chapter 20:The game he plays

Josh’s nights were a carefully choreographed chaos. His phone never left his hand; names, emojis, and texts scrolled faster than anyone could read. Some girls were gone, others still present, all of them living in the orbit of his charm. Each one required a balance, a rhythm, a careful calculation he had perfected over years.

“Yo, bro, you even sleeping?” one of his friends laughed, tossing him a drink at a party. “You’ve got texts from three girls waiting. And it’s barely nine.”

Josh grinned, leaning back, eyes flicking between his friends and the buzzing screen. “I manage,” he said, voice smooth. “It’s all about timing.”

Timing. Strategy. Control. That was the code. The rules. The way he kept the game running without letting it fall apart. Every girl had her place some casual, some serious enough to feed attention, some disposable. Every message, every smile, every party visit had to be calculated. One slip, one jealous glance, and chaos could erupt.

He scrolled quickly, sending a laugh emoji here, a casual “Hey” there, a heart where necessary. He monitored reactions. He balanced interest with distance. He was always aware, always alert, always in control or so he thought.

“Bro, that one you’re seeing now Diamond? She’s different,” a friend whispered, smirking. “You ever think she’ll figure it out?”

Josh paused, thumb hovering over his screen. Different. Yeah. She was different. She wasn’t like the others. She didn’t bend, didn’t swoon, didn’t play along with the game. And for the first time, he realized the game might not work with her.

He laughed lightly, more to himself than anyone else. “Yeah… she’s different,” he admitted, almost under his breath. “But that doesn’t mean I stop. Not yet.”

Meanwhile, across his carefully orchestrated web, girls waited some texting, some expecting his attention at parties, some thinking they were the one he would choose next. He juggled them with precision, balancing flirtation, physical proximity, and attention like a tightrope walker. A smile here, a whisper there, a little intimacy sprinkled just enough to keep them hooked, but not so much that they threatened his other pieces.

It was exhausting.

But he thrived in it. That world the chaos, the attention, the thrill of being desired it was his element. And yet, no matter how perfectly he managed it, there was one constant he couldn’t control. Diamond.

She wasn’t part of the system. She didn’t bend to his rhythm. She saw through the layers, the circles, the careful orchestration of charm. She observed. She waited. She simmered.

And every time he thought he had her figured out, every time he thought he had the balance of his world perfect, she reminded him silently, with a look, a pause, a hesitation that he wasn’t in control of her heart.

Josh leaned back, phone in hand, surrounded by the chaos he had mastered. Girls laughed, friends joked, attention flowed like a river, smooth and relentless. But beneath it all, a seed of unease had taken root.

Because in the middle of his world , the parties, the texts, the fleeting touches ,there was a fire he couldn’t tame. And that fire belonged to Diamond.

And he knew it.