Chapter 93: Maya’s Story

MAYA’S POV

The clock read 3:58 when Maya’s eyes opened.

She reached across the bed out of habit.

Her hand met nothing.

She turned on her phone flashlight and swept the room. Called Rose’s name once.

Nothing.

Maya sat there with the beam aimed at the ceiling, irritation creeping in before she’d decided whether she was worried or annoyed. She checked her phone.

The Wi-Fi reconnected and the notifications dropped in, mostly group messages she wasn’t touching at four in the morning. She scrolled through them until Son’s name appeared, sitting exactly where she’d left it.

No new message.

She opened the chat.

Her last text—arrived safely, staying at Rose’s, talk later—had delivered seven hours ago with no reply. She checked his spotlight without quite deciding to: purple lighting, red cups in the background, the blur of loud music she could almost feel through the screen.

The timestamp read four hours ago.

Around midnight.

Maya did the math without meaning to.

Seven hours since she’d sent the message. Four since the spotlight had updated. If Son was still out, there was no reason he’d have seen her text yet.

That was probably it.

She typed hey, saw this?, sent it, then put the phone face-down.

A minute later, she picked it up again.

Still delivered.

Maya frowned at the screen, then locked it.

It was four in the morning. Whatever the reason, she could wait until morning to be annoyed about it.

She lay back down.

The room was too quiet in the specific way of a place you’re not used to. After two failed attempts at settling, her mind drifted toward the part of the evening she’d already decided was done.

Adrian’s face came back anyway.

She’d known his face for two years. She shouldn’t have needed more than a second to recognize what had changed.

But she had.

His jaw looked sharper. His shoulders sat differently. Even the way he stood had changed, less restless than she remembered. He used to shift his weight whenever he had to stand around too long, especially when he didn’t know what to do with his hands.

He hadn’t done that tonight.

That bothered her more than the rest of it.

He isn’t the same guy anymore.

Rose had said it so casually.

Maya turned onto her side.

Rose was probably defending him.

That was what friends did. They exaggerated the good parts of people they cared about, especially when they knew someone had a history with them.

So Adrian looked different.

People changed.

Two years was enough time for anyone to change.

Maya pulled the blanket higher.

There.

That explained it.

She didn’t need to keep circling the same thought like there was something hidden inside it.

She sat up instead.

Lying here doing this was stupid.

She was going to find Rose.

Maya stepped into the hallway and stopped.

The living room was empty.

She checked the couch, then the kitchen. Her eyes landed on the entrance instead.

Rose’s slippers sat beside the door.

Maya stared at them for a second.

"Of course."

She picked up her phone and called before she could decide whether she was actually worried or just irritated.

The ringing stretched longer than it had any right to.

Maya straightened without meaning to.

"Hello?"

"Where are you?"

Rose said she’d gone for a walk.

"A walk."

Maya looked toward the dark window.

"It’s four in the morning."

Rose mentioned the neighborhood was fine.

"I don’t care about the neighborhood. Come back. I’m not sitting here alone at four in the morning because you decided to go for a stroll."

Rose gave a vague answer about being back soon.

"If you’re not on your way right now, I’m getting dressed and I’m leaving."

The call ended.

Maya locked the door and returned to the couch.

She checked Son’s chat.

Still unread.

She set the phone face-down.

Five minutes later, she picked it up.

Nothing.

Maya put it back down.

The apartment door unlocked.

Rose stepped inside looking like more had happened than a walk.

Her hair was shifted, and there was something tired around her eyes that a casual stroll at four in the morning didn’t produce.

Maya studied her for a second.

There was something wrong.

Not necessarily bad.

Just wrong enough that Maya noticed it, and Rose knew she’d noticed because she avoided looking back.

"Everything okay?" Rose asked.

"Fine. Just woke up and you weren’t there."

Rose nodded and headed toward the bedroom.

Maya almost followed.

Then her phone buzzed on the cushion.

Son.

She opened the message.

Sorry. Didn’t see it. I’ll make it up to you.

Maya read it once.

Then again, mostly because there was nothing else to check.

She hadn’t realized she’d been holding her breath until she let it out.

"Idiot," she muttered, although there was no particular heat behind it.

She locked the phone and slipped it into her pocket.

Fine.

That was all she needed.

She followed Rose into the bedroom.

Rose had already dropped onto the bed, face-up, with the particular stillness of someone who’d been somewhere and hadn’t fully come back from it.

Maya stood at the edge of the mattress.

"You went for a walk."

"Yeah."

"At four in the morning."

Rose’s eyes stayed closed.

"Mhm."

Maya looked at her.

"You’re tired."

"Very."

"That’s not what I said."

Rose opened one eye.

"I know."

Maya almost laughed.

Almost.

She sat down on the mattress instead.

There was no point pushing harder. Rose wasn’t going to tell her tonight, and forcing it would only turn a question into an argument.

"Fine."

Rose closed her eye again.

Maya reached for the lamp.

The light went out.

She lay back and let the quiet return.

4:31.

Maya checked the time one last time, put her phone away, and made herself stop.

She woke a few hours later, showered, and stood in front of the bathroom mirror long enough to confirm she still looked like herself before getting dressed.

Rose had already left.

A note sat on the counter, something about an early thing.

Maya picked it up, read it twice, then put it back down.

Maya decided not to start her morning with an interrogation.

She gathered her things, checked her lecture schedule, and headed out.

Son had sent a follow-up during the night.

Let me take you shopping after your last class. You pick the vibe, I’ll handle everything else.

She typed back asking where they were going.

His reply came almost immediately.

Surprise. Just show up.

Maya stared at it for a moment, then agreed.

Campus was its usual mid-morning version of itself. Students moved between buildings, people stood around with drinks they didn’t have time to finish.

Maya was almost at the lecture hall when something in her peripheral made her slow.

Aiden.

He was sitting on a low wall outside the building, attention on his phone, completely unaware of her.

She recognized him before she even placed the face.

Then she placed it.

He looked better than she remembered.

Not dramatically.

Just more put together. The kind of quiet improvement that registered before you meant to let it.

There was no reason not to say hello.

Maya slowed.

Aiden was still looking at his phone.

She took one step toward him.

Then another half-step.

"Hi," she could already imagine herself saying.

Thirty seconds.

Maybe less.

Then she looked toward the lecture hall.

She had class.

She had plans with Son.

There was no reason to turn a normal morning into something else just because she’d happened to see someone from before.

Maya changed direction.

She had made it three steps before her hand was already inside her bag.

Her fingers found her phone.

Adrian’s contact.

Maya stopped.

She hadn’t meant to open it.

She hadn’t even meant to think about him.

Her thumb pressed call.

One ring.

She ended it.

For a second, she didn’t move.

Maya locked the phone.

Absolutely not.

She slipped it into her bag and went inside.

She didn’t look back at Aiden.

Classes passed by faster than she’d imagined, mostly because she’d barely paid any attention to it.

Son was leaning against the car when she came out.

He’d arrived exactly when he said he would.

Maya walked over.

"You waited long?"

"Not really."

He opened the passenger door.

She got in, and he shut it behind her.

He drove without telling her where, which she’d already expected.

The conversation stayed easy enough that she eventually stopped tracking the route and let herself relax. Son had that effect on her sometimes.

She was watching the street outside at a red light when someone on the pavement caught her eye.

She knew the face before the name came.

Then the name came.

Jenna.

Maya kept watching her.

One of Adrian’s people. His friend. The one who always seemed to know more than she said and said less than she knew.

Jenna was almost at the supermarket entrance. She just wanted to say hi. It definitely wasn’t because of Adrian.

Yeah.

That was reasonable.

"Pull over."

Son glanced at her.

"Huh? Now? We’re at a red light."

Maya didn’t respond, she was already reaching for the door handle.

"There’s something I need from the supermarket. I’ll meet you around the corner."

"Maya..."

She shut the door before he finished.

Jenna was almost at the entrance ahead, moving at an easy pace.

Maya started after her.

I just want to talk.

That was all. There was nothing strange about that. At least, that’s what she was going with.