The room hums with it. Anger, sympathy, guilt threaded through.
“I stayed quiet,” I say. “Because I thought if I didn’t make waves, it would pass. But silence became proof. People decided if I wasn’t screaming, it must be because I was guilty.”
Caleb steps closer now.
“That kind of narrative sticks,” he says. “Especially when it benefits the powerful person.”
“I walked away with nothing,” I whisper. “My reputation burned. My confidence shredded. And him?” I shrug helplessly. “He kept cooking. Kept winning awards. Kept being brilliant.”
Caleb shakes his head once. “That doesn’t mean you were wrong.”
“I know that here,” I say, tapping my temple. “But some days, it still lives here.” I press my hand to my chest. “Like I’m one bad decision away from proving them right.”
“You didn’t ruin anything by wanting to be valued.”
I fracture at that.
“I’m terrified of repeating it,” I admit. “Of not seeing the red flags because they look like attention. Or passion. Or… chemistry.”
Caleb meets my gaze unflinchingly.
“Then we don’t confuse intensity for safety,” he says. “We don’t blur lines. We don’t rush.”
My breath catches.
“And if something feels off?” he adds. “You say it. Even if it’s messy. Especially then.”
I nod, throat tight.
“I pushed you away,” I say quietly. “Because I didn’t trust myself. And I didn’t want to drag you into something broken.”
Caleb steps close enough now that I can feel the warmth of him. Still not touching.
“You didn’t break me,” he says. “You scared me. There’s a difference.”
“I’m sorry,” I whisper.
“I know,” he replies. “And I forgive you.”
The space between us feels suddenly too small.
I can see the faint scar along his jaw. The tired kindness in his eyes. The restraint it must take for him to stand here and not do what we both feel pulling at us.
My body leans before my brain catches up.
So does his.
It would be so easy. One step. One breath. One moment of forgetting everything else.
His hand lifts, then stops, hovering near my arm.
“Delaney…”
“I know,” I whisper. “I know.”
If we kiss, it won’t be an accident.
It will be a choice.
