His Regrets

Chapter 6- The Aftermath

I made it back to my room before I finally broke down.

The moment I closed the door behind me, my legs gave way.

I slid down against the door and covered my mouth as a sob escaped.

I had held everything in since I left them.

I had walked across campus with tears burning my eyes, pretending I wasn't falling apart. I had ignored the students who looked at me as I passed. I had even managed to keep my face straight when someone smiled at me.

But there was no one to pretend for now.

I cried until my chest hurt.

I cried because Dante had betrayed me.

I cried because Clara had betrayed me.

But mostly, I cried because I had trusted them both.

My mind kept replaying the same moment.

Clara standing close to Dante.

Her hand against his chest.

The way they looked at me when I found them.

The silence after I asked whether they had kissed.

And Dante saying yes.

I grabbed my pillow and pressed it against my face.

“How could you?”

I didn't know which one of them I was talking to.

Maybe both.

My phone vibrated beside me.

I knew who it was without looking.

Dante.

Then another notification appeared.

Clara.

I turned the phone facedown.

A few minutes later, it rang.

This time, it was Mum.

I stared at her name for several seconds before answering.

“Hello?”

“Lily?”

The moment I heard her voice, I started crying again.

Mum went quiet.

“What happened?”

I tried to speak, but my throat tightened.

“Lily, talk to me.”

“It's Clara.”

Her voice immediately changed.

“What happened to Clara?”

I wiped my face.

“She betrayed me.”

There was a pause.

“What did she do?”

I took a shaky breath.

“She knew Dante was going to ask me out today.”

Mum didn't interrupt.

“She knew how much I liked him. She knew everything. And she went to him.”

My voice broke.

“They kissed.”

Mum sighed softly.

“Oh, Lily.”

“I don't understand.”

“I know.”

“She was my best friend.”

“I know.”

“And I trusted her.”

“I know, sweetheart.”

I cried harder.

Mum let me.

She didn't rush to tell me everything would be fine. She didn't tell me to forget about them. She simply stayed on the phone while I cried.

Eventually, she said, “Come home after your exams.”

I closed my eyes.

“I don't want to stay here.”

“I know. But come home when you're done. You don't have to make any big decisions tonight.”

“I just want to leave.”

“You will come home. Just give yourself a little time first.”

I nodded even though she couldn't see me.

“I love you, Mum.”

“I love you too.”

After we hung up, I lay on my bed and stared at the ceiling.

I didn't know what hurt more.

The betrayal itself or the fact that part of me still wished there was an explanation that could make it less painful.

There wasn't.

There was only what happened.

And I couldn't undo it.

---

Dante sat alone in his car long after Lily had walked away.

He had never seen her look at him like that before.

There had been anger in her eyes.

Confusion.

Pain.

And disappointment.

That last one stayed with him.

He had known what Lily expected from him.

He had told her he had something special planned.

He had watched her smile when he said it.

And yet, hours before he was supposed to ask her out, he had allowed himself to cross a line he could never uncross.

He leaned back against the driver's seat and closed his eyes.

He thought about the first time Lily had approached him in the library.

The nervous smile.

The way she had talked about music.

The way her whole face changed whenever she spoke about writing songs.

He had liked those things about her.

He still did.

That was what made everything worse.

His phone was in his hand.

He opened their conversation.

He typed.

**I'm sorry.**

He stared at the words.

Then deleted them.

He tried again.

**Please let me explain.**

Deleted.

Nothing he could say would change what Lily had seen.

He finally put the phone away.

For the first time since he had met her, Dante wasn't thinking about how to impress Lily.

He was thinking about how he had lost her.

And he knew he had no one to blame but himself.

---

Adrian sat on the edge of his bed that evening, staring at his phone.

He had barely spoken since his confrontation with Clara.

He kept remembering her answer.

Yes.

One word.

One word that had changed the way he saw everything.

He had loved her.

At least, he thought he had.

Now he wasn't sure what had been real.

His phone buzzed.

A message from a friend appeared, asking if he was coming out later.

Adrian didn't respond.

He didn't feel like seeing anyone.

He put the phone aside and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

He thought about Lily.

He had seen her around campus with Dante.

He knew she liked him.

Everyone knew.

And now he knew that Dante had betrayed her too.

For some reason, that thought bothered him more than he expected.

Lily had always seemed different from the people around them.

Quiet.

Kind.

A little lost in her own world sometimes.

She had always been the girl who listened more than she spoke.

And now two people she trusted had hurt her.

Adrian shook his head.

He couldn't understand how someone could look at a person who trusted them and still choose to hurt them.

He had asked Clara why.

She hadn't had an answer.

Maybe there wasn't one.

Sometimes people simply made selfish choices.

He picked up his phone again.

For a moment, he considered checking on Lily.

Then he stopped.

They weren't close.

He didn't want to intrude.

So he put the phone down.

Across campus, Lily was lying alone in her room, staring at the same ceiling she had stared at for hours.

She picked up her phone.

There were more messages.

Dante.

Clara.

She opened Dante's first.

**Lily, I'm sorry. I know I hurt you. Please just give me a chance to explain.**

She read it twice.

Then she closed the message.

She opened Clara's.

There was only one sentence.

**Please don't hate me.**

Lily stared at it.

Her eyes filled with tears again.

She didn't reply.

Instead, she turned off her phone and placed it beneath her pillow.

She had spent years believing that love was supposed to feel like a fairytale.

Tonight, I wondered if I had misunderstood the story completely.

Because the worst part wasn't losing Dante.

It was realizing that the person I had trusted enough to tell everything to had been capable of becoming the person who hurt me most.

And I had no idea how I was supposed to face either of them again.