Chapter 5

Nathan didn’t come back that night.

He didn’t text. Didn’t call. Not even a passive-aggressive “seen at 2am” moment. I should’ve felt relief—wasn’t that what I wanted? Space? Freedom?

Instead, the silence gnawed at me like a slow-burning fire I couldn’t put out.

I walked circles around my tiny apartment until my footsteps became part of the floor.

The air felt too still. The lights too bright. The world too loud.

I couldn’t sleep. Couldn’t sit still. I kept replaying it:

Then stop making me chase you.

I’m asking you. For the first time.

What was I supposed to do with that?

By morning, I was hollow-eyed, wearing the same shirt, and debating eating dry cereal in the shower just to feel something.

That’s when my phone buzzed.

Unknown Number: Please meet me at Cafe Solace around noon. I’d like to speak with you. — R

I frowned. Who the hell was R?

A quick search through my foggy brain made the answer hit me like a textbook falling off a shelf:

Riley.

Nathan’s girlfriend.

Bad.

Very bad.

Very very bad.

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The sky was annoyingly nice as I walked toward the café. Like the sun was mocking me.

Cafe Solace was calm and warm. The kind of place where people managed to enjoy the taste of their coffee rather than swallow their stress through it. I stood in the doorway like a criminal staring into court.

She was there.

Long black hair tied back. Simple white turtleneck. Glossy nails tapping a cup, not a wrinkle in her calm expression. Her back was straight. Her posture polite. Untouchable.

She was beautiful.

I hated her immediately.

“Lucas?” she asked, with the kind of voice meant for bookstores and poetry nights.

I nodded and took the seat opposite her.

She smiled, but it was a smile that didn’t reach her eyes.

“Thank you for coming.”

No pressure. No warmth. Just velvet-wrapped steel.

I swallowed. “So… I guess you know who I am.”

Riley’s eyes flicked down at her coffee.

“I didn’t, at first. Nathan never mentioned you. But I’m a curious person. Especially when someone shows up in every conversation without being named.”

My stomach twisted.

“He’s mentioned me?”

“He’s avoided mentioning you,” she corrected. “Which says a lot more.”

Oh.

She took a sip.

I wanted to throw myself into traffic.

“Let me get to the point,” she continued. “I’ve been with Nathan for six months. He’s kind. Steady. We get along. But something changed recently.”

Recently.

Ah. Of course.

“I realized he started checking his phone more. Leaving rooms during calls. Getting quiet without explanation. That’s new. Then yesterday, I overheard him arguing with himself in the kitchen.”

She set her cup down gently.

“He said your name.”

The silence between us became a suffocating blanket.

I stared into my lap, pulse stuttering.

Riley tapped her finger thoughtfully on the rim of her cup.

“Lucas, are you in love with Nathan?”

I choked.

“What? No. Definitely not. I don’t— that’s not— I’m not—”

“Because Nathan is,” she said quietly.

The world tilted.

She didn’t say it out of anger or manipulation. Just… truth.

Pure and violent.

“Nathan’s not the type to show his emotions easily,” she continued. “So if he’s still hurting over you after three years, then I need to know where I stand.”

There was no hatred in her tone. No anger.

Just hurt.

I never expected to feel sorry for her.

“…I didn’t come back to ruin anything,” I finally said, voice low. “I’m not trying to take him from you.”

“So he’s not yours?”

“No,” I whispered, and ignored how painful it felt to say. “He never was.”

Riley nodded and folded her hands. “Then you need to tell him that. So he can make a choice, instead of constantly teetering between illusion and reality.”

She reached for her bag.

“Whatever Nathan decides, I just… need honesty. I don’t want to be in a love triangle I didn’t sign up for.”

Her phone buzzed.

She glanced at it once—and went still.

It was a text from Nathan.

I didn’t need to see the screen to know.

When she stood, she paused beside me.

“You know,” she said, voice softer than before, “you’re not the villain in his story.” A breath. “But you might be in mine.”

That hurt more than I wanted to admit.

She left.

And fifteen minutes later, Nathan arrived.

Standing in the doorway.

Looking like thunder.

Eyes finding mine instantly.

Jaw clenched.

Something raw and unguarded swirling behind his stare.

“Why did you meet her?” he asked softly, not moving an inch.

My heart thumped like a trapped bird.

“I didn’t know how else to make it stop,” I said. “I didn’t want things to get messy—”

“Messy?” Nathan repeated, voice cracking on it. “Lucas, it’s already messy.”

He stepped closer. The café seemed to shrink around us.

“You came back. You kissed me. You stayed. And then you act like nothing’s changed?”

“Nathan—”

He shook his head, chest heaving.

“I’ve spent three years trying to forget you,” he whispered. “And I couldn’t. Not even when I tried to love someone else.”

That sentence sank deep. Too deep.

“I don’t know what you want,” he continued. “I don’t know if you want closure, revenge, another escape. But I need to know what this is—” he pointed between us “—before I go insane.”

He waited.

And for once—it wasn’t anger in his eyes.

It was fear.

And that terrified me more than anything.

⸻

End of Chapter 5

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