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Katherine Vance closed the door of her apartnt behind her, sighing with exhaustion. The demands of her promotion were proving imnse, but the real strain was the lingering tension with Jas. She knew he worried when she worked late, especially after their last misunderstanding.
She walked to the bathroom to quickly wash the day’s fatigue away. "He’s probably agitated by now," she murmured to her reflection. "I should go over and see him. We can’t keep fighting like this." She grabbed her coat and umbrella and headed toward Jas’s house, intending to put their argunts behind them.
The intention of reconciliation shattered the mont she saw the unexpected scene in Jas’s bedroom. The blurred sight of Ava but she didn’t know it was her, what she saw was the girl with the brown hair and Jas in that raw, compromising position, stole her breath. She didn’t stay long enough to see Jas’s eyes open the sound of his mumbled na and the sheer look of betrayal was enough.
She fled. She heard Jas shouting her na from the upstairs window, "Katherine! Wait!" but the sound only fueled her desperate escape. She ran blindly, the sudden downpour of rain beating her heavily as she plunged into the street.
Her mind was a chaotic flood. He cheated! After everything, he cheated! The image of his hands, his mouth, all dedicated to soone else, brought fresh, burning tears.
As she walked, numb and soaked, her mind tried to grasp at any alternative, any doubt. She suddenly rembered a mont from weeks ago a confusing, intense mory the kiss she’d shared with Adrian.
I still don’t understand how I could have done that, she thought, touching her plush lip, her cheek burning with the rembered heat, not the pain of a slap, but the confusing warmth of the initial embrace. I pushed him away, didn’t I? But... did I like him, just for a mont? How could I feel that way when I am with Jas? She shook her head against the rain. Jas! He’s the problem. He’s the cheat.
She finally reached her own street. Her apartnt building lood large and dark. As she neared her door, a car screeched to a halt nearby, and a figure exploded out. It was Jas, eyes wild and clothes disheveled. He was already running toward her house, his face contorted with anger.
"Katherine!" he roared, slamming his way through the doorway. When she turned, he shoved her hard, sending her stumbling and falling against the wall. And he stared at her in anger, forgetting what he did.
"You... you slept with other n!" he shouted, his face contorted in disbelief and pain.
Ava arrived back at her apartnt, her carefully constructed composure already fraying at the edges. She had barely managed to close the door when Adrian, the sturdy tall and handso man, the man she had been comparing to Jas, stepped out from the bedroom. He looked confused.
"Where did you go, Ava?" he asked, his voice sharp. "You just left and back at the ti, where did you run off to?"
Ava, exhausted from her emotional marathon, snapped. "I didn’t go anywhere! I just needed space."
"Space from who?"
She dropped her bag heavily. "From you," she hissed, letting her resentnt surface.
Adrian’s face tightened. "Is that why you won’t let touch you anymore?" He gestured to the subtle distance she had maintained between them for weeks.
Ava just gave a contemptuous hiss and brushed past him, retreating into the spare room without another word, leaving Adrian standing alone, his confusion turning to cold fury.
anwhile, across the city, Katherine Vance was descending into despair. She locked her apartnt door, and the fragile control she had maintained for weeks finally snapped. Jas’s final, cruel words and the sight of his betrayal with the girl, made her her drown in pain and resentnt.
She collapsed onto the floor, pulling at her hair and screaming into her hands. She cried until her throat was raw, tears of rage, pain, and humiliation soaking the rug. In a fit of desperate, physical agony, she began to lash out, scattering furniture, tearing books from shelves, and sweeping everything from her dresser. Her ticulously kept apartnt quickly beca a wreckage, a physical manifestation of the chaos and ruin inside her soul.
The next morning, Katherine did not go to work. She was physically and emotionally down, a broken shell of the vibrant woman she once was. The ringing phone and the chirping birds outside were muted sounds in her profound sorrow.
As she dragged herself out of bed, she noticed a piece of white paper slipped beneath her door a letter. She usually ignored them now, suspecting the stalker, but this one was different. It was a note, not a typical letter, commanding her attention.
She picked it up. It was a single sentence, "et at the usual park bench, 10 a.m. We need to talk."
Despite the instinctive fear, a reckless urge to confront the source of her pain won out. She quickly dressed and headed to the park. When she arrived at the familiar oak bench the one where she and Jas often t her heart hamred in her chest. Waiting there, not Jas, but Adrian.
Katherine stopped dead in her tracks. Her eyes widened, recognizing the man sitting on the park bench. It wasn’t Ja. It was Adrian. She walked toward him, the blood rushing to her ears. But it soon cald down when he gave her a reassuring smile, the cloud of thought that blocked her head from having space begin to disperse.
"What are you doing here?" she demanded, her voice shaking trying to be calm. "How did you know this was our usual spot?"
"I always saw you guys, don’t think am stalking you I usually nearby." Adrian said, his voice filled with warmth and calm like the sa.
Adrian stood up, his gaze intense. "We can’t talk here, Katherine. Everyone can see us. We should talk sowhere quieter."
Adrian seductive and calm and compelling voice compelled her to nod stiffly to his demand. They walked to a dimly lit cafe with a ding sound as they entered, they were greeted by the indistinct murmurs in the room and he asked, "what would you like to drink?"
"Just a strawberry daiquiri." She barely said and went to sit, waiting for Adrian, after he was done placing the orders, he went to sit opposite her and a waitress placed the tray of two drink on the table and left with the tray. He pulled forward his arms on the table.
He hesitated, his eyes holding hers. "I really like you, Katherine. I have since the day we t for dinner. And I don’t care if I’m dating Ava. That doesn’t matter. The truth is, I like you more than I’ve ever liked her." He paused again, delivering the shocking question with a sickening ease. "So.....I know it not right to ask...umm do you feel the sa
way or I’ll give you so ti to think about it, I know you’re still with Jas, but I just wanted to tell you my feelings.. so?"
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