Chapter 5 Past Thoughts

Aria’s POV

Present Day

“Remember, girl?” I said, swirling the last of my juice in the glass as I sank deeper into Nia’s oversized sectional. “He just sat there. At the counter. Like a statue. Didn’t say a damn word. Didn’t stand up for Lucia. Didn’t even have the decency to introduce himself.”

Nia, curled up beside me with a pillow between her legs, gave me that look, one eyebrow arched, eyes knowing. “Oh, I remember. But, girl… that man wasn’t silent because he didn’t know what to say. He was staring at you like he’d seen a ghost. Or like you just knocked the air out of him.”

I blinked, confused. “What?”

“Yeah, girl,” she nodded, her voice dropping. “He was shook. Like he’d never seen you before. Like he didn’t know how to process it.”

I let out a dry laugh. “Maybe because he’d just realized his fat ass project partner was roommates with his bougie ass, almond milk craving girlfriend.”

“Insane girlfriend,” Nia corrected, eyes sharp. “And you know they got married a few years back, right?”

That pulled me up short. “Yeah, i heard.”

She nodded, taking a slow sip from her juice. “Mmhm. Whole over priced wedding. Big photos. Matching hashtags and all that fake couple goals shit.”

I scoffed. “I know he’s miserable. Ain’t no way he isn’t. Good for his ass.”

I laughed, but it didn’t sound joyful, it sounded like something I spit out to keep from choking on the lump in my throat. I knew what I saw back then. I felt it. But if it meant nothing to him, then maybe I made it all up. Maybe I just wanted it to mean something more than it did.

Nia let out a groan and shifted to stand. “Whew. This baby is doing gymnastics in my ribs. I’m drained. We can finish our little trip down memory lane tomorrow, beauty.”

I nodded, watching her waddle off toward her room. “Goodnight, Mama Nia.”

“Night, baby girl,” she called softly.

I stood, stretching my arms over my head, and headed toward the guest room she’d set up for me. The house was quiet now, the kind of silence that wrapped around you and made your thoughts louder than they needed to be.

Was he really looking at me like that? Like he saw me for the first time?

No.

I shook my head. He’s just a smug asshole who got exactly what he deserved.

Still... I couldn’t shake the feeling. Couldn’t erase the way his eyes lingered. Couldn’t forget the ache I felt when he didn’t say anything.

I closed the door behind me, walked to the ensuite bathroom, and turned on the shower. As the steam began to rise, I stared at myself in the mirror.

Still me. Still that girl who always second guesses what she felt.

I exhaled hard and whispered, “Get over it, Aria,” before stepping into the water and letting the past drip off my soul

Jalen – Present Day

As I finish wrapping things up at the office, I spot my brother Parker walking toward the elevator for the parking garage.

"Hey bro, where's Pat?" I ask.

"He dipped right after the meeting. Said he had some 'important' meeting to get to. You know how he is," Parker says with a chuckle.

We walk in step toward the garage, and I spot his girl waiting just outside the service car, smiling like she just hit the damn jackpot.

"Hey, baby," Parker says, grinning from ear to ear like a lovesick fool.

"Hey, handsome," Sybil coos, running up to him and throwing her arms around his neck. They kiss like they’re in a rom-com finale.

I keep walking to my car, pretending not to see the PDA when she calls out, “Jay! See you at dinner tomorrow night!”

I throw a hand up in the air without turning around. Parker yells, “Don’t be late, and tell your wife to be on her best behavior!”

I scoff, unlocking my all black BMW X6. Best behavior? That’s a joke. Talia and best behavior don't belong in the same damn sentence.

As I slide into the driver’s seat and start the engine, her voice echoes in my head like a damn mosquito I can’t kill. Every time I think of Talia, that hyena on speed with a superiority complex, I somehow circle right back to Aria.

Aria.

After all these years, I still think about her more than I should. Still remember the way she looked that day, the day something shifted in me. She wasn’t hiding, and she wasn’t trying to fade into the background. She was just… there. Present. Bold. Beautiful. And she wore that yellow hoodie dress like it was custom made for her curves.

That was the day I learned she was roommates with Talia, the same Talia who constantly tore her down behind closed doors, calling her “Plushy-Plush” and the “charity case scholarship fat ass girl.” If I hadn’t heard it with my own ears, I wouldn’t have believed the venom.

And then...

Flashback

Talia’s kitchen was unnecessarily large for a college student, but her family made sure she had everything she didn’t earn. I sat at the island counter, biting into a sandwich the maid, Lucia, made me. The woman could seriously cook, grilled chicken, Swiss, toasted ciabatta with the perfect tangy aioli. I’d take that over Talia’s rabbit food any day.

Talia was rambling on in her usual spoiled voice, legs crossed, munching on a bowl of fruit like she was above real food.

“So, your dad said we can use one of the smaller cruise liners for spring break!” she beamed. “We should invite the entire crew like, make it a thing! Music, drinks, DJ. It’ll be epic.”

I barely registered the words. My father did own the cruise lines, but this was the third time this week she used the phrase “your dad said” like we were still in high school trying to flex with daddy’s credit card. It made me feel gross. Like she didn’t see me, just what I could give her.

Then I heard it.

“MAID! You fucking bitch, where is my almond milk?! What the hell is cashew milk?!”

Her voice ripped through the silence, sharp and disgusting. I looked up from my sandwich just in time to see poor Lucia skitter into the kitchen, flustered and breathless.

“I’m sorry, ma’am. Tony left a note, said he—”

“Well, Tony isn’t here, is he? Get me my milk, or I swear—”

And then she walked in.

Aria.

Just like that, everything paused. Her voice didn’t announce her. Her outfit did. Yellow hoodie dress hugging every inch of her body, curls bouncing around her face like a halo with an attitude. And she looked... alive. Real. No shapewear. No makeup mask. No apologies.

Behind her was another woman, shorter, caramel skin, shapely, massive curly ponytail, and dimples deep enough to swim in. Her friend looked like trouble and sunshine all in one. But I couldn’t stop looking at Aria.

I was done. Wrecked. The sandwich in my mouth tasted like cardboard.

I had seen her on campus before, but never like this. Not confident. Not commanding space. Not walking in like she belonged and made everyone else look out of place.

And then… she spoke. Calm. Direct.

"Lucia, you good? Don't let her talk to you like that. It's milk. Not gold bars."

My heart stopped. I couldn’t even blink. My mouth opened, and no sound came out. For the first time in forever, I had nothing to say.

She looked at Talia like she wasn’t scared of her and walked off like a goddess with better places to be. I wanted to say something. Anything. But my dumb ass just sat there like a stone.

Talia didn’t notice the shift in the air. She never noticed anything outside herself.

"Ugh, see what I mean? Shitty staff. I swear, I’m talking to my dad about all of this," she muttered as she chewed her carrots like a damn cartoon bunny.

All I could do was finish my sandwich and try to forget how my pants had suddenly gotten tighter. Spoiler: I didn’t forget.

End of Flashback

Now, as I pull into the estate I share with the mistake I put a ring on, I wonder what would’ve happened if I had just said something that day. Something real.

Would we even be here?

As I step inside, I don’t even get my second shoe off before I hear her.

“Where the fuck is the wine?! Why is no one answering me? Is everyone here brain-dead?”

Talia.

Screaming at the staff because the wine cellar is probably empty because she drank it all.

I close my eyes, take a breath, and do what I always do: shut up, keep walking, and imagine what life would be like if I had chased after the girl in the yellow hoodie dress.