Chapter 17
Together
"I want you."
The words left his lips so effortlessly, but to me, they detonated like a secret I wasn't supposed to hear. My lungs forgot how to work. My heart tripped over itself, and suddenly the glittering city beyond the balcony blurred into streaks of meaningless light.
I wanted to laugh, to shake my head, to tell him he didn't know what he was saying. Because how could he? How could anyone want me, when all my life I was the girl people glanced at but never truly saw?
My mouth went dry. "Masaya ka ba sa sinasabi mo?" The words came out cracked, like glass about to shatter.
He smiled faintly, that kind of smile that wasn't for show. "Masaya ako kapag naging totoo ka."
My chest tightened. Why did he say it like that, as if my very existence had the power to a
