Aqua stepped closer before she realized she was moving.
“Kieran,” she whispered, “look at me.”
He did.
And she saw everything — the longing, the fear, the hope he was trying so hard to bury.
Her voice trembled. “I’ve loved you for so long.”
His breath hitched.
“But if we do this,” she said softly, “it’s going to hurt. Both of us. When the week ends… it’s going to break something.”
“I know,” he whispered. “But I’m already breaking.”
Aqua’s heart shattered.
She lifted a hand to his cheek — a soft, trembling touch. Kieran leaned into it like he’d been starving for it.
“Aqua,” he breathed, “please… tell me no if you need to.”
She didn’t.
Instead, she whispered, “Kieran… yes.”
His eyes closed, relief and devastation washing over him all at once.
He reached for her slowly — giving
