Chapter 17: The First Real Date
The rain had started sometime after midnight, a soft, persistent drizzle that seemed to wash the neon off the Old District's streets. Jaden had insisted on closing up the Seven-Star with April, sweeping the floors and restocking shelves with a quiet, almost meditative focus. Mr. Han had taken one look at the boy in the expensive hoodie and decided not to ask questions. He'd simply handed Jaden a broom and disappeared into the back office, understanding without words that some moments didn't require explanation.
By 2 AM, they were walking through the sleeping city.
"I couldn't sleep," Jaden said simply, his hands buried deep in his pockets. "I kept thinking about this morning. About kissing you."
April walked beside him, her worn-out sneakers splashing through puddles. The world felt different at this hour smaller, safer, like it belonged only to them. The usual chaos of the city had been replaced by a gentle quiet, the kind that made it easy to believe they were the only two people awake in the world.
"You came all the way out here just because you couldn't sleep?" April asked, though she wasn't surprised. This was becoming their pattern. Jaden showing up when he said he would. Jaden choosing her over sleep, over his perfect schedule, over everything else.
"I came because I needed to see you," Jaden said. He glanced at her, and there was something vulnerable in his expression. "Is that crazy?"
"Probably," April said, but she was smiling. "My boss thinks you're either my boyfriend or a very persistent stalker."
"I'm hoping it's the former," Jaden said softly.
They reached a small, 24-hour diner wedged between a closed bookstore and a laundromat. The neon sign flickered, casting pale blue light across the empty street. Through the grimy windows, April could see maybe three other customers hunched over coffee cups like they were holding onto the last threads of their lives. A couple in one booth, their hands intertwined. An old man reading a newspaper in another. A woman who looked like she'd been there since yesterday.
"I came here once," Jaden said, stopping in front of the entrance. His reflection in the window looked almost unfamiliar softer, less polished. "When I couldn't go home. When I needed to disappear."
"How many secret places do you have?" April asked.
"More than I'd like to admit," Jaden said. "But this is the first one I want to share with you."
They sat in a corner booth. The vinyl was cracked, the table had a small burn mark on the edge, and the plastic laminate was peeling slightly. A tired waitress with purple-streaked hair brought menus without looking up from her phone. Jaden ordered coffee. April ordered eggs and toast.
They ate in comfortable silence for a while, watching the few other patrons of the night. The old man turned pages slowly. The couple across the room whispered to each other, their conversation private and intimate. Everything felt smaller, more real, stripped of pretense.
"I keep thinking about what you said," Jaden said eventually, pushing food around his plate with his fork. "That it stopped being fake for you. When did you know? Was it the PC cafe?"
April set down her fork and looked at him. Really looked at him. Without the school uniform, without the perfect hair and the expensive watch, he just looked like a boy who was tired and trying to figure out how to be honest.
"The PC cafe," she confirmed. "When you hid in the dark with me. That's when I realized you were real. Not the Golden Boy version everyone sees. Just... you. The scared, brilliant, hiding version of you."
Jaden's jaw tightened slightly. "I'm terrified," he said quietly, his voice barely audible over the hum of the diner. "Of losing you. Of losing this. Of waking up and finding out this was all just another performance I was doing."
"You're not going to lose me," April said. But even as she said it, she wondered if she could keep that promise. She wondered what would happen when reality crashed back in. When school started again. When the pretense they'd built ran out of time.
They left the diner as the sun was starting to rise, painting the eastern sky in shades of pink and orange. The rain had stopped, and the city was beginning to wake up. The streets were still quiet, but birds were starting to sing. A delivery truck rumbled past. A street vendor was setting up his stand.
Jaden led her to a small park overlooking the district a place April had never been, probably because it wasn't somewhere scholarship students were encouraged to wander. There was a bench, and they sat, watching the sun paint the sky in deeper shades of gold.
Jaden's arm came around her shoulders. It wasn't for cameras. There was no one here to see them. It was just him needing to hold her, needing the physical connection to prove this was real.
"April?" he whispered into the quiet morning, his breath warm against her temple.
"Yeah?"
"I know we started this as a contract. I know you were blackmailing me with that photo. I know this is supposed to be temporary, just until graduation." He paused, and she felt him take a shaky breath. "But somewhere between the PC cafe and last night, somewhere between the fake dates and the real ones, it stopped being fake for me."
April turned to face him, her heart hammering against her ribs. The sun was rising behind him, making him look like he was glowing from within. She reached up, her fingers tracing the line of his jaw.
"Jaden—" she started, but he pressed a gentle finger to her lips.
"Just listen," he said softly. "I need you to know that I'm all in. No more pretending. No more contracts. No more looking over my shoulder to make sure we're being believable. Just you and me figuring this out. Real. Messy. Honest."
He leaned in slowly, giving her every chance to pull away. But April didn't pull away. When their lips met, it tasted like coffee and rain and the promise of something that might actually be real. It was slow and tender, a complete contrast to the intensity of their kiss in the dark. This felt like a beginning. This felt like a choice.
It was interrupted by a sharp, piercing sound that cut through the quiet morning like a knife.
April's phone.
She pulled back, her heart sinking. She reached for it with trembling fingers. The screen showed: MOM. 6:47 AM.
Her mother never called this early. Her mother worked the night shift at the hospital. Her mother would be sleeping.
"I have to take this," April said, standing up on unsteady legs.
Jaden squeezed her hand, releasing her reluctantly.
"April?" Her mother's voice was panicked, breathless, a tone April had never heard before. "Mija, it's your father. There was an accident at the site. He fell from the scaffolding. They took him to County General. You need to come right now."
The world stopped.
The sun kept rising. The birds kept singing. But April's world had frozen.
"Is he—" April couldn't finish the sentence. Couldn't say the word that terrified her most.
"He's alive, but he's hurt. Please, mija, hurry. And April?" Her mother's voice cracked. "The medical bills... I don't know what we're going to do."
April hung up, her hands shaking so violently she almost dropped the phone.
Jaden was already on his feet. "What happened? April, what's wrong?"
"My father," April said, her voice sounding strange and distant. "The hospital. I have to go."
"I'm coming with you," Jaden said, already pulling out his phone. "I'll call for a car."
But April was barely listening. Her mind was already spiraling through worst-case scenarios. Her father in pain. Her mother panicking. Medical bills. The scholarship. Everything fragile again.
Jaden's hand gripped hers, grounding her.
"We'll figure it out," he said, though she wasn't sure he believed it either. "Whatever it is, we'll figure it out."
But as they waited for the car, watching the sun fully rise over a city that suddenly felt much colder, April wondered if anything would ever be figured out. Or if they were just about to discover how quickly everything could fall apart.