Chapter 5

Kaelyn threw her backpack onto the floor of her room and collapsed onto her bed, staring at the blank ceiling. The silence was a physical presence.

Thirty minutes passed. An hour.

She couldn't stand it.

With a groan, she rolled over and turned her phone back on. It buzzed to life, a flood of notifications from group chats and social media apps pouring in. But not from him.

She opened their message thread. The link she'd sent was marked with two blue checkmarks. Read.

Beneath it, there was nothing.

Just as a wave of cold despair washed over her, the three little dots appeared. typing...

Her heart leaped into her throat. She held her breath, her eyes glued to the screen, waiting.

Those three little dots appeared, almost mocking her anticipation. They danced for almost thirty seconds, as if he were constructing a complex, profound sentence, only to abruptly vanish. What was he trying to say? Or did he just decide she wasn't worth the effort of a response?

The screen was blank again. The silence was a taunt.

Ten minutes later, her phone buzzed. A new message. She swiped it open so fast she almost dropped the phone.

It was from him.

Don't look at that stupid gossip. It's not what you think. I'm busy for the next few days. I'll see you after that.

No explanation. No apology for the lie. Just a command, dripping with the casual arrogance of someone who expected to be obeyed. It wasn't a reassurance; it was a dismissal.

A laugh bubbled up in her throat, a harsh, broken sound. Tears streamed down her face, blurring the cold words on the screen. She wiped them away angrily, her fingers trembling as she typed out a furious reply, a paragraph of rage and pain.

She stared at the words, then deleted them all.

What was the point?

She typed a single word, a universe of disappointment and exhaustion contained in two letters.

Oh.

Then she went into his contact settings and switched on "Do Not Disturb."

For the next forty-eight hours, Kaelyn went dark. She drew the thick blackout curtains in her room, plunging it into a perpetual twilight. The floor became a graveyard of crumpled sketches. She worked with a feverish intensity, channeling all her pain into the sharp, clean lines of her designs.

Eleanor knocked and entered with a takeout container. "Kae? It's like a cave in here." She peered at Kaelyn's pale face and the dark circles under her eyes. "Are you sick? You look like a ghost."

Kaelyn forced a smile that felt like cracking plaster. "Just a design competition," she said, her voice hoarse from disuse. "The deadline is brutal."

Eleanor sat on the edge of the bed, her expression concerned. She hesitated, then said softly, "Listen, about that post... everyone's talking about Clemente and that ballerina."

At his name, Kaelyn's hand jerked. She was sharpening a pencil, and the lead snapped, the sharp point digging into her fingertip. The small, sharp pain was grounding.

"People have too much time on their hands," she said, her voice flat as she tossed the broken pencil aside. "His life has nothing to do with me."

"I know, it's just... I used to think he was, like, the ultimate prize," Eleanor sighed. "Turns out he's just another rich guy who loves a public spectacle."

Her roommate's casual criticism felt like salt being rubbed into a wound Kaelyn couldn't even acknowledge. The NDA meant she didn't even have the right to complain about her own heartbreak.

After Eleanor left, Kaelyn stared at her computer screen, trying to focus. But all she could see was his navy-blue jacket draped over Hilda's small shoulders.

On Sunday night, her muted phone screen lit up. A call from Clemente. She watched the screen flash, his name glowing in the dark, until it went to voicemail.

Five minutes later, a text.

Answer the phone, Kae.

The command in his tone made her stomach clench.

She flipped the phone over, face down. She put on her noise-canceling headphones and turned the music up until it was a wall of sound, blocking out him, the world, everything.

Monday morning, she stood in front of the bathroom mirror. She applied concealer with a heavy hand, erasing the evidence of her sleepless weekend. She put on a black, sharply tailored pantsuit and a coat of bright, defiant red lipstick. It felt like armor.

Today was the monthly joint meeting of the Student Architecture & Investment Board. As the lead representative for the architecture department, her attendance was mandatory.

The co-chairman of the board, representing the finance department, was Clemente Whitaker.

She took a deep breath, looking her reflection in the eye. She buried the hurt, the betrayal, the weakness. What was left was cold, hard, and sharp.

She walked out of her dorm, her heels clicking decisively on the pavement as she headed toward the business school. She was ready for war.