Mag-log inREINAI didn't move. I couldn't. My body was still heavy with the memory of him, his weight, his scent, the desperate pleas of “I love you, Reinna” still echoing in the room. But his voice, sharp and clear just a moment ago, calling for Kim, had sliced through the morning calm and severed that reality.Kim! The words were so casual, so completely devoid of the remorse and frantic devotion he’d shown me just hours earlier. He had walked out of my room, leaving the evidence of our fierce, silent reunion behind him, only to immediately chase after the distraction he promised meant nothing.The sting was immediate, but the heat of it quickly turned to ice. It wasn't just a betrayal; it was a game. He was playing a vicious, calculated game with my emotions, using me as a release and Kim as an alibi.My breath hitched, and the first sob was a silent, gut-wrenching tremor. I pulled the sheet up to my chin, but it offered no warmth. Tears finally came, hot and stinging, blurring the sunlight
REINAThe morning after the mysterious moan, I felt like I was moving through thick water. My mother’s absence was a dull ache. She and Austin’s father had extended their European trip again, sending another hefty transfer to my account.“Use this for anything you need, darling. We’re having a wonderful time, and we trust you and Austin to keep the house running smoothly! This is the longest we’ve ever been away, I miss you!”I read her text again, a bitter laugh catching in my throat. Trust Austin and me. If only she knew. I missed her so much it hurt—her calm presence was the only thing that could slice through the toxicity in this house. But she was gone, and I was stuck here, caught in this twisted plot of my own making.I managed to drag myself downstairs and was staring blankly at a bowl of cereal when the doorbell rang.I opened it and instantly felt the familiar surge of cold suspicion.Kim.She stood there, radiating a casual, almost blinding confidence. Her outfit today was
REINAThe exams hit me like a physical wave, one right after the other. It was a blessing and a curse. The intense, frantic need to ace my Civil War and European History papers was the only thing that kept me from running out to the pool deck and screaming like a banshee. My days blurred into an endless cycle of flashcards, highlighters, and caffeine.I barely saw Austin. When I did, it was usually in the kitchen, both of us moving like zombies fueled by stress. He’d grab a soda, I’d grab a granola bar. We’d exchange terse, polite nods, the perfect, non-incestuous step-siblings we pretended to be. It was agony. Every time I looked at him, all I could see was his head leaning forward, his eyes glued to Kim’s sheer cover-up, that predatory, arrogant smirk plastered across his face.The nights he came into my room, the nights he touched me… God, the shame was a bitter pill. I hated myself for how easy it was to let him in, to confess my love to a man I had just watched fail the simplest
The video call ended with a rush of frantic promises. Promises to study, promises to think, and the biggest promise of all, that I would get an answer from Austin.I slammed my laptop shut and paced the length of my room. My friends were right. My triumph this morning was just a temporary high built on an explosive orgasm and a successful mind game. But what did that mind game prove? That I could make him angry? That I was better at psychological warfare than him?It didn’t prove love.Does he love me, or just the forbidden thrill? Sarah's question was a splinter in my mind, and I knew I couldn’t focus on the Civil War until I pulled it out. The high of our secret relationship was turning into a sickening dread. I had to know. And the only way to know what he really wanted was to put a genuine temptation in front of him. Something that had nothing to do with me, my hot body or the fact that I can’t resist him. A blank slate.I walked to the window and looked out at the street. The sun
REINAI woke up stiff and a little hoarse, but strangely triumphant. My muscles ached from the intensity of the night before, but my brain was clear. For the first time in a week, I was actually able to look at my study materials without immediately thinking about Austin’s hands or his low whispers. The scream had worked. It was a terrible, desperate tactic, but it created space.I spent the morning glued to my desk. No pictures. No creaking floorboards. The silence was unnerving, but it was productive. By noon, I had finished reviewing Chemistry and was halfway through the Civil War section of History.Around one o’clock, my phone lit up with a video call from Sarah. Beside her in the tiny video window was Maya, grinning widely. I answered immediately, glad for the distraction.“Hey, guys! I feel like I haven’t seen human faces in, like, fifty years,” I said, stretching my neck.“Tell me about it, hermit,” Sarah teased, taking a noisy sip of her iced coffee. “You haven’t left that ho
REINNAThe silence after Austin slammed the door was the loudest thing in the house. It wasn’t the comfortable, secret silence of two people hiding their love; it was the heavy, wounded quiet of a fight. I stared at the closed door, my chest still heaving from yelling.“I’m not pulling away,” I whispered to the empty room, but the truth was, I had. I had put my future my scholarship, my grades above him, and he took it as a personal insult. He was used to being the only priority.I forced myself to pick up my Chemistry book again. Stoichiometry. It was meaningless. All I could see were Austin’s angry, hurt eyes. The air felt cold, and I pulled my fuzzy blanket around my shoulders, trying to chase away the chill.I thought, maybe, the anger would give me a couple of days of peace. I thought my yelling would distance him just long enough for me to get through this crucial study period. I was so wrong.I finally managed to complete the equilibrium problems, but it took three times longer







