Over the following weeks, Emma tried to bury the jealousy deep inside. She threw herself into work, spent less time with Lily and Ethan, but the tension hung between them like a fragile glass wall.
One evening, Emma caught a glimpse of Ethan and Lily talking quietly by the café window. Their smiles, so familiar and easy, stabbed at Emma's heart. She couldn't take it anymore.
That night, she confronted Ethan.
"Why do you always seem to choose her over me?" she asked, voice cracking.
Ethan looked shocked. "Emma, I'm with you. Lily is just a friend."
"But it doesn't feel that way," Emma whispered.
Ethan reached for her hand. "I don't want to lose you. But you have to trust me."
Trust. The word felt foreign to Emma now.