“You were incredible up there. Always are.”
“Thank you.” Her voice stayed polite, guarded.
He stepped a little closer. “Things with Ji-Yeon… didn’t work out. We ended it a couple weeks ago.”
The words she’d waited months to hear landed strangely—flat, almost hollow. She waited for the rush of hope. It didn’t come.
“I’m sorry,” she said quietly, and meant it.
He searched her face. “I didn’t realize how much I’d miss you until I started seeing you everywhere. Tonight especially. You look… happy.”
She swallowed. “I’m doing okay.”
Before he could say more, Jax was back—two champagne flutes in hand, grin wide and bright.
“Hey,” he said cheerfully, stepping right up beside her and handing her a glass. “Got the good stuff.” He turned to Min-Jae with easy confidence. “Min-Jae. Killer track last month—had it on repeat during testing. Respect.”
Min-Jae blinked. “Thanks.”
Jax laughed lightly and slid his arm around Aria’s waist, pulling her snug against his side, thumb tracing over her hip. “You alright, babe? You seem quiet.”
The casual touch felt dialed up, possessive under the lights. She forced a small smile, but her shoulders stayed tense. “I’m fine. Just catching up.”
Jax’s grin held steady, though his grip tightened a fraction. “Yeah, of course.” He dropped a quick kiss to her temple, deliberate enough for anyone nearby to notice. “She’s had a big night. Can’t keep her all to myself too long.”
Min-Jae’s jaw ticked slightly. His gaze flicked from Jax’s arm to Aria’s face, uncertain. “Right. Enjoy the rest of the evening.”
Jax turned them away smoothly toward the dance floor. Once they were out of earshot, he leaned down, voice low against her ear. “You alright?”
She nodded too quickly. “Yeah.”
He studied her for a long second, then gave a small, tight nod. “I’ve got an early flight. Need to head back to the airport in about an hour. But I’ll see you in Melbourne in a few weeks?”
“I’ll be there.”
He kissed her—soft, lingering—then pulled back. “Text me when you’re home safe.”
After he left, Aria stood alone in the pulsing party, champagne untouched, the night suddenly feeling colder. She kept scanning the crowd, eyes searching for the familiar height of his shoulders, the messy hair, the slow grin that had lit up the entire lobby earlier. Every few seconds she caught herself doing it—looking for Jax, waiting for him to reappear through the bodies and pull her back against him like he had in the car.
Why had he left so suddenly?
The question looped in her head. She knew the answer—testing, the early flight, the team breathing down his neck—but it still stung. She had wanted him to stay. Wanted the night to end with him in her bed again, tangled and quiet, the way it had in London. Instead he was already gone, halfway back to the airport, and she was here alone with a glass she couldn’t bring herself to drink.
She hadn’t looked for Min-Jae once. Not when he’d walked away. Not when the crowd shifted around her. Not even now.
The realization hit her quietly, like a note resolving at the end of a song she hadn’t meant to write.
She was no longer waiting for her ex to come back.
She was waiting for Jax.
And that scared her more than anything else tonight.
???
Chapter Nineteen
Jax
