The city stretched out beneath the balcony, its lights flickering in a rhythm that Noah found both soothing and distracting. He leaned on the railing, letting the cool night air fill his lungs. His phone vibrated in his pocket again, but he didn't pull it out. He already knew who it was: Emma.

Her last message still lingered in his mind. "We didn't talk yesterday. What's going on?" He'd seen it earlier, thought about replying, but something held him back. He wasn't ready to dive into whatever conversation she wanted to have—not tonight.

The tension in his chest wasn't about Emma, not really. It was about something harder to pin down, something he wasn't sure he wanted to name.

Lately, things had been...different. Not just at work, but in how he carried himself, in the thoughts he couldn't seem to shake. And a lot of it came back to Liam.

Noah frowned, gripping the edge of the railing a little tighter. He wasn't blind to how things might look to other people. The way he and Liam worked so closely together, how easily they fell into sync, the way they always seemed to find each other in a room. It was natural—or at least it had been.

But now, the rumors made it harder to ignore.

He'd laughed at first, dismissing the teasing remarks about how they acted like a couple. "Office gossip," he'd called it, nothing more than a few bored coworkers trying to entertain themselves. Except, over time, those jokes had started to feel less like jokes.

This afternoon, when his mother had given him a tight hug and leaned in close to whisper, "You could at least bring him to dinner next time, so we can meet your special friend properly." It was the kind of teasing he'd grown used to—his parents had always joked about his love life, making lighthearted comments about his friends over the years.

When Emma had asked him out, he'd decided to keep it to himself, not wanting to add fuel to their playful remarks. But for some reason, his mother's words hit differently this time. Maybe it was because they were about Liam, and that thought unsettled him in ways he didn't fully understand.

He pushed the thought aside, shaking his head as if to clear it. Liam was just a friend—a good friend, sure, but that didn't mean anything. They spent a lot of time together, but that was the nature of their work.

And yet, Noah couldn't deny that his behavior had shifted. He lingered more in conversations, noticed details he hadn't before—like the way Liam's expression softened when he was deep in thought, or the rare moments when his laughter was unguarded and genuine.

Was that crossing a line? It wasn't as though he'd done anything inappropriate. But the fact that he even had to ask himself the question bothered him.

The sliding door behind him opened, breaking the quiet. Noah turned to see Liam stepping onto the balcony, his tie loosened and his hands in his pockets.

"Thought I might find you out here," Liam said, offering a faint smile.

"Needed a break," Noah replied, his tone casual.

Liam nodded, moving to lean on the railing beside him. They stood in silence for a moment, the city below offering a steady hum of noise that filled the space between them.

"Is Emma looking for you?" Liam asked, glancing at him.

Noah's jaw tightened, and he gave a noncommittal shrug. "I'll talk to her later."

Liam didn't press, and Noah was grateful for that. The silence stretched on, comfortable but charged in a way Noah couldn't quite name.

He caught himself glancing at Liam out of the corner of his eye, and he quickly looked away, focusing instead on the skyline. Whatever he was feeling—whatever this was—it wasn't worth overthinking.

Letting out a slow breath, Noah straightened up. "We should probably head back in."

Liam nodded but didn't move immediately. His gaze lingered on Noah for a beat longer than usual before he pushed off the railing.

As they walked back inside, Noah's phone buzzed again in his pocket, but he ignored it. He could deal with Emma later. Right now, he just needed to focus on staying grounded—and not letting his thoughts spiral any further.