It was Thursday evening, and Cassie had finally realised there was no saving her relationship. She'd let her doubts stew for days, barely able to look at Kai — let alone speak — even as they sat side by side at the Bladebreakers' table like nothing had happened. She couldn't bring herself to ask Kai about it, but neither could she let the matter go.

Tyson and Ray had continued with their silent treatment towards Kai, while the rest of the Bladebreakers were just tip-toed around the situation. Kai made them all pay by training them harder than usual during their after-school beyblade practices.

It was after one such practice that Cassie got the courage to approach Kai. The rest of the bladebreakers were making their way home, Tyson furiously cursing Kai for pushing them so hard while Max tried placating him. Ray wasn't complaining, but he had also grown more closed-off than usual.

Kai too was packing up his bag, shoving his things into his bag with a little more force than necessary. "Kai." Cassie called out. Kai looked up in surprise at her, like he hadn't seen her coming in. That was so unlike him, there was no way anyone could ever have surprised Kai before, he was always alert, looking out for dangers that weren't visible to the eye.

"Hey Cass." Kai replied cautiously, as though he knew where the conversation was going even before it began. "I think we need to talk." Cassie said quietly.

Kai shook his head. "You don't have to do this, Cassie. I understand that you want to break up with me. I would do the same if I was put in a position like I put you in, and I have absolutely no reason in being upset with you. I'm sorry I hurt you Cassie, that was not the intention I had."
Cassie didn't respond right away. She stood there for a moment, her arms folded tightly across her chest, like she was trying to hold herself together. Only Kai could be this calm during a breakup, she thought bitterly — so calm, she couldn't even say what she needed to.

"You say that like it's simple," she finally said, voice edged with something bitter. "Like you just understand and that's supposed to make this easier."

Kai looked away, jaw tightening. "Isn't that what you want? An easy way out? I know I cost you all your friends Cassie. I'd totally understand if you wanted to sit with us for a few more days... The rest of them don't need to know until you're ready. "

"No!" she snapped, more forcefully than she intended. He didn't reply, but the flicker in his eyes told her she'd struck. He looked so tired—exhausted in a way that no amount of sleep could fix.

Kai may act as though he was cold and stoic and unaffected by anything, but Cassie could see him fraying at the edges in the last few days. The fight with bladebreakers, whatever it was about, seemed to be affecting him more than he'd ever admit aloud.

"I can't do this," she said finally. "Not when I feel like I'm in a relationship with a ghost."

Kai nodded, slowly. No fight, no begging, just silent acceptance. This hurt more than the actual break-up.

They had been together for nearly two months now. Was it too much to expect that this break-up was affecting him just as much as it was affecting her?

Or had Kai ever been emotionally invested in their relationship in the first place, like she had been? Or was she being too naive to expect that when Kai had made it clear that he started dating her just to keep her  get her away from her friends?

Her mind flashed back to Tuesday evening, when she'd caught Kai exiting a Cafe with Hillary. With that damn cake. She wanted to demand the truth, to look him in the eye and force him to lie. But part of her didn't want the answer, not if it came with pity. Not if it made her look like a fool again.

She was reminded of her ex-boyfriend, whom she'd caught cheating on her in the middle of a party. The humiliation she'd felt in front of all those eyes-even though she had done nothing wrong. The pity she'd seen in their eyes for her, she never wanted to be in that position. So she bit her tongue, keeping the question to herself.

How could someone pity her, if the truth never came out, if she never realised it? She simply nodded and stepped back. " I can't keep pretending everything's okay, especially when it's not. "

He didn't argue. He didn't ask her to stay.

He just said, "Okay."

Cassie turned and walked away, her chest tight. Eyes stinging. She waited for him to stop her. To say anything. But he didn't. And somehow, she knew that the silence would haunt her longer than any sort of goodbye.

*****

Hillary had just left the Principal's office, feeling a lot happier than she'd felt in days. She had given him the proposal a day ago, despite him telling her to take a break. And true to his word, he'd gotten her the approval.

Now, she had the liberty to divide the members into 3 clusters-Promotions and Program Coordinator, a Design and Finance lead, and a Logistics Manager-and assign a head to them all. And even though she would still remain the sole president of the club for all official matters, she could now appoint a vice-president to share her work too.

She had the names to fill each of the roles in her head from the moment she'd started writing the draft for the proposal. The only thing left to do was ask them to join her.

She was just about to make her way home when someone slammed hard into her shoulder, knocking the folder out of her hands and nearly sending her sprawling.

"Hey!" she exclaimed, stumbling back and clutching the wall for balance. The papers fluttered to the floor in a messy scatter.

Cassie.

Hillary froze. Cassie stood a step away, her eyes wild and lips pressed into a tight line. She didn't even glance at the papers she'd knocked loose.

Hillary blinked, her brain struggling to catch up. Cassie never looked like this. Her eyes were rimmed red and was breathing like she'd just sprinted down the hallway.

"Are you okay?" Hillary asked automatically, but the words came out too quiet. She could already see the answer.

Cassie let out a sharp breath, almost a laugh. "Oh, that's rich."

"What?"

"You asking me if I'm okay," Cassie snapped. "You, of all people."

Hillary stiffened. "I was just—"

"Being perfect? Yeah. You're really good at that!" Cassie took a step forward, her voice low but pointed. " Swim meets. School council. The club. You just... walk in and win. You just... walk in and everything clicks. Like you were meant to win."

Hillary felt the words like a slap. "That's unfair. I've worked my ass off—"

"Don't bother," Cassie cut in. "Seriously. Don't stand there pretending like you don't know exactly what you've done."

"I—" Hillary paused, her throat tightening. Hillary had known this was coming. Just not now. Not like this, when she was just a step away from offering her an olive branch. "Cassie, I didn't mean to upset you."

Cassie laughed again, a cold, brittle sound. "You didn't mean to? Wow. That makes it all better, doesn't it?" She snapped back.

" I wasn't trying to come after you. I just went after the things I care about. I have no personal grudge against you Cassie," Hillary said helplessly, honestly. "If I've done something to make you feel otherwise—"

"Oh, if, huh?" Cassie's tone sharpened. "You beat me, a two-time national swim champion, at the state finals. You won the house prefect title, when I was the previous prefect. You got handed the club within a month of joining it, while I worked a year for it. And everyone just—what? Forgot I was here?"

Hillary's lips parted. She couldn't speak.

Cassie took a shaky breath. Her shoulders were trembling now. She saw the fury holding her together — barely.

The hallway felt colder now. Cassie's eyes locked on hers, unreadable. "But it's fine. Really. Go ahead, take it all. That's what you're good at, right?" With that, Cassie brushed past her without waiting for a response, her shoulder knocking hard against her as she went.

Hillary didn't move for a long moment. The folder was still at her feet, papers splayed everywhere like a fallout zone.

And suddenly, she wasn't feeling so victorious anymore. Everything felt like a spotlight she didn't earn, didn't deserve. For the first time in a long time, she wasn't sure if she was actually good... All her wins — the titles, the praise — felt slightly tainted now.

*****

The evening rush had been more than usual that day. Luke had urged his mum to go to bed early, telling her that he'll take care from there. It was nine-thirty, the workers had just left, they were only half an hour away from closing up and only two tables were occupied. He could manage that.

That was until his little sister had come back down from the apartment, trying to steal another pastry. "Mel! Mum said no pastries for you today! You've already had two doughnuts." He scolded, locking up the glass case. Amelia pouted, "Please bro... Give me the tiny one at least!" She begged, wringing her hands together as she followed him back into the kitchen.

Luke picked her up and set her down beside the sink. "You shouldn't even be down."

"Mum fell asleep as soon as she went up. I couldn't sleep."

"Grammy didn't see you sneak out?"

"She was too busy with her soap operas." Mel giggled.

Luke sighed, "You've already had a tooth decay. Keep up with this and you'll lose all your teeth before grammy does." he warned, filling the sink with soap to clean out the last few dishes.

"But that was before I started brushing my teeth at night!" She started again, making those cute puppy eyes.

Luke was about to concede when the front door chimed. Luke looked out through the small small window through the kitchen, almost ready to call out that they were closed for the day when he saw who it was. It was Kai.

Luke blinked in surprise, glancing at the clock again. It was ten minutes to ten and Kai knew that they stopped taking orders half an hour before closing time. He turned to his sister then, "Go see what Kai wants, and you can have a choco-chip cookie after everyone's out." He finally agreed.

Mel's eyes lit up at Kai's mention, and she was off the table in seconds. Luke huffed, he'd never seen Mel get excited for anyone other than him before. He realised that Mel would have run out even without the promise of cookies.

Mel came back running in. "He says he'll take anything that's left over. I also made him say sorry. Can you help him?"

That was an unusual request, especially from Kai. "I'll see what I can do." He told Mel, sending her off to tell Kai to take a seat. He looked into the refrigerator and found a bit of leftover soup and noodles in the refrigerator. Luke prepared to heat it up and glanced out. The last two tables cleared out, and Mel handled the transaction. She was now explaining something animatedly to Kai, who was politely nodding along.

He packed up the food and went outside to drop it. Mel was in the middle of telling Kai what happened in the latest episode of Pokemon.

"Are you pestering the customers again, Mel?" Luke called out as he walked to the counter.

She turned to him quickly. "He's not just any customer. He's a regular. There's a difference." she sassed.

Kai smirked at their banter as he came over. "It's a bit of soup and Thai noodles." Luke said, placing the takeout bag on the table.

Kai nodded slightly, "Your sister charged me the usual." He said as he grabbed the bag.

"Alright." Luke nodded.

"Bye Kai!" Mel chirped, waving at him with a lot more enthusiasm than needed. Luke would have rolled his eyes had Kai not been a customer. Charming women of all ages without even trying.

Kai just gave her a quiet finger salute and left.

"He looked sad." Mel stated immediately after.

Luke blinked and looked over at the front door again, making sure that Kai had really left. The lighting was dim now, but now that Mel mentioned it...

Kai's eyes had been a little bloodshot, he agreed. He had still been in his school uniform, despite the fact that school ended hours ago. He had just put on a coat over it for the cold. His hair was damp from the snow. And something about his posture felt tense.

Luke just shrugged, "He looks like he always does to me."

"No, he doesn't. He looks a lot better on the TV, when he's beyblading. He also looked a lot better the day before yesterday, when he had come in with his girlfriend."

Luke continued walking back into the kitchen, "Kai was here with Cassie?" He asked, raising his eyebrow.

Amelia threw out her hands like the drama queen she was. "No, no. Cassie came in afterwards. Kai came in with his girlfriend."

That stopped Luke in his tracks, drawing his interest.

"He came in with another girl?" he echoed, careful not to sound too curious. Amelia was too sharp for her age.

"Mm-hmm," Mel said, hopping back up onto the seat beside the sink.

Luke started with the dishes again. "How do you know she was his girlfriend?" He asked her conversationally, trying not to sound too interested.

"Because they were sitting in the far corner there." Mel said, pointing at the last table by the glass screen. Luke snorted, "Kai always sits in that corner."

"The girl also took the complimentary cake for couples." She replied back, not liking the way she was dismissed,

Lule splashed her a bit of soap, drawing her attention elsewhere and making her giggle. "Is that so? And when did Cassie come in?"

"Five minutes later. She talked with me a bit, but didn't buy anything. Not even her favourite pineapple pastry." Mel sighed.

Something about the whole situation didn't sit right with Luke. "What did the girl look like?" Luke asked, openly curious now.

Kai had always been an engima. Even though he barely talked to him, Luke couldn't help but be a bit curious about him.

"She was pretty. Had a sweet laugh too." Amelia explained excitedly.

Luke rolled his eyes at her, "Tell me something that matters, Mel. Something that'll help me identify her. What was her name?"

Mel shook her head at that. "I don't know that. She had brown hair. And red eyes! Like all those girls in anime!" She exclaimed.

That stopped Luke's train of thought, "Red eyes?" He enquired again, just to be sure.

"Yeah, why? Do you know her?" Amelia asked suddenly.

"Maybe," Luke muttered, frowning deeply.

Mel tilted her head. "What?"

But Luke just patted her head and handed her a key.

"Nothing. Go take your cookie. And go to bed."

Mel exclaimed dramatically and hopped off the table, running to the locked glass-case.

As she skipped away, Luke stood there in the quiet shop, wiping the counter one last time.

So Hillary had been here.

With Kai .

And Cassie had followed them soon after.

He knew how things must have been looking in Cassie's point of view , especially since her last boyfriend had also cheated on her. But the more puzzling question was , what had Hillary been doing with Kai of all people?

*****

Words: 2615

*****

A/N: sorry for the delay guys, I just kinda got stuck with the story, not liking anything that I wrote.

Anyway, what do you think about this chapter? Who do you think Hillary's three leads and vice president will be? For all my CassiexKai shippers, sorry for the breakup (not sorry at all!😉) What do you think will/should happen next?

Vote and comment guys, it really makes my day! Interact with the story also, and not just with me! I promise you'll love it! Share your theories, thoughts, random questions to me, the characters, everything's welcome!

Happy reading!