“Please,” Kash repeated, almost whispering. “Ody, I’m begging you.”
He didn’t speak. His stare alone made Kash shrink back a little.
Ody’s chest rose and fell slowly, fury tightening every muscle. He wasn’t listening because he cared or wanted to understand. He wanted the truth because he was owed it. Because Kash had lied to him. Because he had let Kash touch him, kiss him, pull him in… and now every moment between them felt poisoned.
After a long moment, Ody inhaled, steadying himself just enough to speak. “Get in the car. You’re gonna tell me everything.”
Kash nodded fast. He followed him without another word.
The ride to Ody’s place was silent. Kash kept rubbing his palms on his jeans, stealing terrified glances at Ody, who never once looked back at him.
Once they stepped inside, Ody didn’t offer him a seat. He sat at the dining table, arms crossed, jaw tight. Kash stopped a few steps away, unsure if he was allowed to sit at all. He finally sank onto the couch, head lowered.
“I’m listening,” Ody said. The calmness in his voice made Kash flinch harder than if he’d yelled.
He swallowed, gathering the pieces of whatever courage he had left. “Stella… She has history with Mano. They went out for a while. Then he dumped her out of nowhere.” He chose his words carefully. “She kept messaging him, trying to understand why. He was very harsh with her.”
Ody didn’t blink.
Kash kept going. “She later found out he slept with her best friend. It destroyed her. Their friendship ended, and she never stopped blaming Mano for it.”
He paused, and Ody could tell he wasn’t lying. He’d seen how Mano talked to girls before, the cold tone, the sharp replies.
Kash dragged a hand through his hair. “She wanted to make him pay. She couldn’t let it go. She told me she was gonna get close to him again. Pretend she was over him. Make him think he was in control.” He looked down. “She said she needed me to act like I was her ex, just to have an excuse to hurt him.”
Ody exhaled, but it wasn’t relief. It was exhaustion mixed with disbelief.
“She showed me pictures of him. Told me everything.” Kash’s voice weakened. “I knew he was studying at NKUA, but I never ran into him. The first time I did… I recognized him instantly.”
Kash fell silent for a moment, lost in the memory.
“Everything alright?”
All three turned.
Mano stood there, hands in his pockets.
Ody blinked. But Kash… Kash went still.
His gaze snapped to Mano, sweeping from his hair to his shoes in one sharp, tense second. Recognition hit him like a punch. This was him. The guy from Stella’s photos. The guy she had cried over for months. The guy she wanted destroyed.
Kash blinked and looked up at Ody, his eyes full of regret. “Then everything got worse.” He rubbed his face. “She wanted revenge. Real revenge. She wanted him embarrassed, humiliated, scared… She kept pushing me. Telling me Mano deserved whatever happened to him. That I shouldn’t let it go. That he needed to pay for what he’d done to her.”
Ody’s jaw tightened.
“And then the coffee thing happened,” Kash continued. “I wasn’t even thinking straight that day. I threw it on you so I could take you home, so I could finally tell you the truth, I’ve told you that.” His voice cracked under the weight of the admission. “And then Mano showed up out of nowhere. The second I saw him, everything in me snapped. I already hated him for how he treated Stella, and now I felt like he was ruining everything again. So yeah… I blew up. I handled it like an idiot.”
Ody stayed silent, but the anger behind his eyes was clear.
“She wanted him broken. I just… went along with it,” he admitted quietly. “I let her pull me into everything.” He looked directly at Ody now. “That’s the truth. All of it.”
Silence filled the room.
Ody finally spoke, each word measured. “You two pretended to be exes. You let Mano believe that. You let me believe that. And all this time, you were siblings.”
Kash shut his eyes in guilt.
“And you still went after him. Beat him. Threatened him. Made his life hell.” Ody leaned back, disgust and disbelief tightening his chest. “All for her.”
