CHAPTER 12: THE FIRST CRACK
203 Words
What?”
“I don’t want you to need me,” he said. “I want you to choose me.”
Her heart—
That was worse.
Much worse.
It happened without warning.
A simple moment.
A dangerous one.
Elara laughed.
And Adrian froze.
“What?” she asked.
“You don’t do that often.”
“Do what?”
“Laugh like that.”
She looked away.
“Maybe I just don’t have reasons to.”
“Then I’ll give you more.”
Her breath caught.
The tension shifted.
Again.
That pull.
That friction.
Unavoidable.
“Adrian…”
He stepped closer.
Slow.
Intentional.
“If I kiss you right now,” he said quietly, “will you stop me?”
Her heart pounded.
Logic screamed.
But her body—
Her heart—
Her truth—
“No,” she whispered.
And that was all it took.
⸻
The kiss wasn’t soft.
It wasn’t gentle.
It was everything they had been holding back.
Weeks.
Months.
Tension.
Pain.
Desire.
It collided all at once.
And for a moment—
Nothing else existed.
After that—
Everything changed.
And yet—
Everything stayed complicated.
Elara pulled away first.
Breathing uneven.
“This doesn’t fix anythin
- Writer
