جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 313

Maya.I didn’t expect the guilt to last this long, or to feel this raw.The weekend away with Harper was supposed to help. I thought, maybe, if I just spent a couple of nights in a room with her, doing nothing but watching movies, gossiping, and swimming until our fingers wrinkled, I’d remember how to be her best friend again. But instead, everything I said felt like a half-lie, and every time she asked, “Are you okay?” I could barely meet her eyes.On the drive back, Harper was quiet. We’d never had silent car rides before. She chewed her lip, glancing over every so often, her hands tightening around the wheel. By the time we pulled into the driveway, I felt like my secrets were tattooed all over my skin.She killed the engine but didn’t move. “Did something happen between you and my dad?”The question punched the air right out of my chest. “What?”“You barely look at him anymore,” she said, her voice thin, almost scared. “You barely look at me. Are you mad at us?”I stared at my han

Maya.I always thought the hardest part would be getting caught.But it turned out, the real pain lived in the days after—when everything was raw and exposed, and there was nothing left to hide behind. When Harper stopped speaking to me, when Julian moved out of the house for good, when every inch of space felt like a reminder of what we’d lost and what we couldn’t quite let go.But the truth is, I don’t regret any of it. Not the nights tangled up in Julian’s arms, not the secrets that tasted like salt and longing, not even the heartbreak. Because loving him changed everything. Because loving him made me brave in ways I didn’t know I could be.Harper was the last piece—the part that hurt the most. She avoided me for days, refusing to answer calls, dodging me in the kitchen, keeping the air thick with disappointment and pain. But slowly, bit by bit, something softened in her eyes. She never forgave me with words. She just started sitting beside me again at breakfast, humming softly whe