HER UNREQUITED LOVE

Forbidden♡

Colton's POV

Oh, okay. I guess you’ve already heard all about me. Colton Vance. The golden boy of Oak Haven Academy, the star varsity football captain, and—as most people love to whisper behind my back—the incredibly arrogant, cold, and rude one.

​Yeah. That’s who I am now.

​But I wasn’t always like this. You don’t just wake up one day with a heart made of ice. You become like this when you are completely betrayed by the ones you love the most. Or maybe not… I guess it’s a bit more complicated than that. When you suddenly unearth a disturbing, buried truth about your own family, you realize very quickly that the world is not all cupcakes and rainbows.

​And I bet you’ve all met Aria by now, right?

Yeah, the scholarship girl. The "charity case."

​Well… yeah. If you ran back the clock years ago, I used to love her to absolute bits. Walking out of that clinic today, with Olivia’s furious words echoing in my ears, my mind unwillingly dragged me backward into a past I spent every single day trying to burn to ash.

​I remember the way we used to be. I used to play with her in the garden for hours, completely oblivious to the elite status structures of the world. We were inseparable. Every hot afternoon, the ice cream truck would pass by the edge of our estate, and I’d sneak out just to buy her a scoop of her favorite mint chocolate chip, watching her laugh as it melted down her fingers. We had games for everything—tag, hide-and-seek, and our own ridiculous, top-secret friendship handshake. Three rapid taps on the chest, a synchronized fist bump, and a pinky swearing that we’d be best friends until we were old and gray.

​We spent those golden summers together at the exclusive Vance summer camps. It was always me, Aria, and Lyra, running wild through the woods, building blanket forts that we claimed were unbreakable fortresses. Back then, Aria was the center of my universe. Whenever the neighborhood kids or snobbish cousins tried to pick on her, mocking her for being quiet or fragile, I would transform into a vicious guard dog. I’d step directly in front of her, balling my fists, ready to fight the entire world just to keep her safe.

​And her attacks… God, I remembered them too vividly. Even back then, her lungs were a ticking time bomb. I remember a specific afternoon at camp when she collapsed onto the grass, wheezing desperately, her face completely drained of color. Lyra had panicked, screaming for adults, but I had stayed right there on the dirt floor with her. I had pulled her head onto my lap, rubbing her back in steady circles, whispering over and over into her ear, “Breathe, Aria. Just copy me. I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere.” I had been her anchor. I had been her protector.

​But now? Now, all I force myself to feel for her is burning hatred.

​We’re young, right? So what? People think high school drama is just petty games, but it’s all because of her and her people that my own family is a complete mess. Everything spiraled out of control because of what happened between our parents, and it utterly ruined us. The day the illusions shattered, the day I found out how my mother had been deceived, how my family's legacy and peace had been thoroughly compromised by the actions of Aria's family—it broke something permanent inside me. My mother, who used to be the warmest, most elegant soul on our estate, transformed into someone entirely unrecognizable after the truth came to light. The betrayal turned her deeply bitter, hardening her heart until a cold, suffocating distance grew between us, causing our family to grow completely apart over the years. It’s a sickening irony when I look back at how much she used to adore Aria. Back then, my mom was incredibly fond of her, always spoiling her with affection, special treats, and endless praise. She would constantly compare Aria to Vanessa, openly telling my sister to be more gentle, quiet, and well-behaved like Aria. That constant comparison didn't just fuel the venomous hatred Vanessa carries now; it made the ultimate fallout feel like a devastating, personal execution for my mother, leaving her hollow and resentful. To numb the constant ache of that fallout, I threw myself into a reckless, toxic lifestyle. I became the ultimate playboy of Oak Haven, systematically playing with girls' hearts and breaking them without a second thought. I drowned my nights in wild, chaotic parties and chased cheap thrills, desperately hoping the loud music and rotating door of pretty faces would make me forget about Aria. But it never worked. No matter how many pairs of eyes looked at me, hers were the only ones that haunted me. When the parties failed, I pushed the limits even further. I started organizing underground, illegal street races, forcing my sports car down midnight highways until the adrenaline blinded my thoughts. I even ended up spending nights in a cold county jail cell after the police caught us racing in the city limits. My father’s lawyers always bailed me out before sunrise, burying the incidents quietly, but the steel bars of the jail cell couldn't compare to the cage I was building inside my own head.

​What made the knife twist even deeper was discovering that the truth had been systematically kept from her for years. Why? Because everyone whispered that I couldn't confront her, couldn't demand answers, because of that stupid, fragile illness of hers. “Don’t upset Aria, Colton. Her heart can’t take it. Her lungs can’t take it.” My entire world was fractured, my family dynamic turned into a war zone, yet I was expected to play nice and protect the delicate little charity case whose family had sparked the fuse.

​That was the moment the darker side of me took root. If the world wanted me to be a Vance, I would be the most ruthless Vance there was. I learned to weaponize my arrogance. I learned to look at Aria's pale, suffering face and actively force disgust into my eyes, burying the agonizing instinct to care for her deep beneath a mountain of malice. I trained myself to become the monster Oak Haven expected me to be.

​The worst part is the war raging inside my own chest. Seeing her lying in that clinic bed today, completely helpless under that plastic oxygen mask, a sickening wave of deep sympathy tried to claw its way to the surface. I utterly hate that my chest still tightens when I see her in pain. I hate that a weak, pathetic part of me just wanted to push Olivia aside, reach out, hold her, and tightly hug her like what I used to do when we were just kids. When everything was simple.

​But I can’t do that anymore. The innocence of our childhood is dead, buried under the weight of a betrayal that can never be undone. I know that what I feel for her now is somehow completely forbidden. It’s a dangerous line I can never cross.

​So, I guess I just have to continue to hate her. I have to wear this cruel, unbothered mask every single day, letting it dictate my actions, even if it tears me apart from the inside out.

​I know deep down the love I have for her is forbidden, but who knows what destiny holds for us. Sometimes I wished I was like my brother Vincent. Funny right the weakling… He does not have responsibilities and is the youngest. I know he has had a thing for Aria since we were little, and it tears me apart that he could be with her someday since he hasn't caused her that much pain. I hate the prank I pulled on her when we were in middle school. I meant every word I said. I hated seeing her cry and I made her do it each day. Her hair, her smile and those lips. I have dreamt so many times of kissing them. God, she drives me nuts. Her adorable eyes and the way she says my name make my heart beat a million. She is my curse and my blessing, my sunshine and rain and my amazing lady.