We fall silent again.
Above us, the house feels warmer. More focused. Like something has chosen a direction. And whatever it is, Sol’s already standing in the middle of it.
TWENTY-EIGHT
KAI
I shouldn’t be thinkingabout her like this.
That’s the first problem.
The second is that I can’t seem to stop.
I sit at the table with my phone in my hand, screen lit, thumb moving just enough to make it look real. I haven’t read a single word in the last five minutes.
All I can hear is upstairs.
Not actual sounds – nothing concrete. Just the awareness of her being there. Like something in the house has shifted its centre of gravity and everything else is quietly rearranging around it.
It’s irritating.
It shouldn’t matter this much.
She’s part of a game. That’s all this was ever meant to be.
A bet. A distraction. Something to keep the summer interesting, especially once it was clear she thought I was my brother.
Not…this.
Jaw tightening, I cover my mouth, holding whatever wants outin.
Because if I let myself follow that thought through, it lands somewhere I don’t want it to.
Somewhere dangerous.
Somewhere that sounds a lot likemine.
I huff out a quiet breath and push the idea away before it can take shape.
No.
Absolutely not.
She’s not mine.
And even if she was?—
My grip tightens slightly around my phone.
Would she even choose me?
The thought hits sharper than I expect.
Because she doesn’t know me.
Not really.
Everything she thinks she knows – every message, every conversation, every moment she’s been drawn in – it hasn’t been me.