Chapter 5: The House

When I finally saw it, relief hit me so suddenly that it almost made me dizzy.

“That’s it,” I whispered.

I recognized it immediately.

The clean lines, and dark windows. The house was quiet. Controlled, just like him.

I walked up the steps slowly, but suddenly I felt unsure again.

What am I even doing?

Showing up unannounced, at his house, in the middle of the night, after everything that had happened.

I let out a shaky breath.

“Just knock.”

I raised my hand before pausing. Preparing myself for what to come, and then... Nothing happened.

The lights didn’t turn on. There was no movement. No sound.

I frowned slightly, before trying the doorbell. Again, nothing.

I even gave it some time, waiting, but still nothing.

A hollow feeling settled in my chest.

“He’s not here,” I whispered.

I guess nothing's going my way.

I let my hand fall.

For a moment, I just stood there.

Then, slowly, I sat down on the steps, pulling my knees to my chest, as I proceeded to wrap my arms around them.

“Okay,” I whispered, my voice small.

“Okay.”

I’ll just wait for a little while.

The cold began to seep in quickly, but I barely noticed it, because, since I had stopped moving, everything caught up to me. The image of the room, the way Brianna smiled, and the way Tyler had said my name.

My chest tightened again, but this time I didn’t stop it.

The tears came quietly at first, and then all at once, and then somewhere between one breath and the next, my mind started drifting.

Back to the first time I stood in front of Gabriel's house.

The First Time

[Flashback]

“What are we doing here? I thought we were heading to Daniel’s place,” I asked as Tyler pulled up next to a house I hadn’t seen before. Not that I had been at Daniel's place either, but I knew it wasn’t supposed to be there.

He looked at me before stepping out of the car, already halfway to the door.

“We are. I just have to give something to my uncle real’ quick, it will only take a couple of minutes,” he said.

“Okay,” I said, as I stepped out of the car, leaning against it while I glanced up at the house.

It was different than I expected. It wasn’t big and flashy, like Tyler’s home, just still.

Like everything about it was intentional, even the lights, and the silence.

I smoothed my hands over my jeans, suddenly aware of how out of place I felt standing there.

“Don’t be weird,” I mumbled to myself, but what I saw made me completely forget my senses. The front door opened before Tyler even knocked, and then I saw him — Gabriel.

For a second, I thought I was wrong because that man couldn’t possibly be Tyler’s uncle.

He was too young, too composed, too… much.

He stood there like he belonged exactly where he was, his one hand resting lightly on the door, while his posture was relaxed but precise. Dark shirt, sleeves rolled just enough to show his well-trained forearms.

His gaze landed on Tyler first.

“You’re late,” he said calmly.

“Yeah, yeah,” Tyler waved it off, as he handed Gabriel something, before his gaze then shifted to me, making it feel like everything in my body went completely still.

It wasn’t just that he looked at me, but how he looked. His gaze was focused and sharp.

Like he was trying to understand something, and it somehow made me feel very aware of myself.

Of how I was standing, what I was wearing, and the fact that I didn’t expect to be seen like that.

“This is Julia,” Tyler said quickly. “My girlfriend.”

Girlfriend.

The word felt different at that moment.

He didn’t respond immediately, and for a split second, I thought.

Did I do something wrong?

But then something in his expression changed. It somehow became softer, just a little, but enough to notice.

“Julia,” he repeated my name, like he was testing it, and at that moment, there was a slight difference in his voice. Maybe it was just my imagination, but it sounded lower, more measured.

Like he was placing it somewhere carefully.

“Hi,” I said, and immediately wished I sounded less unsure.

But then, unexpectedly, he smiled. It was small and brief, but real.

“Nice to meet you, Julia.”

The tension in my shoulders eased just a little.

“You too,” I replied.

“You’re heading to Daniel’s?” he asked, glancing briefly at Tyler.

“Yeah,” Tyler answered for both of us. “Just a quick stop.”

Gabriel nodded once, then he looked back at me.

“First time there?”

I blinked.

“Uh, yeah.”

“You’ll want to stay near people you can trust,” he said.

It wasn’t said like a warning, not exactly, but it felt like one.

“Oh. Okay?”

“Or,” he added after a brief pause, “maybe you should just avoid it altogether.”

That seemed to change something in Tyler, because he immediately groaned.

“Don’t start.”

Gabriel’s gaze flicked at him briefly.

“I’m not starting anything.”

But there was something underneath that. Something controlled and restrained.

I didn’t really understand it, but I felt it.

“Relax,” Tyler said, nudging me lightly. “He thinks everything is dangerous.”

Gabriel didn’t react to that. At least not outward.

Instead, he looked back at me one last time.

“Enjoy your evening, Julia.”

Back To The Doorstep

The memory faded slowly, blending into the cold, quiet, present, as I pulled my knees closer to my chest, while resting my forehead against them.

“Was he trying to tell me, I couldn’t trust Tyler?” I whispered.

Maybe not directly, but it was enough to make me question everything before a weak laugh escaped me.

“Guess I should’ve listened.”

My fingers tightened against my sleeves.

Everything started hurting again. Sharper than before because I knew how it ended.

A car door slammed somewhere nearby.

I didn’t react at first, as my mind was still stuck somewhere between the past and the present.

Footsteps came closer, and then a sudden voice.

“Julia?”

The sound of my name cut through everything, making me freeze.

I slowly lifted my head, and there he was — Gabriel.

He was standing at the bottom of the steps, looking at me, like he didn’t understand what he was seeing, and maybe he didn’t because that version of me wasn’t someone he had met before.