Sweet Hatred Chapter 295: My Kael

ARIA

The city outside the window blurred a little, maybe because of the alcohol, maybe because my eyes were burning for no damn reason. The car felt too warm, too tight, and my chest had been tight since the second I told Ash I wanted to see him.

I didn’t know if I was doing sothing brave or sothing stupid.

Probably both.

But grief made people impulsive.

It made impulsive.

And I didn’t want to be inside myself anymore, all that quiet grief festering, all the guilt and questions and unspoken things screaming inside . I just wanted to see him. To breathe near him. Even if I didn’t know what I’d say.

Even if I was terrified he wouldn’t want to hear it.

I spotted the neon sign first, the one Ash said glowed like bad decisions and broken promises. . It buzzed with colors in the dark like a siren calling closer. My heart started to pound, blood rushing to my ears like I was stepping on stage or walking into a war zone.

But then...

Then I saw him.

And her.

Outside.

Kael’s tall fra, sharp and broad-shouldered, was lit by the harsh bar light, and right in front of him...

So girl.

Young. Small. Beautiful in that soft, wounded way I hated myself for noticing.

And he was holding her face.

My stomach dropped.

But I couldn’t look away.

I told the driver to stop... my voice barely made it out... and the car eased to a quiet halt on the opposite side of the street. I opened the door, heart pounding like I’d made a mistake just by wanting to see him.

Maybe it was the alcohol.

Maybe it was trying to distract myself from the grief I kept burying deeper and deeper.

Maybe I just wanted to say I love you and feel sothing honest for once.

But the mont I stepped out of that car...

The mont the cool night air kissed my face...

Everything changed.

I couldn’t survive watching it.

Because it wasn’t just a look.

It wasn’t just a touch.

It was a kiss.

Her lips on his.

Right there in front of .

Right there, where I used to be.

I didn’t even realize I had gotten out of the car.

Didn’t realize I had stepped into this nightmare with both feet.

Until I saw it.

Until my stomach sank and my world tilted.

Kael’s hands on her face.

His mouth eting hers.

A mont too soft to be aningless.

And I froze.

I froze.

Right there by the car, like soone had drained all the blood out of .

It was her.

The girl Sarah told about.

The one who looked too close to him.

Too familiar.

And Kael...

Maybe it was my imagination or the alcohol or both...

God I really hoped so...

Kael didn’t even flinch.

His head stayed close like the kiss wasn’t a surprise.

Like it was just... natural.

Sothing inside broke.

Everything ca crashing down all at once.

Sarah’s words.

My doubts.

My stupid, stubborn silence.

The space I carved between us when I walked away from him and never looked back.

It all hit .

Like a fucking freight train.

Like I was the punchline to so cruel joke.

My chest twisted with sothing between heartbreak and nausea.

I couldn’t breathe.

I couldn’t think.

I was going to be sick.

I stumbled backward a step, like I could physically retreat from what I just saw.

But the image was burned into .

His lips on soone else’s.

His hands holding her like she mattered.

Like I didn’t anymore.

God, why did it hurt so fucking bad?

Why did it feel like soone reached into my chest and ripped sothing out?

Jealousy.

Regret.

Rage at myself for letting him go.

Rage at the universe for making this mont real.

I wanted to scream.

Run across the street and tear her away from him and shout he was mine first.

I wanted to demand answers I had no right to.

I wanted to cry until the earth cracked open and swallowed whole.

But my body wouldn’t listen.

My feet refused to move.

My voice was lost sowhere between my throat and my heart.

So I did the only thing I could do.

I ran.

Turned back to the car like I was escaping a burning building.

Fumbled for the handle with trembling fingers and dropped into the seat like I could hide from what I saw.

"Take back," I choked out, voice breaking.

"Please. Just... take back."

The driver didn’t ask.

Didn’t speak.

Just pulled away from the curb.

And I...

I watched Kael fade in the rearview mirror.

Watched him kiss soone else.

Watched the mont that would haunt for the rest of my fucking life.

(On the way back...)

I couldn’t stop shaking.

The scene kept looping behind my eyes.

Her face.

His hands.

Their lips colliding like sothing practiced.

Sothing mutual.

Kael.

My Kael.

The man who once kissed like I was the only thing keeping him alive.

The man who told I ruined him in the most beautiful way.

The person I wanted to run back to tonight, to confess everything, to fall into again like no ti had passed...

He was gone.

He belonged to soone else now.

And maybe...

Maybe that was exactly what I deserved.

I pressed my forehead against the cool glass, hoping it would ground , stop the burning panic clawing up my chest.

But nothing helped.

Not the silence.

Not the night.

Not even the fact that I’d brought this on myself.

I pushed him away.

I made the silence grow.

I let him fall out of my hands because I was too scared to admit how much I needed him.

And now?

Now soone else got to hold his face.

Soone else got to kiss him.

Soone else got the pieces of Kael I had shattered but never stopped loving.

By the ti the car stopped, my hands were shaking so hard I could barely grab the handle.

My legs didn’t feel like mine.

I stumbled out, moving on instinct, like maybe if I could just get to the rooftop, there’d be air there.

Sothing that wasn’t so heavy.

Sothing I could actually breathe.

But when I got there... it wasn’t air waiting for .

It was cold.

Empty.

Like .

The kiss kept flashing behind my eyes ... Kael’s hands on her face, his mouth against hers, the way his body leaned in like it belonged there. Like I wasn’t even a thought.

It made my chest burn, my stomach twist.

I staggered forward and my fingers closed around the neck of a half-empty whiskey bottle soone had left behind. I didn’t think. I just grabbed it. Tipped it back.

It scorched all the way down, but I didn’t stop.

I needed sothing to burn worse than my chest did.

"Aria... what the fuck are you doing?"

The voice cut through the haze ... sharp, familiar. Sylas.