In the long list of the worst days of my life, this day was going to be in the top five if not at the very top.

As if having a meltdown in front of the entire mall wasn't embarrassing enough, I had to get caught kissing Atlas. And the person to catch us had to be Dylan. The one person who could never take anything seriously or keep his mouth shut.

From the way his gray eyes were glinting with mirth and the slant quirk of his lips, I could tell that he found this situation quite amusing. Shit!

"Well, well, well... Look how the cat got out of the bag," Dylan commented with a flair as he eyed Atlas and me like prey.

My mouth fell open but nothing came out of it. I should have explained myself, at least tried to cover up or maybe just start running but there was nothing I could do. I sat there stunned, staring at him as if that would make him disappear into thin air.

Dylan pulled a chair from the nearby table and sat down. He propped his elbows on the table and placed his chin on his hands. His eyes danced between Atlas and me, the smile on his face resembling that of a man who had hit the jackpot.

"Won't you let me in on the secret now? Pretty please," he said, batting his eyelashes.

I peeked a glance at Atlas to see his eyes narrowed on his teammate and his jaw ticking in annoyance. "Why are you here Dylan? Did you follow my car? Again?"

That again caught me off guard and I wanted to ask more on that but thought better of it. Now wasn't the time.

Dylan gasped and reeled back with a hand on his chest. "Do you take me for a stalker? This is the hottest place in town these days so of course a rising influencer like me would come here to take some pictures at sunset."

Atlas raised a brow at him. "Is that it?"

"What else could it be?" Dylan accused, throwing his hands up in exasperation. But then the devilish smirk was back on his face. "I just lucked out and caught an interesting picture of something other than the sunset."

His eyes flicked to me. "Would you like to see it?"

My throat went dry. "I—"

"Oh, fuck you!" Atlas exclaimed. "Stop pretending like we are in a mafia movie and get to the point Dylan or I swear to God I will rip you—"

Dylan heaved a sigh, rolling his eyes. "You're such a party pooper. Evelyn honey, what do you even see in him?" He clicked his tongue in distaste as he looked at Atlas. "You could do so much better."

"Dylan," Atlas warned, his voice cold and hard.

"Fine," Dylan huffed. "I really did come here to click some pictures at sunset. The golden hour makes my skin glow, you know."

Atlas snorted but Dylan ignored him and continued. "Anyway, I came here, saw you two kissing, and the rug was swept from under my feet! I already knew there wouldn't be fire without the smoke and today I witnessed the smoke firsthand!"

"It's smoke without fire," Atlas corrected with a heavy sigh.

Dylan waved him off. "Semantics. Now, is anyone going to tell me how this happened?" He gestured between Atlas and me, eyes shining with excitement.

If the term gossip monger was a person, Dylan would be it. Atlas had mentioned about Dylan's love for gossip a few times in passing but I had brushed it off thinking nothing of it. If only I had known it would come to bite me in the ass...

Sweat collected in my palms as my heart rate kicked up. My stomach roiled in anxiety and I tried not to squirm under his piercing gaze. "It's not like that. We—"

"We are not telling you anything," Atlas replied, folding his arms across his chest.

Dylan narrowed his eyes on Atlas before pushing his chair back, ready to leave. "Fine. I can always ask around to find out what's going on. I have a lot of contacts, you know. I can—"

"Wait!" I yelled, eyes wide in horror.

There was no way I was going to let him talk about this to everyone and bring more attention to it. Rumors would spread faster than wildfire and then the gossip channels of the university would be all over this considering how popular Atlas was. And if that happened... A shiver ran down my spine at the thought.

Dylan flashed me a victorious smile as he sat back in his chair, scooting closer conspiringly. "So... when did this start?"

I heaved a sigh and readied myself to spill everything. And hopefully, also convince him to not say a word to anyone.

Just as I opened my mouth, Atlas caught my arm. "You don't have to tell him anything. It's none of his damn business." He shot Dylan another withering glare.

"Captain, respectfully, shut your mouth and let us talk, okay?" Dylan retorted and then fully turned to face me. "Continue please."

I gave him the same version of the story I'd given to Veena except with even fewer explicit details and more emphasis on why we had to keep this a secret. Dylan's usually expressive face remained impassive throughout my rant which did nothing to lessen my anxiety. He kept staring at me even after I ended my long-winded speech with a request for him to keep our secret to himself.

"Did you die or something?" Atlas prompted from beside me when Dylan remained silent for a beat longer than necessary. I could tell that his patience was running low and if Dylan didn't get to the point fast, we were going to have another problem at hand.

"That's it?" Dylan asked me, dutifully ignoring Atlas' comment.

"Uh... Yeah? What more should there be?" I retorted.

He shook his head, his dark bangs swaying with the movement. "I don't understand. Why don't you guys just date each other?"

"Date? Us?" I asked, dumbfounded. That was the weirdest thing I had ever heard. Atlas and me dating... Yeah, that could never work.

Dylan shrugged and then shot us a cheeky smile. "Yeah, why not? You two have good chemistry. Won't it make things a lot easier? Not that what you two have now is wrong or something."

No. Us dating would not make things easier. If anything, it would complicate things even more. I didn't know how Atlas' brain worked but I knew how mine did. I would get attached at the first show of affection that was something more than lust and unrelated to the physical attraction between us.

That's a big reason why I had never dipped my toes in the dating pool after that one boyfriend in high school. I couldn't get attached to anyone and then spiral into depression when they abandoned me. And that's why one-night stands were the way to go.

Was it healthy? Probably not. But right now I couldn't afford therapy or the risk of trying and failing at dating. Atlas and I were very clear on what we wanted from this thing between us from the very beginning. We also knew that it had an expiration date on it. The day Atlas graduated. Why even start something when we already knew it was bound to fail?

"We..." I turned to Atlas for help but found him already staring at me, his onyx eyes intense. "We are just not the type of people who date. We are not even compatible. Right?"

Atlas stared at me for a long minute and my heart began to thud in my chest as I discreetly rubbed my sweaty palms on my jean-clad knees. What was taking him so long to back me up here?

"Right," he finally said, facing Dylan again. He didn't sound convincing nor did he add more words to support his answer. On top of it, he refused to look at me, staring straight ahead instead. The sudden change in him threw me for a loop.

Was he mad at me? But for what? Did he not agree with what I said?

Dylan probably caught on Atlas' mood shift because his gaze kept flitting between the two of us before settling on Atlas, his eyes calculative.

"Interesting," he muttered, fully facing me again. A bright smile formed on his lips. "Okay. Your secret is safe with me."

His words relieved me but only for a moment. Because a new tornado of worries unfurled within me about this entire thing between Atlas and me. The rules we had formed months ago when I'd agreed to the pact were breaking one by one. Two people knew about us. Even if they were our closest friends and wouldn't speak a word to anyone else, it wouldn't be long before others caught on.

I should have ended this thing long back and yet, I was holding on, unable to let go. I wasn't even sure if I wanted to let go.

And that scared me more than the thought of others finding out.