บททั้งหมดของ Aria: Scales of Love: บทที่ 111 - บทที่ 120

The world didn’t stop. The sun still rose, my alarm still blared, and my mom still hummed off-key in the kitchen. But for me, everything had irrevocably shifted. I was living in a state of suspended animation, a ghost haunting the perimeters of my own life. The two pink lines were a constant, screaming secret in my head, a truth so monumental it felt like it should be visible, like it should be etched onto my skin for everyone to see.I still ignored Jude. His texts had shifted from desperate apologies to worried questions. I couldn’t see him. I couldn’t look him in the eye while carrying this secret.I had to know for sure. The drugstore test could be wrong. It was a cheap piece of plastic, a faulty machine. I needed a real answer. So on Wednesday morning, before my mom left for work, I called in sick to school. I didn’t call my normal doctor; the thought of running into someone I knew, of my parents finding out, was paralyzing. Instead, I found the number for the Planned Parenthood

Jude POVThe beginning of the trip was a delicate, tense balancing act. I spent my time on the periphery, a reluctant ghost in my own weekend. I built bonfires, I played in the waves, I even forced a few laughs during a chaotic game of beach volleyball. But through it all, Ashley was a constant, persistent presence. She’d find me when I was alone, her hand lingering on my arm, her voice a low, suggestive murmur in my ear. “You should come for a walk with me, Jude. The sunset is beautiful from the cliffs.” “You look tense. Let me help you relax.” Each time, I’d shut her down with a polite but firm “I’m good,” and walk away, the anger and guilt over Aria a protective shield around me.Saturday night, however, the shield began to crack. The atmosphere was loose and celebratory, a final blowout before everyone had to return to the real world. A bonfire roared on the beach, casting flickering, dancing shadows across everyone’s faces. Someone started a game of beer pong, and to get them to

The silence that followed my text to Jude was absolute, a deafening void that was somehow more peaceful than any apology he could have offered. For two days, I existed in a state of numb suspension. I went to school, I sat in my classes, I came home. Roxy tried to talk to me, her concern a constant, nagging pressure, but I shut her down with a series of monosyllabic answers and averted eyes. I couldn’t talk about it. To talk about it would be to make it real, and I wasn’t ready for that.On Tuesday, the sickness came back with a vengeance. It wasn’t just a wave of nausea anymore; it was a full-blown, all-day assault. The smell of my mom’s coffee sent me running for the bathroom. The sight of the scrambled eggs she made me for breakfast turned my stomach. I spent most of my first-period class with my head between my knees, trying to breathe through the cold sweat that beaded on my forehead.By lunchtime, I was a mess. I was pale, dizzy, and so weak I could barely stand. Roxy found me l

I was lying on my bed, staring at the ceiling, when I heard it. A faint, distant sound, carried on the still afternoon air. A voice. My name. I sat up, my heart lurching into my throat. It couldn’t be.Then it came again, louder this time, closer. A desperate, raw yell that was unmistakably his. “ARIA! PLEASE! I NEED TO EXPLAIN!”My blood ran cold. He was here. He was at my house.I shot off the bed, my hand flying to my mouth to stifle a gasp. I could hear Roxy yelling back, her voice a furious, protective shield. “Get out of here, you bastard!”But his voice just got louder, more frantic, echoing up the stairwell. “ARIA! I DON’T REMEMBER A VIDEO! ARIA!”I hurried up and locked my bedroom door.I stumbled back, my legs feeling like they were made of jelly, and pressed myself against the far wall, as if I could sink right through it. The sound of his voice, so full of pain and desperation, was a physical assault. It was everything I had been trying to escape, everything I had been try

Jude POVThe two-hour drive back to my dorm was the longest two hours of my life. Every mile was a nail in the coffin of my relationship with Aria. Seeing Roxy’s face, the pure, unadulterated hatred in her eyes, and then hearing the front door close behind me, had been a final, resounding judgment. I was an idiot. A liar. A cheater. And I had lost her.I drove on autopilot, my hands clenched around the steering wheel, my mind a chaotic, screaming mess. But as the miles blurred past, a different kind of dread began to creep in, a cold, unsettling thought that took root in the back of my mind. I didn't remember a video. That was the part that kept echoing, a frantic, desperate refrain. Roxy had said it, clear as day. We saw the video, Jude. I'm trying to figure out what video?I remembered the party. I remembered the beer pong. I remembered Ashley’s hands on me, the cloying scent of her perfume. I remembered pushing her away on the beach with a guttural, angry “Get off me!” After that…