Chapter 13:Between noise and truth
837 Words
The campus café was louder than usual.
Not because of music.
Not because of laughter.
But because of him.
James sat at their usual table, a half-finished drink in front of him, completely untouched. Around him, screens flickered with the same headlines, over and over again:
Shelton. Carlton. Alliance. Power shift. Max.
Always Max.
“…Okay, I’m just going to say it,” Camilla declared, dropping into the seat across from him. “If you tell me you’re ‘fine’ one more time, I might actually throw something at you.”
James didn’t look up. “That sounds unnecessary.”
“It’s extremely necessary,” she shot back.
Aston slid into the seat beside James, quieter but no less observant. He leaned back, arms crossed, eyes scanning James’ face like he was trying to read a language he almost understood.
“You’ve been like this for an hour,” Aston said. “That’s not normal, even for you.”
“I am normal.”
Camilla snorted. “You’re sitting in the middle of a global corporate earthquake like it’s a weather update.”
James finally looked up at that.
“…It kind of is.”
Camilla stared at him.
Then blinked.
Then leaned forward slowly.
“No,” she said, pointing at him. “No, don’t do that calm thing. Not today. That guy—” she gestured wildly at the nearest screen, where Max’s image flashed again, “—is not just some random mystery guy you met at a party. He is that Max.”
James followed her gesture briefly.
Max, standing beside Terra.
Composed. Untouchable.
Familiar.
“I noticed,” James said.
Aston tilted his head slightly. “You noticed,” he repeated. “That’s your reaction?”
James shrugged.
Camilla looked like she was about two seconds away from exploding.
“Okay, let’s try a different question,” she said, narrowing her eyes. “Did you know?”
There it was.
The real question.
James hesitated.
Just barely.
Aston caught it immediately.
“…You did,” he said quietly.
Camilla’s mouth dropped open. “You knew?!”
“I didn’t know,” James corrected. “I just… had a suspicion.”
“A suspicion?” she echoed. “What kind of suspicion? ‘Oh hey, the mysterious guy I kissed at a masked ball might secretly be the heir to one of the most powerful companies in the country’? That kind of suspicion?”
James didn’t answer right away.
Which was answer enough.
Camilla leaned back in her chair, dragging her hands down her face. “This is insane. I’m surrounded by insane people.”
Aston, on the other hand, was still watching James carefully.
“And you’re okay with it?” he asked.
James met his gaze.
There was no sarcasm this time.
“No,” he said honestly.
That shifted something.
Camilla lowered her hands. Aston straightened slightly.
James exhaled, running a hand through his hair.
“I’m not okay with it,” he continued. “I just… don’t think it changes what I felt.”
Silence.
Real silence this time.
Camilla blinked again, but slower.
“…You’re serious.”
“Yeah.”
Aston frowned slightly. “Even now? After all of this?” he gestured toward the screens, the noise, the chaos. “That’s not just a person anymore, James. That’s influence. Power. Problems.”
James gave a small, humorless smile.
“It was never just a person,” he said.
That hung in the air.
Because it was true.
Even at the beginning, Max had never felt simple.
Camilla leaned forward again, but this time her voice softened.
“And what about you?” she asked. “Where does that leave you in all of this?”
James looked down at his drink.
Still untouched.
“I don’t know,” he admitted.
Aston nodded slowly, like that was the first answer that actually made sense.
“Good,” he said. “Because if you told me you had everything figured out, I’d be worried.”
Camilla huffed lightly. “I’m already worried.”
James let out a quiet breath that almost sounded like a laugh.
“I figured.”
She pointed at him again, but without the earlier fire. “You should be careful.”
“I will.”
“I’m serious.”
“I know.”
Aston leaned forward slightly, resting his arms on the table.
“What are you going to do if he shows up?” he asked.
That question landed differently.
Heavier.
Closer.
James’ fingers tightened slightly around the edge of the table.
“…I don’t know,” he repeated.
But this time—
It wasn’t uncertainty.
It was anticipation.
Because deep down—
He had a feeling.
Camilla followed his gaze as it drifted toward the café entrance.
Students were still coming and going.
Loud.
Unaware.
Normal.
But something in the air had shifted.
Subtle.
Sharp.
Like the moment before a storm finally breaks.
Aston noticed it too.
“…James,” he said quietly.
- Writer
