anymore, he had built it with a few of his friends nearly four years ago, and despite the struggles, setbacks, and moments where things could have fallen apart, they had kept going.

Now it was finally starting to grow and I was proud of him, I really was. But working under my brother felt too much like taking the easy way out, and I didn’t want every opportunity in my life to come from him.

I wanted to build something that was mine, something I could look at and know I earned myself.

“I wouldn’t say refusing,” I said carefully and he gave me a look.

“That’s exactly what refusing means.”

“Okay, maybe it is,” I looked down at my plate, knowing exactly what he was going to say next and knowing I probably wouldn’t change my mind, “we’ve already had this conversation,” I said, cutting into my food, “my answer is still the same.”

He leaned back in his chair, studying me for a moment. “I still think my offer is better than you working at a café,” I opened my mouth to argue, but he continued before I could, “But..” He shrugged slightly, “I’m not going to force you to do something you don’t want to do.”

A small smile tugged at my lips. “I know,” he could be annoyingly persistent, especially when it came to me, but he had never once tried to control my choices, “It’s just temporary, untill I find something more stable.”

He nodded, accepting my answer even if I knew he still didn’t completely agree with it. Picking up his fork, he takes another bite of his food before speaking.

“Just remember, I’m always going to be here when you need me.”

My expression softened. “I know.”

A small smile appeared on his face. “When the world feels heavy and when it feels light..”

My lips pushes up to the side as I shake my head softly, “you’ll always be there..”

“That’ll be $8.50,” the customer handed me a ten dollar bill, and I accepted it with a smile.

“Thank you. Your change,” I placed the coins into his waiting palm before sliding his coffee and pastry across the counter.

“Have a good day.”

“You too,” he gave me a quick nod before turning toward the door, I watched him leave before reaching for the next order.

“Excuse me?”

I looked up. “Yes?”

A woman standing near the counter pointed toward the display case, “Could I get two of those?”

“Of course,” I I reached for the tongs, picking up the pastries and placing them carefully into a small paper bag.

It wasn’t exactly the career I had imagined for myself, but for now, it worked. The café was small and cozy, tucked away on a relatively quiet street. I had been coming here for years, long before I had ever considered working here.

Nearly a seven years ago, I had come to visit Lucas during one of my extended stays with him, and that was when I had first met Mrs. Eleanor Road.

Everyone simply called her Ellie, she owned the café and had somehow adopted me into her life within weeks of meeting me. Now that I had permanently moved in with Lucas, I had taken up a part time position here. It wasn’t anything extravagant, but it gave me something to do while I figured out what I actually wanted for myself.

And Ellie had been more than happy to have me

“Here you go,” I handed the woman her bag.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” I turned toward the counter, only to catch sight of Ellie emerging from the back of the café.

She was carrying a large sack of flour against her chest and my eyes widened. “Didi!” I hurried around the counter, “what are you doing?”

Ellie barely looked at me, “Carrying flour, apparently.”

I reached for the sack immediately. “Didi, I’ve told you not to lift heavy things by yourself.”

“Oh, shush,” she gave me the same affectionate dismissal she probably would’ve given a stubborn grandchild, “I’m old, not helpless.”

“I know you’re not helpless,” taking the sack from her before she could argue, “I know perfectly well you’re capable of doing things yourself.” I set it down carefully behind the counter, “you’re probably stronger than half the people who come in here.”

She smiled smugly. “Exactly.”

“But,” I continued, pointing at her, “you also need to remember that your knees aren’t made of steel,” her smile faltered slightly. “You sprained one of them only a few weeks ago, and you’re still healing.”

“It was a little sprain.”

“A little sprain that had you limping around for days.”

“I was fine.”

“Didi,” she sighed and I knew that sigh. It was the one she used whenever she realized I wasn’t going to let something go.

I placed my hands on my hips. “You’re stubborn.”

“And you’re bossy.”

“Because someone has to be,” she laughed softly as I reached over and gently nudged her toward the small stool near the counter, “now go sit down and let your overqualified, extremely strong employee handle the heavy lifting.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Overqualified?”

“Obviously.”

“And extremely strong?”

“Very,” shaking her head, she smiles as she finally lowered herself onto the stool. I smiled back, “see ? Was that so difficult?”

“Yes,” I laughed under my breath and turned back toward the counter.

“Good, then consider this your much-needed rest before I start confiscating everything heavier than a coffee cup from you.”

Ellie leaned back against the stool, looking far too pleased with herself. “You know, you keep telling me to rest,” she said, “but one day when I’m dead, I will be getting all the rest needed.”

My smile disappeared. “Didi.”

She waves a hand dismissively. “Oh, don’t look at me like that.”

“Don’t say things like that.”

“I’m only joking.”

“Still,” I frowned at her, “I don’t like hearing you talk like that.”

Her expression softened. “Don’t worry about me, sweetheart. You’re not getting rid of me that easily.”

I felt some of the tension leave my shoulders, “I won’t have it any other way,” she smiled and reached over, giving my hand a gentle pat and before I could say anything else, the little bell above the café door chimed.

I glanced toward the entrance, watching as four girls walked in, laughing among themselves. My shoulders immediately dropped.

Ellie followed my gaze. “Do you want me to attend to them?”

Shaking my head. “I’ve got it,” I turned back toward her, pointing a warning finger in her direction, “but no heavy stuff, okay?”

She shook her head, letting out a long suffering sigh. “Yeah, right”

I smiled, turning toward the girls just as one of them glanced around the café, her expression becoming noticeably irritated. “Seriously?” she asked, loud enough for me to hear, “Isn’t there anyone here to attend to us?”

Closing my eyes for half a second, I took a slow breath. “I better go before she decides to cause a drama,” picking up the item Ellie had been carrying earlier and placed it safely on the counter before making my way toward the front.

I stopped behind the counter and gave the girls my best customer service smile. “Hi, what would you like to order?”

The girl who had complained rested one arm over the other, looking me up and down before a slow smirk spread across her face. “Oh, if it isn’t our dear daily dose of sunshine.”

The other three girls immediately laughed, but I didn’t and Instead, I leaned one hand against the counter and looked at her.

“Is that really the best you could come up with, Madison?” her smile faltered for half a second.

Madison Reed

I had met her during my first year of college, she had been a friend of a friend, or something along those lines. I couldn’t even remember exactly how we had ended up in the same circle, but what I did remember was that we had never clicked.

wasn’t sure what I had done to her, if I had even done anything at all, but Madison had seemed to take an instant dislike to me. And for some reason, that dislike had followed us ever since, every time we crossed paths, there was always something.

A comment, look or even a sarcastic remark. And, apparently, today was no different.

Madison scoffed. “Can you just take our order?” the way she said it made it sound less like a request and more like an instruction to someone she has hired. She lifted her chin, “I’ll have an iced vanilla latte, large. And make sure it’s actually cold this time.”

Raising an eyebrow as the other three have their orders with the same tone. And when they were done, Madison looks at me expectantly, “Oh, and bring them to our table.”

I didn’t react to her tone. “Anything else?”

Her lips curved into another smug smile. “No, that will be all.”

“Great,” I turned away and entered their orders into the system.

They weren’t taking anything to go, so once everything was ready, I arranged the drinks and snacks onto a large tray. Behind me, I could hear them whispering amongst themselves, then came the laughter.

Ignoring it, I carried on preparing their order until everything was ready. When I finally glanced toward their table, Madison was already looking at me, she lifted her fingers in a small wave, a sweet little smile rested on her face.

It would’ve looked perfectly innocent to anyone else but I knew better. I fought the urge to roll my eyes and picked up the tray, making my way toward them carefully while keeping the tray balanced in both hands.

I was almost at the table when Madison suddenly stood up, the movement was so abrupt that I barely had time to react as her shoulder collided with mine.

The tray tilted. “What..” the drinks toppled first, then the bowl of chocolate chip cookies went flying along with cold liquid splashing across my clothes, followed by cookies scattering across the floor.

I gasped at the impact, stumbling back a step and for a second, I simply stared down at myself, then looked up to see Madison had one hand covering her mouth.

“Oops,” her eyes met mine, “My bad,” the smile beneath her hand told me everything I needed to know, she didn’t give a damn.

She steps toward me and before I could react, she leaned in, close enough that her lips were almost against my ear. “Pathetic,” she whispered, “throwing yourself at Noah like that, and for what? No one wants your virgin ass, not even your so called childhood best friend.”

My breath caught as I stumbled backward, the tray slipping from my hands as glass shattered against the floor, the sharp sound cutting through the café, but I barely heard it. My mind had gone completely blank.

How did she know? how did Madison know what had happened four days ago? I hadn’t told no one, except Jade, and then Christian who had witness everything.

But they weren’t the type of tattle, especially not to Madison. Which only leaves one person. My heart began pounding painfully against my ribs.

Noah

Madison straightened, a satisfied smirk spreading across her face as she twirled a strand of hair around her finger. “Didn’t think I’d know, did you?” I stared at her as she laughed softly, “Noah was practically devastated, you know. Kept going on about how you ruined your friendship because you decided to confess feelings he clearly didn’t want.”

The girls behind her chuckled and my vision blurred, my nails dug into my palm, hard enough for the sting to cut through the humiliation threatening to swallow me whole.

Ruined their friendship

“Aurora?” Ellie’s voice finally broke through the haze as she hurried toward me, placing a gentle hand against my back, “sweetheart, are you okay?”

I couldn’t answer, my eyes remained fixed on Madison as her smile stretches even more. “Maybe you should learn to stay in your lane,” then she walked past me, her friends following behind her.

Each of them threw me a look ranging from amusement to disdain before they disappeared through the café doors. The bell chimed softly behind them while remained where I was.

Noah had told her, he had actually told her. The person I had trusted enough to confess something I had spent years keeping to myself, and now the entire thing was being passed around like some humiliating story for people to laugh about.

Ellie gently touched my arm. “Come on,” I swallowed and finally looked at her, she doesn’t say anything else and simply guided me toward the back room.

Once we were away from the few customers still seated in the café, she turned to me. “Are you okay?” her gaze dropped to my stained top.

Swallowing hard. “Yeah.”

She stared at me for a moment, saying nothing, then she sighed. “That was a stupid question,” looked down, “your answer was clearly a lie.”

I bit the inside of my cheek as she reaches up, gently brushing a strand of hair away from my face. “I can see it on your face, sweetheart. You’re seconds away from crying.”

My throat tightened, looking away. “Those girls take pleasure in making you uncomfortable.”

A humorless laugh escaped me, “So it seems.”

Ellie’s expression hardened. “You’re taking the rest of the day off.”

My head snapped toward her. “What? No.”

“Yes.”

“But I’m the only one here.”

“I’ll manage.”

“Didi.. you are going to be alone if I leave, and Archie can’t make it either. He’s down with the flu.”

“I know,” she waved away my concern, “I can handle a café for a few hours.”

“But..”

“No,” her tone wasn’t harsh, but there was enough finality in it to stop me, “You don’t need to worry about this place right now and need to worry about yourself.”

I stared at her, there was no room for an argument. Eventually, I let out a defeated sigh. “Fine,” I glanced toward the café, “at least let me tidy up the mess I made.”