"He Chose Her... Then Came Back to Me"

The music was too loud. Not the kind that made you want to dance just noise, constant and sharp, pressing into Aria's head like it had something to prove. Conversations overlapped, laughter came too quickly, too easily. It felt forced. Like everyone here had agreed to pretend they were having a better time than they actually were.Aria stood just inside the doorway for a moment longer than necessary, scanning faces she barely recognized.

"This is why I don't come to things like this," she muttered under her breath. She only came because Iris insisted. "Ten minutes," Aria had said earlier. "I'm leaving after that." "You say that every time," Iris had told her earlier.

Aria exhaled slowly

She checked her phone. No New messages.

Iris? Gosh, where are you?"

She murmured it more to herself than to anyone else.She moved past the Restroom, weaving through people who didn't notice her and didn't need to. That was fine. She preferred it that way.

"Looking for someone?" She turned at the voice.

Daniel stood there, one hand in his pocket, the other holding a drink. He looked relaxed, like he belonged here in a way she never quite did.

"Iris," Aria said. "Have you seen her?"

He nodded toward the back hallway. "I think she went that way. A few minutes ago."

"Okay. Thanks."

She started to walk past him, but she felt it that pause, that slight shift in his attention. It lingered.

It always did.

"Don't take too long," he added lightly.

Aria didn't respond. She just kept walking.

The hallway was quieter. The music dulled into a low, distant rhythm. The further she went, the more the noise faded, replaced by something else stillness, almost. "Iris?" she called softly. No answer. She frowned slightly and took a few more steps. Then she heard voices.

She stopped. "...we shouldn't be doing this," Liam said. Aria's brows drew together.

There was a pause, and then Iris spoke. Her voice was softer than usual. Careful.

"Then why are you still here?"

Something about that tone made Aria's chest tighten. She didn't think. She just moved.

One step. Then another.And then she saw them.

They weren't just standing close.Liam's hand was resting at Iris's waist. Not awkwardly. Not like he was about to pull away. Like it belonged there.

Aria's steps slowed, but she didn't stop.

She watched as Liam leaned in slightly, his head tilting just enough and then he kissed her.There was no hesitation.

No confusion. Iris kissed him back.

Not like it surprised her. Not like it was a mistake. Like it had already happened before.

Aria stood there, her mind oddly quiet.

For a second, she expected something inside her to react. Anger. Shock. Anything.

But there was just... stillness.

Liam pulled back first, his hand still at Iris's side.

"This isn't right," he said.

Iris let out a soft breath. "Then why does it feel like it is?" he didn't answer, He didn't move away either. Aria shifted her weight, and the slight sound of her shoe against the floor broke the moment.

Both of them turned. Iris's face changed instantly. "Aria-" Liam froze.

Aria looked at them carefully, at the space between them that had suddenly appeared. At Iris's shoulders, tense in a way she had never seen before. At Liam, who looked like he was searching for the right words but hadn't found them yet.

"How long?" Aria asked.

Her voice was calm.Too calm.

Iris shook her head quickly. "It's not what it looks like," Don't," Aria cut in. Iris stopped.

Just answer the question. How long?"

Liam stepped forward slightly. "Aria, listen-"

"No." She met his eyes. "You don't get to explain it." he hesitated.

That was enough to tell her everything.

Aria folded her arms loosely, more to keep her hands steady than anything else.

"I just need to understand something," she said.

Neither of them spoke.

She glanced briefly at Iris, then back at Liam.

"Was I the one you chose..."Her voice didn't shake.

"...or the one you kept until you figured it out?"

Iris looked down immediately.

Liam said nothing.

The silence stretched just long enough to settle the answer in place.

Aria nodded once. "Okay."

"Aria, please-" Iris muttered

Aria turned back slightly.

"I would have rather you told me," she said.

Her tone didn't change. It didn't accuse. It didn't rise. "That's all."

Iris opened her mouth, but nothing came out.

There was nothing she could say that would fix this. They all knew it.

Aria didn't wait for anything else.

She turned and walked back down the hallway.

The music grew louder with each step, swallowing the quiet behind her. By the time she reached the front door, it was like nothing had happened.

Like everything was normal.She stepped outside.

The air was cooler. Quieter.Real.

Aria stood there for a moment, breathing in slowly, letting the noise fade out of her head.

Then she reached into her bag and pulled out her phone.

Liam's name was still at the top of her messages. She stared at it.

At the conversations. The plans. The small, meaningless things that had once felt important.

Her thumb hovered over the screen for a second.

Then she deleted the entire thread.

No hesitation.No second thoughts.

Some things didn't need closure.

They just needed distance.

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.

,