Chapter 14 The Night Everything Explodes
I should not have gone.
I knew that the moment I stepped into the party.
Music pulsed through the house, loud enough to shake the walls. Bodies moved everywhere. Laughter. Shouting. Drinks spilling. The kind of chaos that made it easy to forget who you were for a few hours.
That was the problem.
I did not want to forget.
But Tessa had dragged me anyway.
“You cannot hide forever,” she said, pulling me through the crowd. “And if you are going to be miserable, at least be miserable somewhere loud.”
“I hate you,” I muttered.
“You love me,” she shot back.
She was not wrong.
Still, every step deeper into the house made my chest tighten. Faces turned. Some curious. Some judgmental. Some just hungry for drama.
Of course they were.
I was the girl everyone knew now.
I stayed close to Tessa, gripping a plastic cup I had no intention of drinking. The music felt too loud. The lights too bright. The air too thick.
Then I felt it.
That shift.
That pull.
I did not need to look to know he was here.
But I did anyway.
Kylen stood across the room.
Time slowed.
He looked different. Not just tired. Not just angry.
Unraveled.
His shirt was slightly wrinkled. His hair messier than usual. His jaw tight like he had not relaxed in days. But it was his eyes that hit me the hardest.
Empty.
Until they found mine.
And then everything poured back in.
Pain. Anger. Something dangerously close to hope.
My breath caught.
Tessa followed my gaze and sighed softly. “Of course he is here.”
“I should go,” I whispered.
“You just got here.”
“I cannot do this,” I said.
But my feet did not move.
Neither did his.
For a long moment, we just stood there. The noise of the party faded into the background. It felt like we were the only two people in the room.
Then someone stepped into his space.
A girl.
Tall. Pretty. Laughing too loudly at something he did not say.
My stomach twisted.
Kylen did not look at her.
He kept looking at me.
The girl followed his gaze, then smiled slowly.
And placed her hand on his chest.
Something inside me snapped.
I turned away.
“I am leaving,” I said.
Tessa grabbed my arm. “Lenora, wait.”
“I cannot stand here and watch that,” I said, my voice breaking.
“Then do not watch,” she said. “But do not run either.”
Too late.
Because Kylen was already moving.
The crowd parted slightly as he pushed through it, his eyes locked on me with a kind of intensity that made it hard to breathe.
“Lenora.”
My name on his lips felt like a spark against dry air.
“Do not,” I said quickly. “Please.”
He stopped a few feet away. His chest rose and fell heavily.
“You came,” he said.
“I should not have.”
“Then why did you,” he asked.
I shook my head. “It does not matter.”
“It matters to me,” he said.
His voice was rough. Strained. Like he had been holding too much in for too long.
I forced myself to stay still. “You looked busy.”
His eyes darkened. “You mean her.”
“Yes.”
“I do not care about her,” he said.
“Then why let her touch you,” I asked.
“Because you walked away,” he replied.
The words hit hard.
“That does not mean you get to act like nothing mattered,” I said.
“It means I am trying to forget you,” he said.
“Is it working.”
“No.”
Silence stretched between us.
Heavy. Charged.
“You look different,” I said quietly.
“So do you.”
“I am not the one starting fights,” I said.
His jaw tightened. “You heard about that.”
“Everyone did.”
He laughed bitterly. “Of course they did.”
“You are spiraling,” I said.
“I am coping,” he shot back.
“That is not coping.”
“Neither is pretending you are fine without me,” he said.
My chest tightened painfully.
“I never said I was fine,” I whispered.
“Then why are you still doing this,” he demanded. “Why are you still pushing me away.”
“Because it is the right thing,” I said.
“For who,” he asked. “Because it is not right for me. And it is clearly not right for you.”
“You will move on,” I said.
“No,” he said immediately. “I will not.”
“You have to.”
“I do not want to.”
His voice broke slightly.
That was worse than anything else.
People were starting to watch now. The tension between us too obvious to ignore.
“Kylen,” I said softly, “we cannot do this here.”
“Then where,” he asked. “Because every time I try to talk to you, you run.”
“I am not running,” I said.
“You are,” he said. “You are just calling it something else so it hurts less.”
I opened my mouth to argue.
But nothing came out.
Because he was right.
The girl from earlier appeared again, slipping her arm around his.
“Are you coming back,” she asked sweetly.
Kylen did not even look at her.
“Go away,” he said flatly.
Her smile faltered. “Wow. Okay.”
She walked off, clearly annoyed.
I exhaled slowly. “You did not have to do that.”
“Yes I did,” he said. “Because I am not pretending anymore.”
His eyes locked onto mine again.
“I love you.”
The words landed between us like a dropped weight.
My heart pounded painfully.
“You cannot keep saying that,” I whispered.
“Why,” he asked. “Because it makes this harder for you.”
“Yes.”
“Good,” he said.
I stared at him. “You want to hurt me.”
“I want you to feel what I feel,” he said. “Because maybe then you will understand why I cannot just walk away.”
“I do understand,” I said. “That is why I left.”
“No,” he said. “You left because you were afraid of what people would say.”
“That is not true.”
“Then prove it,” he challenged.
My breath caught.
“Stop choosing them over us,” he said.
I hesitated.
That hesitation said everything.
His expression shifted.
Something inside him broke.
“Right,” he said quietly.
The noise of the party rushed back in around us.
“I should not have expected anything different,” he added.
“Kylen…”
“No,” he said. “You made your choice. I just needed to hear it again.”
Pain sliced through me.
“I am sorry,” I whispered.
He nodded slowly. “Me too.”
He turned to walk away.
And this time, I felt it.
The finality.
Something slipping through my fingers for good.
“Kylen,” I called.
He stopped.
But he did not turn around.
The distance between us felt too wide to cross.
“Be careful,” I said softly.
He let out a quiet, hollow laugh.
“Too late for that,” he replied.
Then he disappeared into the crowd.
I stood there, surrounded by noise and light and people who did not matter.
And for the first time, I felt it clearly.
I was losing him.
Not because of Lilibeth.
Not because of the rumors.
But because I could not bring myself to choose him when it mattered most.