* TRIGGER WARNING: Potentially Distressing Content Ahead

* Reader Discretion is Advised

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"So this is your place?" Gyan examined the small apartment as he stepped inside. "Not bad."

        I closed the door, and we faced each other as he placed his hands into his pockets.

        Kenji came to mind.

        Whenever someone shoved their hands into their pockets, I always thought of him.

        "Are you staring at me, or are you daydreaming?" Gyan asked, and I snapped back to reality.

        "Sorry." I scratched my head and motioned to the couch. "Take a seat."

        He sat down, and I hesitated but sat beside him. Then we went silent. I didn't know how long it was, but I kept peeking around my apartment, as if I didn't live in it.

        "I don't do well with awkward silences," Gyan confessed. "They're not my thing."

        "I don't think most people appreciate awkward silences."

        "Yeah," he said, "but since when do we have awkward silences?"

        He had a point. Gyan and I usually communicated without much effort. Even at the gym yesterday, it was easy. I had a tendency to be a little nervous around him, but there was always something we could talk about.

        "Maybe because you're at my place?" I averted my gaze, but from my peripheral, I spotted his lips tugging up into a smirk.

        "Why does that matter?" He scooted closer to me.

        "Maybe my place wasn't the best option for us to hang out. I don't even have cable."

        Gyan sent me a funny look. "Senator's son doesn't have cable?"

        I frowned. Just because I was the son of a senator didn't mean I was rolling in cash. My father had money, not me.

        Even though I had a job again, I was still without Daddy's resources. This meant I had to continue to cut down on things. Beers were eliminated from my budget and cigarettes were low on the list of priorities. I had to be cautious of my bills, such as my phone bill, electricity bill and water bill. And most of all, I had to cut back on luxury. I didn't need a lot of T.V. channels. But I needed gas, a home, food, clothes etc.

        I had a job now, but that didn't mean things were smooth sailing.

        "My dad and I haven't been on the best of terms lately," I told him.

        I couldn't remember the last time my father and I talked without getting into an argument or disagreement a couple minutes later. We hadn't spoken since he kicked me out of the house that time after the dinner. That was a terrible memory, but it ended up being one of my favorite nights by the time it was over.

        Kenji and I had a blast recreating the past. And we kissed for the first time.

        I had kissed many girls and a couple guys, but none of them compared to kissing Kenji.

        "Darian." Gyan waved a hand in my face, and I looked his way with wide eyes. "You keep spacing out."

        "I'm sorry," I said while rubbing my forehead.

        Get it together.

        "If you don't want me here, just tell me and I'll leave."

        "No. I  want you here." I stopped him from standing up. "There's just a lot on my mind."

Kenji.

        "I can tell," Gyan said. "But whatever it is, it can take a backseat until I leave. I should have your attention at the moment."

        "Is that a request or a demand?"

        "Maybe both." We stared at each other, and my gaze traveled down to his lips.

        I wondered what it was like to kiss Gyan.

        Were his lips soft and warm like Kenji's? Did his tongue put up a fight like Kenji's or did he just give in?

        I doubted the latter. Gyan didn't seem like a submissive guy.

        "What are you thinking about now?" He leaned towards me with a smile on his lips, and I gulped.

        "Umm..." I looked to the side and scooted back. "Nothing."

        "You sure?" He moved closer and licked his lips. "Do you know what the key to success is Darian?"

        "You're going to tell me." I continued to peek down at his pink lips. His darker skin made them appear even pinker.

         "The key to success is going after what you want," he said. "What do you want, Darian?"

         I bite my lip as he held my gaze.

        On a superficial level, I wanted to kiss him.

        On a deeper level, I wanted to be with Kenji.

        Gyan was wrong. Going after what you wanted didn't always lead to success. I went after Kenji, but that didn't lead to us getting together. If anything, it pushed him even further away from me.

        I wanted to take a leap of faith with Kenji, but he wasn't ready.

        He wasn't ready, but I was, so I wanted to selfishly pull him over the cliff with me. I couldn't do that anymore because if I kept pulling Kenji closer and closer to the edge before he was ready, he would only fall.

        I refused to be the cause of Kenji's fall.

        "I'm gonna take a smoke." Gyan stood up with his hands coming together in a clap. "While I do that, why don't you continue thinking so you can get your thoughts out of the way before I return."

        "Gyan, wait. Don't." I stood up as well and grabbed his arm. "You can smoke here. I'm really sorry. I'm not gonna space out again."

        "It's cool," he said with a shrug. "We all have those days. Maybe you need a smoke, too."

        I did. I had been limiting my daily smokes, but I was nowhere near ready to quit completely.

        But I needed to release this tension and get Kenji out of my head so I could enjoy my time with Gyan.

        Kenji wasn't here.

        Gyan was.

        I needed to start acting like it.

        "I could use a smoke," I said, and we sat back down while he dug out his pack.

        He handed me a cigarette and took one out for himself, and he lit them. The smoke filling up my lungs and surrounding us eased the tension from my muscles and my mind gradually cleared up.

        How could something so good be so bad?

        In more ways than one.

        "This is the first time we've smoked together," Gyan noted, and I realized he was right.

        At work, we both took smoke breaks—him more than me—but we always went at different times. We were finally smoking together, and it was an interesting way to bond.

        Then again, Kenji and I first reconnected by watching porn together.

        I laughed at the memory, and Gyan rose a brow. "What's funny?"

        "Nothing." I shook my head with my smile in place.

        "A man of secrets, huh?" He inhaled and released a long exhale. "I can't hold it against you. If there's anyone who knows about secrets, it's me."

        "What does that mean?" The smoke escaped my lips as I focused in on him.

        "I know a lot of shit." He brought his cigarette down and stared ahead. "I keep in a lot of shit, too, but that's life. People don't have to know everything."

        Okay, I couldn't take this "shit" anymore. Moment of truth.

        "Are you gay?" I asked, and he paused with his cigarette to his lips. "I know it's rude to ask someone something so personal outright, but I'm not a polite guy, so I'm gonna be upfront. Are you gay?"

        Gyan's lips curled up, and he inhaled before exhaling a swirl of smoke into my face. "Depends. Are you?"

        "Whether I'm gay or not shouldn't impact your sexuality, so answer the question."

        "What do you think? Do I have to spell it out for you?" He smirked as we held eye contact and that look alone was all the confirmation I needed.

        A sense of relief washed over me, and I chuckled.

        "I'm guessing we're on the same team?" He moved back, but I didn't say anything. "Then again, who wouldn't want to be on my team?"

        "Cocky much?"

        "Maybe," he said, "or maybe I just know my worth."

        "What other secrets do you have?" I rested my free arm behind the couch, and hee leaned his head back so his hair could brush against my skin as we continued to watch each other.

        "If I tell you, it wouldn't be a secret now, would it?"

        "It's just me," I said with my voice reducing to a whisper. "I won't tell anyone."

        "People have a tendency to trust me for some reason," he said. "They have a tendency to tell me their secrets or the very least, their personal business. I don't know why, but I have that effect on people."

       "You are cocky," I said while pulling my arm back. "I've never seen this effect in action."

        "Hey." He raised both hands. "If I can get Aarav to tell me shit, I can get anyone to do the same."

        "What?" I sat up straight and tilted my head in his direction. "Aarav?"

        That bastard.

        Gyan nodded, and his brows furrowed. "I don't know why, but the dude likes talking to me. He keeps trying to hang out with me, too. I tolerate him at best, but I was extremely surprised by something he told me when we got drunk one night. Well, he got drunk."

        "When was this?"

        "About a year ago," he replied.

        "Wait." I held a hand up. "You got an under-aged kid drunk?"

        He grinned. "I told you I'm not much of a rules-follower."

        "Good to know." But I needed to know more about Aarav. "What was this secret about?"

        He perked a brow. "Why should I tell you?"

        "You're not a rule-follower," I said. "You don't like Aarav either. Why should you have loyalties to him?"

        "You've got a point. But..." He winced. "This is pretty personal. It's a family secret, after all."

        "I won't tell a soul."

        "Mmm." He sent me a side glance. "How can I believe you?"

        "I hold loyalties to Arya," I said. "She's a part of the family, and I'll never purposely hurt her."

        Arya was my friend. It was time I started holding loyalties to my friends—all of them.

        "It's not her secret though," he pointed out. "It's Aarav's. The family is just secretive about it."

        This dude was not going to leave me hanging. He couldn't bring up a secret but refuse to disclose information about it.

        "If I run my mouth about this secret, you can out me for being gay," I said.

        His lips twitched at the sides. "So you are gay?"

        "And you are too," I retorted. "That's your leverage on me. I'm not going to tell, but if I do, you can out me."

        "You're serious about knowing this, huh?" He appeared amuse, and I nodded.

        I needed to know what this big secret was. Most of all, I needed to know more about Aarav. Going into battle against an enemy I didn't know was futile.

        "Okay." Gyan bobbed his head with an impressed look. "If you insist, I'll tell you. Although, it's more tragic than it is dirt. It makes me feel a little bad for the guy, which says a lot."

        Right. How could anyone feel bad for Aarav?

        "So what happened that night?" Gyan had my full undivided attention, and I got comfortable on the couch.

        Was this why girls gossiped?

        It was kind of fun.

        "So," he started, "Aarav wanted to hang out with me one night, and after his persistence, I gave in. We chilled at my place. Watched some sports and even drank some beer. Aarav's tolerance wasn't as high as mine and he was drinking that beer like it was water. He even added a couple shots into the mix, so he got a pretty buzzed. Not enough to be hungover the next day but enough to lose inhibition. It started with him blabbering about a bunch of nonsense. Then the conversation shifted to Arya. Then Varun-ji. Then Tejal-ji before moving to his father."

        "Rakesh Patil?" I asked.

        "Yes," he said, and I bit back the urge to smile.

        This was getting interesting.

        "Once he started talking about his father," Gyan went on, "he wouldn't stop, and he told me everything. I had a vague idea of what happened with Rakesh but I never knew the whole story until that night. You know what happened to Rakesh, right?"

        "He went to prison when Aarav was eleven."

        "Is that all you know?"

        "Pretty much."

        That was all everyone knew. Everyone but Aarav, Tejal and the Guptas.

        Gyan took a hit from his cigarette before continuing. "Rakesh Patil was arrested for nearly choking Tejal to death while Aarav watched."

        "What?" My mind was jumbled by his words. He needed to repeat that.

        "That was why he was initially arrested," he said. "But that one arrest uncovered many more skeletons in his closet that eventually got him imprisoned."

        "Like what?" My eyes broadened with my mouth hanging. "What could get worse than trying to choke your wife to death?"

        That man Tejal was talking about who couldn't handle spices didn't sound like a woman-choker. Then again, I didn't know Rakesh. Not a lot of people did.

        "After the initial arrest," Gyan continued, "the police were trying to figure out what happened because Tejal was beaten so badly that she was hospitalized. She refused to talk at first, but after a while, Aarav decided to speak up, and he told the police everything his father had done to him and his mother."

        "What exactly did he do?"

        I finally had the opportunity to uncover this family secret that I had been wanting to know for years, but I was now nervous.

        "Rakesh abused Aarav and Tejal for the first eleven years of Aarav's life," Gyan said, and my mouth dropped even lower. "Rakesh was apparently a really sweet man, and he and Tejal fell in love and decided to run off together, even though Tejal's family wanted her to marry a man more fitting to their standards. She refused and went with Rakesh instead, and they eloped and did all that romantic shit." I couldn't even laugh because I was too baffled by what I had heard previously. "Her family cut ties from her because of that, but she and Rakesh were happily married." He said this in a faux cheerful voice. "Then Aarav was born, and that was when Rakesh started to show his true colors." Gyan's tone became serious. "His temper got uncontrollable, and he started losing jobs frequently. He started getting into drugs—heroine specifically—and he started gambling to get money to feed his addiction. His temper got even worse after that, and that's when it started."

        "What exactly started?" I hesitantly asked.

        "Aarav told me that the first prominent memory he had of his childhood was when he was six," Gyan said. "He woke up one night because there were noises coming from his parents' room. The door was slightly ajar, so he looked through, and that's when he saw his father fucking his bruised-up mother from behind as he pressed her tear-stricken face into the headboard." I covered my mouth, not even knowing what to say to that. "His mother yelled for him to leave and his father threw a beer bottle at him for him to get out, so he did. He couldn't sleep for the rest of the night because the noises wouldn't stop. He didn't fully understand what he saw until he got older. Ever since then, his father would rape his mother almost every night, and he would hear it every night it occurred."

        I felt sick, and I was grateful my hand covered mouth.

        "As he got older, he started noticing more bruises on his mother," Gyan continued, "and he started noticing his father's violent behavior. He noticed how Rakesh always yelled and grabbed Tejal and would push her, and he saw his father punch her a couple times. Aarav and Tejal weren't allowed to have guests over, and Rakesh controlled whatever they did and even what they ate and wore. Both his parents were isolated from their family, so it was just the three of them. Aarav said his father was unpredictable because he could be a cool guy to be around some days but a complete monster other days. After hurting Tejal in some shape or form, he would be sweet and loving the next day. He would make them watch a movie as a family or cook them dinner and even treat Aarav and Tejal to some special occasion. Overall, he never knew what to expect from his father."

        "Did his father ever hit him?" I asked.

        "Not at first," Gyan said. "His father only started hitting him and moving the violence onto him when he turned eight. That was when Aarav started asking more questions and talking back and trying to defend his mother, and when that happened, his father took his anger out on him. Nowhere as severe as with Tejal, but it left a few bruises. Do you know that scar Aarav has on his right eyebrow?" I nodded. "And the burn mark on his left arm?" I nodded again. "Those are from his father.

        "One day, he came home with a friend and his father was pissed, so after the friend left, Rakesh yelled at him and beat him. Tejal tried intervening, but that pissed him off even more, so Rakesh grabbed a knife to intimidate her. Aarav tried jumping in, but his father accidentally cut him with the knife."

        Geez.

        "What about the burn?"

        "One day, Tejal was arguing with Rakesh over his drug and gambling problem, and he got angry. So he decided to punish her by humiliating her. He tied her down, and brought Aarav into the room." Okay. Now, I was scared to hear this. "He told Aarav to give his mother thirty lashes with his biggest belt."

        "What the hell?"

        Did this run in Aarav's family?

        Being fucked up in the head?

        "Relax," Gyan said with a hand on my shoulder. "Aarav refused to do it." At least he wasn't a complete ass. "But of course, him disobeying his father meant there were consequences, so Rakesh took out a candle, lit it, held Aarav down, and burnt his arm with the flame as punishment for him not listening."

        "That is disgusting." I didn't like Aarav, but no one deserved that.

        "After he burned Aarav, he made him watch as he raped Tejal." I almost gagged. I literally felt nauseous. "Aarav told me that night was the second most vivid memory he had of his father."

        "What was the first one?"

        Gyan looked to me with his jaw tensed. "The night Rakesh got arrested."

        "What led to that?"

        The possibilities were endless with this guy.

        I couldn't believe it, but Rakesh was worse than Aarav.

        "After some time, Tejal wanted to leave Rakesh."

She should have left his ass the second he started raping her.

        "She was afraid for Aarav's life and her own life, so she started making plans to flee," he told me, "but it all came to a head when she found out that Rakesh would sometimes take Aarav with him when he got prostitutes."

        "The fuck?!" I scrunched up my face. "How old was he?"

        "It started when he was ten," Gyan said. "Aarav told me that his father would take him, so they could bond on their father-son days."

        I never wanted to bond in that way with my dad. Hell nah. That was repulsive.

        "He thought it would be good for Aarav," Gyan said. "He told Aarav it was a way to expose him to the female body and to sex, so he would be ready when the time came."

        "He was fucking ten!" I yelled. "By then, he probably didn't even know how his dick worked."

        Gyan chuckled. "Tell Rakesh that."

        I wanted to, along with a punch to his face. I didn't like Aarav, but I was getting pissed by this man and his appalling acts.

        "He took Aarav with him a couple times to get prostitutes," Gyan continued, "and he would make Aarav watch them have sex. After some time passed, Aarav finally told his mother, and Tejal was pissed. She confronted Rakesh about it one night, and all hell broke loose. They were yelling and words got exchanged as Rakesh admitted to it, and Tejal even blurted out that she was leaving him."

        "Holy shit..."

        "It was a wrong move on her part because Rakesh flipped out after that, and he started attacking her. Punching. Kicking. Slapping. Aarav watched this man beat the shit out of his mother."

        How could a person do that to their wife? How could a person do that to someone they supposedly loved?

        "Aarav told me that after a while, his beatings and his mother's beatings didn't surprise him like they used to, but that night was different. He'd never seen his father look so unstable and his mother so broken as she was getting the daylights beaten out of her. He got so scared that he ran upstairs and called 9-1-1 as the ruckus continued in the living room.

        "After he called for help, he ran downstairs and walked in on his father and his mother going through a struggle. This was the weird part because for the first time, I saw Aarav cry as he told me what happened next. After fighting for a while, Rakesh got the upper hand and held Tejal down, and that was when he started choking her. Aarav described the whole choking aspect of it in such great detail that I was highly disturbed."

        This whole story was disturbing.

        "I'm going to spare you the details," he said, and I was grateful for that. "Aarav started crying because he told me that while his mother was struggling for her life, all he could do was watch."

        He was eleven. What was he supposed to do? He never should have been in that situation in the first place.

        "Luckily, the cops showed up, and they pried Rakesh off of Tejal and arrested him. They took Tejal to the hospital, and that's when Aarav decided to speak up. Good thing he did because after that, Tejal spoke up, too, and they started their case and got Rakesh locked up for all the shit he put them through. After the trial and Rakesh's conviction, Aarav and Tejal moved to Shirley Heights, and Tejal met Varun-ji soon after, and the rest is history." He became silent and peeked at me as I processed his words.

        He ended that as if he just told me a fairy tale or something, even though it was anything but a fairy tale.

        And I thought I had daddy issues.

        "Aarav can be an arrogant ass," Gyan said. "And he can be a terrible person sometimes, but at the same time, maybe he needs help. No one goes through something like that at such a young age without being affected in some way."

        He needed more than help.

        Tejal went through this, too, but she turned out fine. She was always so happy-go-lucky and energetic. I never would have expected her to go through the things she did. She didn't use her past as an excuse to inflict pain upon others.

        There was no excuse for what Aarav did.

        He was still a rapist, and he was still a molester, and he was still a bastard.

        Now, he was just a monster who came from a monster.

        "Did you believe him when he told you this?"

        I hated questioning people's stories about stuff like this, but it was Aarav.

        "I did," Gyan answered. "There are certain things you don't lie about, and this is one of them. I know Aarav can be a douche, but his tone, his body language and all the emotions he expressed as he told me this all felt authentic. If that was all a performance,the dude deserves an Oscar. He told me this a year ago, but it still eats at me whenever I think about it."

        It was going to eat at me from now on, too. How could a person comprehend something like this?

        "So yeah," Gyan concluded. "That's the big family secret. That's why Rakesh Patil got imprisoned."

        He was an awful excuse for a man. What kind of example was he to his son? I didn't think it was possible, but I disliked him more than I did Aarav.

        Then I thought of Arya.

        No.

        I was not going to allow Aarav to do the same shit to Arya that his father did to him and Tejal. It was time I got off my ass and did something about this. I wasn't going to give anyone the opportunity to choke Arya to death.

        I burned out the cigarette in the ashtray and hopped onto my feet while reaching for my wallet and keys. "Gyan, I have to go."

        "What?" He burned out his cigarette as well while I grabbed my phone.

        "I need to check up on someone." I moved frantically as I mentally checked to make sure I had everything.

        "Are they being abused, too?" He grabbed his stuff and stood up with a chuckle.

        "That's not funny." I frowned as I walked past him, and it took him a couple seconds to approach me.

        "Darian, relax," he said while stopping a couple inches short of me, and I opened the front door. "Sometimes the best way to alleviate pain and difficult situations is with humor."

        "Not right now," I said as we stepped out. "Sorry for cutting this short, but I really have to go."

        After I locked up behind us, I jogged past him while he took his time to walk towards the stairs. "Whoever you're trying to be a hero for, they're lucky."

        I disregarded his words and hopped into my GMC. I sparked the car and hurried out of the parking space while Gyan walked down the stairs. He waved at me with that breath-taking smile intact, but I couldn't enjoy it.

        I wondered if he would still be smiling if he knew I was trying to "be a hero" for his cousin.

"What are you doing here?" Arya whispered as she closed the door behind her, and I took a couple steps back, so we could distance ourselves from the house.

        "I'm here to check up on you," I said. "I haven't spoken to you since that dinner."

        "That was intentional." She crossed her arms with her lips in a hard line.

        "I know. What I don't understand is why?"

        I gave her plenty of time. A little too much time.

        "There's nothing to talk about," she said with a blank look.

        "You're kidding me, right?" Her expression remained firm, and I snorted. "There's so much to talk about, especially after what you told me."

        "Forget about it." She tapped her foot repeatedly against the ground, and she didn't look at me directly.

        Was this girl for real?

        "You can't just drop a bomb on someone like the one you did and expect them to forget about it."

        "Pretend I didn't tell you anything." She pressed her foot against the edge of the flower pots lining the driveway.

        "Who the hell can pretend someone didn't tell them what you told me, Arya?" I asked with my arms out. "I can't just forget about that."

        "Find a way." Her blank stare moved up to me.

        "What is going on with you?" My eyes flickered to the door. "Is he blackmailing you?" She continued to stare at me with a numb expression. "Is he hurting you again? What does he have on you?"

        "Nothing."

        "Bullshit. Why are you suddenly acting like this?"

        "Nothing, Darian!" She finally uncrossed her arms and shot daggers at me. "Why don't you mind your damn business? For four fucking years you wanted nothing to do with me, but now you want to be in my life?"

        Of course, she was going to use that against me.

        "Now, when I stupidly told you what I did." She ran her hands down her face with a sigh. "I'm so stupid. Why would I tell you?" I wasn't sure if she was asking me or herself, but her features softened. "We've barely spoken in four years, and I tell you."

        I took a step forward. "Arya, I know I haven't been there—"

        "You haven't," she cut me off. "You've never been there before but now you want to so you can be this hero who saves the damsel in distress. Well, guess what, Darian?" She moved closer. "I'm not a fucking damsel in distress."

        "I never said you were."

        "You're acting like it." She backed away from me as her eyes scanned my face. "I see that look you have. Just because of that one detail you know about me, you see me differently now."

        "Arya, no—"

        "That Arya you knew is gone because of that one detail," she snarled. "All you see now is some victim. Some poor, innocent girl who can't take care of herself. A girl who isn't strong enough to hold her own. Some girl who needs saving." Her eyes moistened, but her glare only intensified. "But you're wrong. I'm not a victim. I'm not some incapable girl. I don't need anyone's saving."

        "I never said those things!" I hollered.

        "You don't have to!" She took another step back. "I see it in your eyes, and I should have known better. I never should have told you." She shook her head with a disapproving look. "I never should have told anyone. When you tell people things, it only comes back to bite you in the ass. There was no need for me to even tell you because I'm fine. There's nothing wrong with me."

        "You're not the problem, Arya," I agreed. "The problem is what he's doing to you. What he did to you!"

        "That's my problem," she said while pointing a finger at her chest. "This is my mess. I'll fix it."

        "I can help you." I reached for her, but she slapped my hands away.

        "I don't need your help." That was when I noticed the tremor in her hands. It was faint, but it was there. "After my mother's death, I learned to look out for myself. I learned to be strong. When my mother was alive, I thought I needed her." Her stare moved to the ground. "Then she died, but even with her gone, I survived. It took some time, but I was okay. I was fine again." Her gaze moved up to mine. "If I don't need my mother, I sure as hell don't need anyone else."

        "You don't need anyone?" I bit out. "That doesn't mean you should push people away. We can still be here for you. I can still be here for you. You can't go through this alone."

        She snickered without joy. "There you go again thinking I'm incapable of things."

        "I never said that." I grabbed my hair and groaned in frustration.

        Why was she putting words into my mouth?

        "After my mother's death, I grieved," she said. "I was young and trying to understand what was going on, but I healed. Then Camila died. That grief came back, and it hit me. People only have a chance to hurt you, when you let them. When you allow them to get too close. So I made a decision. I'm tired of setting myself up for hurt, so I'm done." She began to walk backwards. "I'm done with the others, and I'm done with you, too, Darian."

        "Arya!" I grabbed her arm as she turned around to walk off, and that blank stare returned when she looked at me. "You can't just cut me off now. Not after what you told me."

        "Everything in life is temporary," she said. "I'm done investing time into temporary situations—temporary people. I'm done, Darian." She smiled, but it was a sad one. "I'm finally done."

        She yanked her arm free and opened her front door. "So that's it?! You're going to abandon us before we abandon you?"

        She glanced back at me with her eyes locked on mine. "I learned from the best."

        She gave me a once-over before entering her house and slamming the door behind her.

        "Arya!" I banged on the heavy, wooden door, but I didn't miss that familiar sound of a lock being put in place. "Arya, don't do this! Don't let him win. Let me in. Let me be here for you."

        It didn't matter how hard I banged or how loud I shouted, the door never opened. Arya never came out. Aarav never got his comeuppance.

        "Let me be your friend," I whispered after a couple minutes of ruthless pounding on the door. "Let me finally be your friend." I pounded one last time.

        But she never opened the door.

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* What do you guys think about Darian's and Gyan's botched "hang out day?" Gyan exposing Aarav's past? Darian confronting Arya? Her reaction and decision at the end?

* Sorry for the wait, but this week has been rough with school or other things. But this is the longest part I've ever posted for this book so far, so hopefully that makes up for it.

* This chapter was pretty heavy, but it was essential. Certain things are uncomfortable to think about, but that doesn't make them any less real. There's so much more of Aarav and this whole situation to be explored.

*Song is "Crossfire" by Stephen.

* I'm exciting for the upcoming chapters. 😊