Author POV
The rooftop garden was tucked into a corner, half-forgotten behind a row of overgrown potted plants and string lights that hadn't been turned on yet. It was quieter here-peaceful in that fragile kind of way.
Amelia sat on the low edge of a planter box, scrolling her phone absently, her coffee cup beside her, untouched.
She didn't look up right away when Justin stepped around the corner, hands in his pockets, coffee cup now only a prop.
"Wow," he said, voice just above a murmur. "Thought this place was a myth."
She glanced up, half a smile tugging at her lips. "You found it."
"Needed a refill," he lied smoothly, raising the cup.
She gave him a look.
"You've been gone for fifteen minutes. You don't drink that slowly."
He chuckled and took a seat next to her-not too close, but closer than necessary.
"I guess I came looking for some peace and quiet."
"And accidentally found me?"
He looked at her, met her eyes for a second too long. "Yeah. Total accident."
Silence settled between them-not awkward, not forced. Just full.
A pause. Then:
"You okay?" he asked, softer now. "You left kinda suddenly."
She shrugged, but there was a vulnerability tucked just beneath the motion. "Just needed some space. It's loud in there."
"You're not really the loud-crowd type, are you?"
"No," she said. Then after a beat, "But I like watching them be loud. I like that they can just... exist without thinking so hard."
He nodded. "Yeah. I get that."
She looked at him again, studying his face like she was trying to read something behind it.
"You've been different lately," she said.
Justin tilted his head, eyebrows lifting. "Different how?"
"Less guarded. More... here."
He let out a quiet exhale. "Maybe I'm just getting used to all of you."
She smiled. "All of us? Or just me?"
He didn't answer right away. Instead, he looked out over the edge, the city stretching below them like a heartbeat.
Then:
"I don't know what I'm doing, Amelia."
She blinked, caught off-guard. "What do you mean?"
He shrugged, eyes still on the skyline. "Talking to you like this. Sitting out here. Caring. It's like I started and didn't even notice I'd started, and now I don't know how to stop."
Her voice was quiet. "Do you want to stop?"
He turned to her then-really turned, and the world shrank a little.
"No," he said. Just that. Simple. Certain.
Amelia looked down at her hands, a small, stunned kind of smile on her lips.
"Okay," she whispered.
Their fingers didn't touch.
But they didn't need to.
Not yet.
It was a moment of understanding each other, even when there was minimal exchange of words.
Soon, the silence was interrupted by the soft ring of Amelia's phone.
"Mom" the caller ID read.
Amelia's posture changed.
From open to closed. Relaxed to rigid.
Justin noticed it instantly.
Amelia stared at the screen for a second too long, jaw tightening, like she was trying to decide if she should answer. Her fingers hovered over the "Decline" button-but didn't move.
"You okay?" Justin asked, voice low.
She didn't look at him.
Just forced a breath in. Then out.
"I have to take this," she said flatly, standing up.
He nodded, but didn't like the shift in her tone. Not at all.
She stepped away, walking to the far edge of the garden where the wind was louder than the city. Justin stayed seated but watched her-something in his chest tugging.
She answered the call.
"Hi."
Her voice was careful. Hollow.
On the other end, her mother's voice-only heard through the faint tinny echo-sounded cheerful. Sweet, almost. But practiced. Like she was playing the role of a doting mom she had never been cast for.
"Oh, you finally picked up! I was beginning to think you'd blocked me again."
A bitter laugh.
Amelia didn't respond.
"Anyway, I was just checking in. You know, being a good mother. How's school? Are you still doing... whatever it is you do? Art? Aviation? I forget."
That last sentence landed like a knife.
Amelia's voice cracked. Not loudly-but enough.
"I'm fine."
"Well, good. You sound tired. You should take care of yourself more. You never looked healthy in Chicago."
Amelia closed her eyes, fingers tightening around the phone. Her knuckles were white.
Justin could see the tension, the way her shoulders curled inward like she was bracing for more. Like she'd heard worse before and was just waiting for it.
"I didn't call to fight, Amelia," her mother said, voice suddenly sweet again. "I miss you. You know I care. You just never made it easy."
That-that-broke something.
Amelia swallowed hard. Her voice barely came out.
"You always say that. But you never did."
There was silence on the line for a second.
Then a sharp, cold reply.
"Don't start again. You're too old to still blame me for everything."
Amelia exhaled, slow and shaky.
"I have to go."
She didn't wait for a response. She ended the call and let the phone fall to her side.
She didn't move. Just stood there, back to Justin, blinking hard at the sky like she could force the tears not to fall.
After a few beats, she heard soft footsteps behind her.
Justin didn't say anything.
He didn't ask what the call was about.
He just stood beside her in silence.
And after a moment, gently-without making a scene-he held out his coffee cup, still warm.
"Here," he said. "It's bitter. But it helps."
She took it. No smile. But her fingers brushed his, and this time, she didn't pull away.
Not from the coffee.
Not from him.
Not from the quiet comfort of someone finally choosing to stay without asking for pieces of her she couldn't give.
Amelia POV
Justin hadn't asked.
Not once.
He didn't say "Are you okay?" or "Do you want to talk about it?"
He just sat-quiet and steady like a wall I didn't realize I needed to lean on.
And that scared me more than anything.
Because the silence was kind.
And kindness made the walls creaked.
In my head, everything was loud.
"Don't tell him. He'll look at you differently.
You're just a mess pretending to be held together.
It's not that bad. Others had it worse. Get over it.
If you say it out loud, it becomes more real.
What if he pities you? What if he leaves?"
But beneath all that noise was something even softer-and more dangerous:
"What if he stays?"
Because if he stayed, if he understood, if he looked at me the same after hearing all the ugly I had tucked away in the corners of my memory...
Then I wouldn't be able to keep pretending I didn't need anyone.
And that would break me in a different way.
I stared at my hands in my lap. My fingers were shaking slightly. I curled them into fists.
"Amelia?" Justin asked gently, finally.
I didn't look at him. Not yet.
"Back in Chicago," I started, voice quiet like a door cracking open, "I wasn't okay."
Justin didn't speak. Just waited. Like always.
I drew in a breath that felt like it burned my throat.
"My mom... it was her call..." I started. "She wasn't ever really a mom. You know that fake sweet voice she does on the phone?" I laughed bitterly. "That's her best version."
Justin's jaw tensed, but he still didn't interrupt.
"She used to scream," I continued. "Not always. Not every day. That would've been easier, in a way. At least I'd know when to brace. But sometimes, it was just silence. Ice. Cold stares that made me feel like a ghost in my own house."
I paused. Swallowed.
"She'd blame me for things. Say I ruined her life. That I was ungrateful, dramatic, selfish. She told me I was hard to love. Repeated it until I started believing it."
Justin's hands tightened around the cup between them. But still-he said nothing. He knew this wasn't a story to be fixed. Just heard.
"I left the first chance I got," I whispered. "Scholarship, new city, dorm room that smelled like wet carpet-but it was mine. And for the first time, I could breathe."
I finally looked up at him.
My eyes weren't teary anymore. Just raw. Honest.
"I don't tell people this. Not because I'm ashamed-but because no one really knows what to do with it. They either pity you or pretend they didn't hear it. Or they start treating you like you're glass."
Justin met her gaze with something unshakeable in his eyes.
"You're not glass, Amelia," he said quietly. "You're steel with a voice like velvet. And anyone who made you think otherwise was wrong."
A long silence.
Then, I exhaled-like I'd been holding that breath since Chicago.
"I don't know why I told you, " I murmured.
"Maybe because," Justin said, "you knew I'd still be sitting here afterward."
And he was.
Right there.
Still.
Justin broke the silence, "I understand your situation, Amelia... But I hope you're on good terms with your dad..."
Hearing about dad, I smiled a little. A genuine smile. I looked at Justin and replied, by nodding my head, "He loves me... Not that I am my dad's princess, I am his little warrior... He even saved my contact number by this name on his phone," I chuckled a bit while remembering that moment.
I glanced at Justin. A small undeniable smile adorned his face. He was looking at me since the beginning like he was reading my mind.
"I remember every moment I spent with him since childhood," I continued. "He never protested against me whenever I wanted to do his makeup or tie him a ponytail. We used to go to long drives and evening walks after he returned to home from work. And our ice-cream dates.... I lost count of how many times we had them."
I looked up to see Justin. What I saw was a rare sight. He was completely turned towards me with his right elbow resting on the table, and right palm supporting his chin with fingers curled up. I wish I could capture this heart-warming moment.
It seemed like he froze. For a moment, I wanted to look deep into his eyes and study him like a mystery novel whose every chapter held a secret waiting to be unraveled.
Instead, I blinked and passed him a tight lip smile He immediately mirrored my action and his little smile turned into a huge genuine smile, letting out a breath he was holding since long.
Ten minutes later,
Amelia and Justin stepped back into the light.
And for a split second, the world paused.
Nothing had changed.
But something had shifted.
Amelia wasn't smiling big. She wasn't glowing. But she was... softer. Lighter in her eyes. Her shoulders weren't so tense. She walked like her spine wasn't holding up the weight of silence anymore.
Justin was just behind her, a step or two back-not hovering, not touching, but present. Grounded. Like a constant she hadn't realized she needed.
Katherine's eyes narrowed instantly. Not in judgment-just razor-sharp best-friend radar fully activated.
She leaned toward Daisy, stage-whispering, "Okay, what's that vibe?"
Daisy: "That's either a secret kiss or a trauma dump. Fifty-fifty."
Sarah blinked. "Wait. Did you guys-?"
"Nope," Amelia said calmly, sliding into her seat again like she hadn't just said the most honest thing she'd said in years fifteen minutes ago. "We just talked."
Katherine's eyes softened as she sat down beside her. "Good talk?"
Amelia glanced at Justin.
And for once, she didn't guard the answer.
"Yeah," she said. "The kind that... makes room."
Katherine didn't ask more. Just gently bumped her shoulder with hers. That was enough.
Andrew, meanwhile, was still pretending to faint from the lack of gossip.
"Ugh, fine, don't give us the romance arc," he whined. "I'll go write fanfiction in my notes app."
Justin deadpanned, "Please don't."
Everyone laughed.
And just like that, the moment shifted again-back to noise, fries, chaos, laughter.
But Amelia, for the first time in a long time, felt like she was part of it.
Not performing.
Just... there.
And Justin, stealing a glance at her from behind his coffee cup, was glad he had followed her.
Even if he still wasn't sure why.
Maybe some things didn't need a reason.
They just needed a moment.
I was so overwhelmed writing this chapter 😌 The way Amelia opened up about her family and the way Justin listened to her patiently....it was such a moment!!!! 😩
Please vote and comment if you liked this chapter. The next chapter will be updated soon. Take care, cuties 💙
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