Chapter Ten:After the Fall
781 Words
The day after the kiss felt like walking across thin glass — every sound too loud, every breath too sharp.
Aria barely made it through her morning class. She sat at the back, head down, ignoring Bella’s not-so-subtle glances. Her phone buzzed once. Then twice. Zane. But she didn’t open the texts.
Not yet.
She couldn’t decide if she was flying or falling.
All she could think about was the kiss.
His hands.
Her heartbeat.
The way the world had stopped for just that moment — like it had been holding its breath with them.
But then the world exhaled. And everything came rushing back in.
---
✦
After class, Aria stepped outside into the bright, cruel sunlight. It was the kind of day that should feel warm and safe — but she felt exposed.
Eyes followed her.
Whispers slid through crowds like smoke.
She knew what they were saying.
She didn’t even need to check the gossip board again. The picture had done its job. Even with the caption taken down by admins, the damage was done. People had screenshotted. Shared. Saved.
And now Aria Monroe, the Dean’s perfect daughter, was a rumor.
A scandal.
A girl with a secret.
---
She ducked into the nearest building just to breathe, finding herself in the empty second-floor hallway of the Psychology Department.
That’s when she heard the voice.
“I don’t care who her father is — if she’s dumb enough to throw her future away over some scholarship kid, she deserves what’s coming.”
A pause.
Then laughter.
Aria stood frozen behind a column.
The voices belonged to two upper-year students — seniors who sat front row in every class and smiled too wide when her father walked by.
She turned and left without letting them see her face.
But her chest ached the whole way back to her dorm.
---
✦
Zane stared at his phone long after the message went unread.
He sat alone in the campus art studio, sketching with too much pressure, breaking pencil tips like they were bones.
He knew she was scared.
She had every right to be.
He just didn’t want her to go quiet. Not like this.
He should’ve known the kiss would change everything. But he didn’t regret it.
Not even for a second.
In fact, it was the first thing he hadn’t regretted in years.
---
Later that evening, his phone lit up.
Aria: Meet me. 9PM. Same place.
---
✦
The art room was dark when Aria stepped inside. She left the door open behind her, letting moonlight filter through.
Zane was already there, leaning against a table, arms crossed.
He didn’t speak.
Neither did she.
The silence stretched.
Finally, Aria exhaled. “Everyone knows.”
Zane nodded once. “I figured.”
“My father hasn’t said a word to me since breakfast.”
Zane’s expression darkened.
“I think…” she hesitated, “I think he’s planning something.”
“Like what?”
“Like using his position to get you kicked out.”
Zane straightened. “Wouldn’t be the first time someone tried to get rid of me.”
“But it’d be my fault,” she said softly.
“No,” he said immediately. “Don’t do that. Don’t take the weight that’s mine.”
“But it’s mine too, Zane,” she snapped. “This isn’t just about you anymore. It’s about us. And the world doesn’t want ‘us.’”
That silence again.
Then, Zane walked toward her slowly.
“You’re scared,” he said.
“I’m terrified.”
“Same,” he admitted.
Aria blinked at him. “Then why are you so calm?”
“I’m not.” His hand reached for hers. “But I know one thing. I’d rather burn with you than breathe without you.”
Her throat tightened.
And just like that — she broke again.
Into his arms. Into his chest. Into the only place she’d felt real in weeks.
---
✦
They sat there for a long time, curled on the floor between old easels and forgotten paintbrushes.
“I used to come here to escape,” he said quietly. “When my mom would scream. When the world felt too loud.”
She didn’t ask what he meant.
She just listened.
“Now you’re here. And it doesn’t feel like escape anymore. It feels like... home.”
Aria turned to look at him.
“Zane?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you ever think... we met at the wrong time?”
Zane sighed. “I think we met at the only time we could’ve survived it.”
And somehow, that was enough.
For now.
- Writer
