Page 93 of Glass Jawed

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But then—he stops.

The air shifts.

“If... if you want to take legal action, I won’t contest it.”

My brain stalls.

What?

I turn to face him, frowning, blinking harder now. Is this his sick way of taking accountability? Offering himself up like some tragic martyr so he can feel better about what he did?

His eyes stay on the floor, unmoving.

I scoff, shaking my head in disbelief. He doesn’t say anything. Doesn’t defend himself. Just swallows—once, hard. Like he knows there’s nothing to say.

And then, just as he reaches for the doorknob, he pauses.

His voice is so quiet, I almost miss it.

“It was when you destroyed me at ping pong on our second date,” he says, barely above a whisper, “that’s when it became less of a plan... and more of a real thing.”

I blink.

I don’t want to hear this. I don’t want to feel anything right now.

But his voice cracks—and it slices something in me open.

“And by the time I kissed you for the first time that same night,” he breathes, “it was already too late. I was already...in it.In you. And it was the only thing that didn’t feel like a lie.”

There’s a long pause, like he’s trying to pull something from the deepest part of himself.

“I fell in love with you, Aarohi,” he says, quiet and wrecked. His jaw trembling. “Not because I deserve to be. Not becauseI expect you to... return it. Not because of the stupid plan. But because... loving you brought the real me back.”

He opens the door.

He doesn’t look back.

He doesn’t wait for a response.

He just... leaves.

And I sit there on the couch, arms still crossed, heart still in pieces, staring at the door he walked out of—wondering why, even now, it hurts this much to lose something I never really had.

It’s been barely five minutes.

I haven’t moved. My jaw still tight. The air feels heavy, like something sacred and ruined is lingering in it.

My phone buzzes.

Liam: Are you okay?

What the hell?

My forehead scrunches. I never told Liam about meeting Lucian today. I never told him anything. Not in days.

Me: ??

The typing bubbles appear almost instantly. And then—

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