Sweet Hatred Chapter 95: ... son-in-law."

ARIA

I stood there like a complete idiot, staring at the empty space where Kael had disappeared. My lips were still tingling, my heart still hamring against my ribs like it didn’t know he was gone. I should’ve moved. I should’ve gone inside. Instead, I just stood there, shivering like so lovesick fool who didn’t know better.

I rubbed the back of my hand against my mouth, as if that could erase what just happened. It didn’t. I could still feel him. His hands, his mouth, the heat he left behind like a curse. God, I hated him. I hated him for doing this. I hated myself even more for letting him.

A gust of wind hit , snapping out of whatever trance I was stuck in. I wasn’t so helpless little girl standing outside her own damn apartnt. I wasn’t going to give him that power over .

I grabbed the door handle and yanked it open, my fingers trembling from the cold... or maybe from sothing worse.

The second I stepped inside, the noise hit like a brick wall again. Laughter, shouting, the high-pitched squeal of kids running around like lunatics. Balloons floated against the ceiling, and a half-squashed birthday banner hung crooked over the living room. It slled like cake and pizza and whatever cheap candles Olivia found last minute.

I shoved the door shut behind a little harder than necessary. No one even noticed.

"Aria!" Olivia’s voice cut through the chaos. I barely had ti to turn my head before she was pushing through the crowd, a bright pink frosting stain on her sleeve and a look on her face like she was two seconds away from handing a toddler.

"Finally. Where were you? Kaleb’s about to cut the cake."

I opened my mouth, but nothing ca out. What was I even supposed to say? Sorry, I was outside getting my soul chewed up and spit out by the man I’m supposed to hate?

Instead, I just shook my head and muttered, "Had to take a call."

It was a weak lie, and Olivia squinted at like she almost didn’t buy it, but before she could push, one of the kids scread bloody murder and she flinched. "Whatever. Just—co on."

I glanced over at Mom on the couch before following. She looked so small sitting there, bundled in a thick blanket, her wheelchair tucked beside her. Her eyes were half-closed, smiling faintly at the noise she probably didn’t have the energy to fully enjoy. It made my chest twist.

I forced a smile and turned back toward the party, pretending like I hadn’t just felt my whole world tilt sideways outside that door.

I ended up squeezed between two folding chairs, so little kid’s balloon animal cramd under my arm, pretending to laugh at whatever Kaleb was babbling about while Olivia cut the cake and her sorry excuse of a husband took pictures. Every noise felt like it was happening underwater.

I should’ve been happy. I should’ve been present.

This was Kaleb’s day. This was Mom finally ho. This was supposed to be one of the good monts we held onto. But my chest felt too tight, my skin buzzing like I was about to crawl out of it.

"Aria, you want a slice?" Olivia shouted over the chaos, waving a plastic plate at .

I nodded and took it, even though my stomach twisted at the sll of frosting.

Soone turned the music up. More kids started screaming. Soone dropped a cup, and soda splashed across the floor. Olivia was yelling at them to sit down before soone broke their neck.

I sat there, frozen in the middle of it, the plate balanced in my lap, the fork slipping between my fingers.

All I could see was his face.

All I could hear was my own heartbeat, pounding like it was trying to punch its way out of my body.

That bastard. He definitely did it on purpose. I an... we’ve kissed many tis haven’t we? So why was this one so different...

I stabbed at the cake, shoving a forkful into my mouth just to do sothing, anything, but it tasted like cardboard. I chewed and swallowed and smiled when Kaleb grinned at with frosting sared all over his chin, like I wasn’t cracking apart right there in my chair.

God, I was so stupid.

I should’ve known better than to think I could walk away from him and just... slip back into my life like nothing happened.

Like he hadn’t just looked at like that. Touched like that. Torn through every wall I thought I still had left. I had spent almost a week at his place letting myself drown in pleasure because he wouldn’t let go.

I made it through two more bites of cake before Olivia’s voice cut through the noise again, sharper this ti.

"Aria. Can you help real quick?

I jumped up too fast, the plate tipping and nearly slipping out of my hand. I caught it, muttered sothing that probably wasn’t a real word, and shoved it onto the coffee table before weaving through the crowd toward her.

She t halfway, looking frazzled, a roll of paper towels under one arm and Kaleb’s juice box in the other.

"Can you keep an eye on Mom for a sec? I need to clean up that spill before the kids start skating across it."

I nodded automatically, my mouth dry. Anything. Anything to get away from the center of the noise.

Mom was parked by the window, her wheelchair angled to watch the chaos without being dragged into it. Her blanket had slipped down her knees again, and she was fiddling with the edge of it, half-distracted, half-lost in her own thoughts.

I knelt beside her, fixing the blanket and smoothing it out even though she didn’t ask to.

"Hey, Ma," I said, keeping my voice light. "Having fun?"

She smiled, small and a little tired. "It’s nice, isn’t it?"

Her hand patted my cheek, the way she used to when I was little, back before everything got so damn complicated.

I swallowed hard and nodded. "Yeah. It is."

And for a second, it almost felt real — the party, the laughter, the ssy, noisy life I was supposed to be grateful for. But just beneath it, there was still that aching emptiness.

Still the cold imprint of where he’d stood, watching , and then left without a word.

Mom’s hand didn’t leave my cheek right away. Instead, she patted again, her smile getting a little mischievous, like she was about to say sothing I wouldn’t like.

"You know," she said lightly, "that young man from earlier—he seed very nice. Gentle, too."

I blinked. For a second, I thought she was talking about soone else. Then it hit .

Kael.

I laughed awkwardly, tugging the blanket a little higher up her legs even though it didn’t need adjusting. "He can be nice," I admitted, keeping my tone as neutral as possible. "But he’s mostly a pain in the ass" I mumbled to myself.

Mom gave a look—one of those slow, knowing, mom looks that made want to lt right into the carpet.

"What?" I said, trying not to sound defensive.

She shrugged, way too innocent. "He’d make a good son-in-law."