Alle Kapitel von The Roomie Complex: Kapitel 91 – Kapitel 100

CHERYL'S POVI didn’t know what surprised me more — the fact that I said yes to lunch with Anika, or the fact that I was actually enjoying it.The restaurant had a garden-like theme. Ivy trailed down from hanging pots, woven between trellises painted a soft sage green. The tables were set with tiny glass vases holding wildflowers, and the soft scent of lavender drifted in the breeze. Everything felt intentional — airy, delicate, soft, like a dream version of reality. Like a place where you could forget that you had once been enemies with the girl sitting across from you.Anika looked like she belonged here. She wore a long, flowy floral dress that brushed her ankles, her golden-blonde hair loose and floating in the wind like something out of a perfume commercial. She looked… effortless. Meanwhile, I kept adjusting my cardigan, suddenly hyper-aware of every piece of lint, every un-ironed wrinkle.I don’t know why I cared so much. Maybe because some part of me — the high school version

AIDEN'S POVThe glass was half-empty.Or half-full. Depending on how cruelly you wanted to see it.I stared into it like it might give me answers. It didn’t. It just swirled—amber and quiet and incapable of holding back the hurricane in my chest.I shouldn’t have gone to the bar.Or maybe I should’ve gotten there sooner.Or maybe I should’ve fought harder for her the last time she left my houseGod, I didn’t even know what I was supposed to be doing anymore.Cheryl had leaned into Oliver like he was her home. Like he was the only thing keeping her from falling. It should’ve been me. It was supposed to be me. I was the one who had memorized the freckles on her shoulders, the softness of her skin, the way her voice cracked slightly when she was vulnerable.And now she was going to belong to someone else.Someone safer.Someone who got there first this time.I dragged myself out of the bar before I completely lost it in front of strangers. I didn’t even know how I made it home—just that

CHERYL'S POVMy head felt like it had been split open by a jackhammer.The ache throbbed behind my eyes, deep and dull, like the pounding of war drums from somewhere far away but getting closer with every beat. I blinked up at the white ceiling, light slicing through the blinds and stabbing my eyeballs like knives. I groaned, burying my face into the pillow and breathing in something vaguely floral. Lavender and… cedar?Where the hell was I?It took a second, maybe longer, for the fog to clear, for my brain to start stringing things together like a jigsaw puzzle that had been smashed the night before. The first pieces came with a dull ache in my stomach and the taste of vodka still bitter at the back of my throat.Anika.That was the first word that surfaced. Anika, in her ridiculous, flowy dress, laughing like we were best friends from a high school movie. The boutique. The garden-themed restaurant. Her voice echoing with nonsense about living each day like it was her last. The way s

CHERYL'S POVThe door swung open before I had the chance to run, or breathe, or even fix the strands of hair the wind had blown into my face.And there he was.Aiden.For a second—just one second—I thought maybe time had frozen. Or maybe I had. Because all I could do was stare.He looked… tired. Not in the physical sense, though the dark circles under his eyes said he hadn’t been sleeping. Not well, anyway. His hair was messier than usual, and there was an unshaven roughness to his jaw that made him look like something out of a noir film—something tragic and hard to look away from, but still I couldn't miss the gothic handsomeness, a rugged kind that pulled at my hearts. He stared at me with those hard eyes, he didn't say anything at first, his lips slightly parted.God, he was so handsome I could fall to my knees. Why did it have to be so chaotic between us.But it wasn’t that. It was the look in his eyes. Haunted. Hurt. And as raw as I’d ever seen him.He didn’t speak right away. Ne

CHERYL'S POVI was full of gossip, thin slices of pizza, and maybe one too many glasses of wine. The kind of buzz that didn't crash over you like a wave but settled over you like a heavy, soft blanket. Warm. Cloudy. Manageable.The hum of conversation from Rosso’s still echoed faintly in my ears as I stepped out into the night air. I waved Anika off as she tossed her hair back, climbed into her sleek black convertible like a character from a 2000s teen drama, and sped away with the wind whipping her hair like she owned the damn night.I pulled open my car door and slid into the seat, letting my head rest for a second against the headrest. I was still replaying pieces of our conversation, mostly Sabrina-related, when my phone buzzed on the passenger seat.Oliver.“I’m home. Waiting for you. There’s something we need to discuss about the wedding.”My stomach gave a little flip. That didn’t sound ominous at all.I quickly texted back, “On my way.”As I drove back through the winding road