CLEAR HEAD
1110 Words
Yannis stood on the balcony of his villa, the late afternoon sun warming his bare chest, but nothing about the day felt bright.
His phone buzzed.
It had been doing that nonstop for the past hour. He hadn't replied any of the text messages that were coming through neither did he answer any of the calls because he couldn't stop thinking about Katie.
He hadn't heard from her after she left his villa a few hours ago. He had discreetly asked Adrian to drop her off instead of getting her an Uber.
He turned from the railing and headed back inside, finding Adrian in the kitchen nursing a black coffee, his face still tight from last night's confrontation.
"Are you still upset with me or can we talk like brothers," Yannis muttered.
Adrian didn't look at him. "Did you know the girls kicked Katie out of the group chat?"
Yannis stopped mid-step. "What?"
Adrian finally glanced up, his expression cold. "They removed her. She messaged them. They left her on read. Then deleted her from the group. She's cut off. Just like that."
A slow, sickening anger curled in Yannis's chest.
He clenched his jaw. "They turned on her?"
"She was like a sister to them," Adrian said, shrugging. "And now she's the homewrecker."
"I wrecked the home," Yannis snapped. "Not her."
Adrian stood up, facing him fully now. "Doesn't matter. They don't see it that way. She's the easy one to hate. You're still the groom. She's just... collateral damage."
Yannis paced the kitchen, running a hand over his face.
"Where is she?" he asked.
Adrian arched a brow. "Why?"
"Because I need to see her."
Adrian crossed his arms. "You're engaged, remember?. Milly is still upset with you but the wedding is still on".
"I don't give a damn about that right now."
A heavy silence settled.
Then Adrian sighed. "She's at her apartment."
Yannis rushed out of the kitchen to his bedroom. The blood stain in his sheets stopped him in his tracks. He let out a low growl then grabbed his car keys.
Adrian stepped into his path. "You go over there, and this thing blows up beyond repair."
Yannis met his eyes, steady and unapologetic. "It already has."
Then he pushed past his best friend, stormed out the door, and headed straight for the only woman he'd ever truly loved.
⸻
The streets blurred past his windshield, sun glaring off the metal rooftops and store signs, but Yannis barely saw any of it.
His hands gripped the steering wheel like he was holding on to his sanity.
Katie.
He couldn't stop thinking about her.
Not just the way she had looked in his bed—bare and beautiful, all flushed skin and trembling lips—but how she had looked at him. Like he mattered. Like she trusted him with something fragile and real.
He kept replaying Adrian's words in his head:
"She's the easy one to hate. You're still the groom. She's just... collateral damage."
Collateral damage.
Like she was a side effect.
Like she didn't matter.
Yannis's jaw clenched as he turned sharply down a narrow street. His GPS blinked up ahead, signaling her apartment building was just a few minutes away.
He didn't know what he was going to say when he saw her.
He wasn't here to make excuses. There weren't any.
He wasn't even sure if he was here to apologize—not because he didn't feel sorry, but because sorry wasn't enough.
She had lost everything. Her friends. Her dignity.
Yet he had kept his ring on.
His breath hitched, a rare c***k in the iron composure he always carried. Reaching for the ring in his finger, he took it off and placed it in the glove box.
He pulled up to her building and killed the engine.
The street was quiet. He sat in the silence for a moment, staring up at her window. Then he got out, took the stairs two at a time, and knocked.
Flashback
She had tasted like strawberries and sin.
Yannis remembered how her laughter had started to melt into gasps as the aphrodisiac took hold, how her hands had fumbled with the hem of her dress as she whispered about the heat climbing under her skin.
He'd tried to resist—God, he had tried.
Taking her into his bedroom was meant to be a kindness, a way to help her sleep it off. She had giggled into his shoulder as he laid her on the bed, her fingertips tracing nonsense along his chest.
But then she'd looked up at him—eyes glassy, lips parted, her hair falling over one shoulder—and it was over.
He hadn't stood a chance.
Not when she whispered his name like it belonged to her. Not when her hands curled into the fabric of his shirt and pulled him down to her.
He could still feel the way her body trembled beneath his. The softness. The uncertainty.
He'd paused, just for a second, sensing something fragile in her silence.
"Are you okay?" he had asked, brushing a thumb across her cheek.
Katie nodded, biting her lip. Then after a breathless pause, she whispered:
"I've never... not with anyone."
He remembered how his breath had caught in his throat. Everything froze.
She looked away, cheeks flushing. "I know it's stupid."
"No." His voice had broken. "It's not."
And in that moment—something in him shifted.
The lust was still there, yes, but it wasn't reckless anymore. It was reverent. Fierce.
He had kissed her like she was holy. Touched her like she'd break if he didn't hold her right. Moved slow enough to feel every heartbeat, every sigh, every shiver.
He remembered her quiet moans, the way she clung to him, how her eyes never left his—not once—as if she needed him to see her fully. To remember.
And he did.
He remembered everything.
Afterward, she had fallen asleep on his chest, curled into his side like she'd always belonged there. And Yannis... for the first time in his life, he hadn't wanted the night to end. He hadn't known what it meant yet—not exactly. He hadn't understood how deep she'd gotten under his skin.
But now, with the memory crashing over him, with her pain fresh in his mind and her exile still burning in his chest...
He knew.
He loved her.
He had no right to, no plan for what came next—but the truth rang louder than anything else.
He loved Katie.
And he had to tell her—before it was too late.
- Writer
