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Chapter 38 - Chapter 38 – Quiet Realizations

The house was still and wrapped in the silence that only came after midnight. I should've been asleep after the long trip, but my mind refused to rest.

Ellie's face at the door wouldn't leave me. Her pale, nervous eyes are darting like she'd been caught stealing a secret. And Tristan, who usually commanded every room with his cold and calm self, looked unsettled, with his attention fixed on her as if nothing else mattered.

I padded softly through the hall, intending to check on Ellie, maybe reassuring her after the strange tension earlier, but as I neared the guest room, I froze.

There was a voice. Low and hushed, just behind the wall.

I pressed my back against the cool plaster, my heart racing as I strained to hear.

_

 "You shouldn't be here, Tristan. If Sophia, if anyone sees us…."

Her voice was a whisper, tight with worry.

 "I don't care who finds out, Ellie." His tone was quiet and firm. "I only want you to know that I care about you."

_

The words sank into me like a stone dropping into water.

Ellie's sharp inhale followed. "You know you don't mean that."

"But he did," Sophia said in her heart. She could hear it in his voice; in a way, he didn't hesitate.

"I've always meant it, Ellie. Even when I tried not to."

I pressed a hand to my chest, torn between stepping in or staying silent.

 "You know this will only hurt Sophia. She's my best friend. I can't do this to her."

Her voice broke, trembling on the edge of something fragile.

 "Sophia loves you, Ellie. I know she'll understand this, understand us…"

A pause too long, then, softer, rougher, "And I can't keep standing by, pretending I don't feel this, Ellie."

My throat tightened.

I wanted to storm in, to demand answers, but my feet wouldn't move.

My best friend's and my brother's voices carried something raw, something real, and it terrified me because part of me already knew what it meant.

Ellie's silence stretched, long and aching, before she finally whispered, "Tristan, please."

I couldn't listen to this anymore; its weight was too much. Quietly, I slipped back down the hall, with my heavy heart, my thoughts a storm.

I had come home expecting laughter, a sleepover, and normalcy with my best friend. Instead, I found myself standing in the shadows of something that could change everything. Our friendship, my family, and the balance of trust I had always taken for granted.

And the worst part of all this? I didn't know if I was ready for the truth.

Sophia lies awake in her room, torn between confronting Ellie in the morning and keeping silent about this. As dawn breaks, she finds Tristan already waiting outside, as though guarding Ellie's door.

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