All Chapters of Double Temptation : Chapter 11 - Chapter 14

An idea popped up in my mind the second I stepped through the front door. It wasn’t anything dramatic at first. Just a small, quiet spark while I kicked off my heels in the foyer and the cool marble sent a shiver up my bare legs. The house was quiet as usual Mom was at whatever charity lunch, Dad locked away in his company whatever, and James in college doing whatever college guys do. Wherever the hell they are I don't really care tho, I had the place mostly to myself, and after the way Ji-eun had looked at me in the cafeteria earlier, that little spark grew into something sharper. I dropped my bag on the kitchen island and grabbed a bottle of sparkling water from the fridge. The condensation felt good against my palm. I stood there for a minute, staring out the massive windows that overlooked the backyard and the pool, thinking about how Ji-eun had smiled so carefully at her friend during lunch. Like she was trying so hard to belong. Like she thought she had any right to feel safe

I spent the whole weekend trying to scrub them from my mind like literally. I decided I wasn't going to check my phone for their old texts. I wasn't going to drive past their estate on Maple Street under the excuse of “just taking the long way.” You know what I mean. I tried not replaying that night at the party in my head until I couldn’t sleep but my brain doesn't hear, it just chooses that memory like it's favorite classic. I deleted the voice notes I’d secretly saved I threw away the earrings they’d left on my porch. I even avoided the places where Ethan and Edgar could walk in They were a distraction. A dangerous one. And right now, I needed to focus on things I could control. Monday came too fast. I walked into school in another modest outfit, a soft white blouse tucked into high-waisted gray trousers — and kept my head high. The whispers about Ji-eun had grown over the weekend. Good. That meant my work was doing what it was supposed to. I didn’t look for the twins.