Chapter 5 The Cost Of Getting What You Want.

Iris didn't go home after Aria walked away. She stayed, Long after the campus started to thin out. Long after the noise faded into something distant and unimportant. She sat on a bench near the back field, the kind of place people passed without noticing. It suited her Right now, she didn't want to be seen.

Her phone rested in her hand. The screen was still open, Aria's last message. Days old.

Casual. Ordinary. The kind of message you don't think twice about when you read it. The kind you assume there will always be another after.

Iris stared at it.

She didn't know what she was looking for anymore.

An answer, maybe.

Or something that would make what happened feel less final.

Her thumb hovered over the screen, then pressed the lock button.

It was easier that way.

"You look like you've been waiting for someone who isn't coming."

Iris didn't look up. She already knew.

Liam.

His voice carried something different now. Not the usual ease. Not the quiet confidence that used to make everything feel simple. There was something tight in it. Controlled.

"I wasn't waiting for you," she said.

It came out flat.

He stepped closer anyway. Close enough that she could feel his presence without turning. Then he sat beside her, leaving space between them. Not too much. Just enough to make it obvious.

"I know," he said.

The silence that followed wasn't familiar.

They had shared quiet before. Easy ones. Comfortable ones. This wasn't that.

This felt like something neither of them knew how to fill.

"How did it go?" he asked.

Iris let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.

"Exactly how you think."

He nodded once, slow.

"That bad?"

She turned her head slightly, just enough to look at him. "Worse."

Something in his expression shifted. Subtle, but there. His jaw tightened before he looked away.

"She won't talk to me either," he said.

Iris almost smiled at that.

Not because it was funny.

Because it wasn't surprising.

"Why would she?" He didn't answer.

There was nothing to say to that. No version of the truth that made it sound better.

The quiet stretched again.Longer this time.

He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, staring at the ground like it might offer him something useful.

Iris watched him.

This-this was the part they hadn't thought about.

Not properly.

Not beyond the thrill of it. Not beyond the secrecy, the stolen moments, the feeling of getting away with something.

Reality didn't feel anything like that.

"She knows," Iris said.

Liam didn't look up. "Knows what?"

"It's been going on for weeks."

That got his attention. His head turned, his expression sharpening.

"You told her?"

Iris shook her head. "She figured it out."

"I just didn't lie about it."

He exhaled slowly, dragging a hand through his hair. "Great."

Iris studied him. "You're not even surprised."

"I am," he said. "Just not about that."

She frowned slightly. "Then what?"

He hesitated. It wasn't long.

But it was enough.

Enough for something in her chest to tighten without permission.

"That it got this far," he said finally.

The words landed wrong.

Not loud. Not dramatic.

Just... wrong.

Iris held his gaze. "Meaning?"

He glanced at her, then away again.

"It wasn't supposed to turn into this."

Something cold settled under her skin.

"That's what you told Aria."

"It's the truth."

"Or it's just convenient."

His head turned back to her, sharper this time.

"That's not fair."

"No," Iris said quietly. "What's not fair is pretending this just happened."

He didn't interrupt her.

Didn't argue.

Because he couldn't.

"It didn't," she continued. "We both know it didn't."

The air between them felt heavier now.

Iris didn't look away.

"So say it," she said. "At least be honest about something." His brows pulled together. "Say what?" That you wanted this."

The words didn't shake.

That surprised her.

For a second, Liam just looked at her.

Then he looked away.

"I didn't plan it." That's not what I asked."

Another pause. Longer this time

Long enough to feel like an answer.

Iris nodded once, slow. "Right."

"That doesn't mean I didn't care about Aria," he added quickly.

There it was. Of course it was.

Iris looked away.

"Of course you did."

Something in her voice must have shifted, because he went still.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

She shook her head. "Nothing."

"No," he said. "Say it."

Iris turned back to him.

"You still care about her." It wasn't sharp.

It wasn't accusing,

It didn't need to be, It was true.

And he didn't deny it.

That was the part that stayed with her The absence of denial.

Her chest tightened, but she didn't let it show.

"And me?" she asked.

Liam ran a hand through his hair again, the frustration clearer now.

"It's not that simple."

Iris let out a small laugh. There it is.

"What?"

"The part where you make it complicated so you don't have to answer." That's not what I'm doing."

"Then answer."

He didn't.

That was all the answer she needed.

Iris nodded slowly, like she was confirming something she had already suspected.

"Okay."

"Iris-"

"No," she cut in. "It's fine." I get it.

"Get what?" he asked, sharper now.

She looked at him. Really looked at him

And for the first time, she saw it clear

"I was the easier choice," she said.

"That's not true." Isn't it? His jaw tightened.

"You think I'd do all this for something easy?"

Iris held his gaze. "You didn't do this for me."

That made him stop.

Completely.

"You did it because you wanted something you weren't supposed to have."

The words didn't need force.

They landed anyway.

"And now that it's real," she continued, quieter now, "you don't know what to do with it."

Liam didn't respond.

Because there was nothing he could say that wouldn't prove her right.

Iris looked away.

The feeling she had been chasing for weeks whatever it was-it wasn't there

"This isn't what I thought it would feel like," she said. He didn't ask. He understood.

That made it worse.

Iris stood up. "I should go."

He looked up at her. "Iris-" She shook her head.

"Not today."

"I think we've done enough for one day."

She didn't wait for a response.

She turned and walked away.