Masuk~FIORELLA~I slam the door behind me, just enough to shut the world out.And then I lean back against it, my fingers still curled around the handle like if I let go, everything that just happened will come rushing back at me all at once.My chest rises, falls, and rises again.What the hell just happened?I close my eyes, pressing my head back against the door.No, no, no.That didn’t happen.There is absolutely no way that just happened.“I apologized,” I whisper under my breath, like saying it quietly will somehow make it less real.But it doesn’t. If anything, it sounds worse.My eyes snap open, and I push myself off the door immediately, pacing straight into the middle of the room like I need space… air… something.“I apologized,” I repeat, louder this time, staring at absolutely nothing.To Lucas Santis.I drag both hands through my hair, turning sharply and pacing again, the same restless energy from earlier crashing right back into me….but worse this time.
~LUCAS~For a second… I’m convinced I misheard her.I actually tilt my head a little, eyes narrowing like if I look at her properly, the words will rearrange themselves into something that makes sense.But they don’t.“I’m sorry. I’m really sorry for everything.”Fiorella Vincenzo just apologized….to me.Silence stretches between us, thick and almost unreal, and I swear my brain refuses to process it properly. Of all the things I expected when she barged into my room….This?This wasn’t even on the list….not even close.I stare at her, waiting for the twist. Waiting for the sarcasm. The smirk. The punchline.It doesn’t come.Instead, she just stands there… stiff, frozen, like she regrets the words the second they left her mouth.Her fingers twitch slightly at her sides, like she doesn’t know what to do with them. Like she’s fighting the urge to take the apology back.And then, a sound slips out of me.A chuckle ... .It's quiet at first, almost accidental, li
~FIORELLA~I can’t sit still, and I try hard.God knows I try.But it lasts barely ten seconds before I’m up again, pacing from one end of the room to the other like something is clawing at my insides.I hear the sound of my footsteps, but it doesn’t quiet the noise in my head.Nothing does.Not the shower I took. Not the food I forced myself to eat even though I could barely taste it. Not the silence.Especially not the silence.I stop in the middle of the room and press my lips together, exhaling slowly.This is ridiculous.I shouldn’t feel like this. I don’t feel like this.Not over anyone. Not over him. And yet….My jaw tightens as I drag a hand through my hair, turning sharply and resuming my pacing again…. back and forth, then back and forth again.Like I’m trying to outrun something that refuses to stay behind me.His voice….that’s what it is.The way it cracked just slightly when he asked me if I had any idea how humiliating that was.The way he looked at me like I had done som
~FIORELLA~I have seen Lucas irritated.I have seen him sharp-tongued, cold, dismissive, even borderline cruel when he wants to be.But I have never…never….seen him like that.Not like the man who just walked away from me.Not like the one whose voice shook despite how hard he tried to control it. Not like the one whose eyes burned with something so raw, so unfiltered, it didn’t even look like anger anymore.It looked… personal.And that realization sits heavy in my chest as I remain where he left me, my back still against the wall, the faint warmth of where his hand had been braced beside my head lingering longer than it should.I exhale slowly, and for a moment, I don’t move.Because I’m trying to understand what just happened.Trying to process the way he snapped, the way he looked at me like I had done something far worse than twist a presentation.My lips press together.I crossed the line.The thought comes quietly, but it settles deep.I did, and I know it
~LUCAS~Fiorella is trapped, and pinned to the wall, but her eyes don’t leave mine, not even for a second.And that…more than anything else…pushes something volatile deeper under my skin.Because she’s not flinching….not anymore.That brief flicker of surprise, of fear… it’s gone now, and completely wiped clean like it never existed. In its place is that same composure she always wears. That same maddening control.Like I didn’t just corner her. Like she didn’t just tear me apart in front of a room full of people.My jaw tightens.“Do you have any idea,” I start, my voice low but shaking at the edges despite my effort to keep it steady, “how humiliating that was?”She blinks once, and then her brows draw together just slightly, her lips parting like she’s genuinely confused.“Humiliating?” she repeats softly, and then tilts her head just a fraction. “Did I do something to upset you?”For a second, I just stare at her.Because there’s no way. There’s no actual
~LUCAS~No!!!No, that didn’t just happen.For a second, I’m convinced I misheard her.“I won’t be needing the projector.”My brain rejects it immediately. Flat-out refuses to process it. Because that would mean…That would mean Fiorella just stood in front of an entire room full of students and dismissed the presentation we worked on…. together.“No,” I mutter under my breath, barely audible, my gaze locked on her back. “That’s… no. That’s not possible.”It has to be some kind of mistake. It has to be some kind of setup. Or it has to be a joke.Yeah. That’s what it is. A joke.Except then she keeps talking.“I didn’t prepare any slides. That’s more for… nerdy people. Or people who like to do too much.”And the room laughs.The room actually laughs.My fingers curl slowly against the edge of the desk beside me as the words settle in. As they sink in deep enough to burn.She didn’t just ignore the slides. She mocked them, and mocked me.My jaw tightens so hard it
~ELENA~I don't even know when we get home. I just feel someone pulling me out of the car and leading me to my room.I feel numb. My body, my senses, my mind….they all feel numb.The door to my room opens and I am led inside.“Take your bath and rest. We'll come to chec
Alessandro shouldn’t have come. Every instinct tells him to stay away.But curiosity, or maybe something darker…. drives him straight to the masquerade ball party.After what happened yesterday, he couldn’t stop thinking about them.The triplets.So he did what anyone with too much fear, curiosity,
~ELENA~Vincenzo doesn’t take his eyes off me as he shrugs off his jacket, tossing it carelessly onto my couch in the room.“Stand up,” he orders softly, but there’s no room for disobedience in his tone.My legs feel weak, but I obey, standing slowly from the bed.Riccard
~NICO~“Dad, I'm not quitting school. I love it there” I say angrily to my father.Vincenzo, Riccardo and I are in my father's private office and he called us for a meeting because he heard I was at Elena's school yesterday.Yes, I get that father has eyes everywhere but wh







