Chapter Eighty-One: The Misunderstanding That Changed Everything

The stillness stretched between them like a held breath.

Kian waited, searching her face, but Chloe looked at everything else—the wine glass, the railing, the moon—anything but him.

Then she spoke.

"You want to know why I left without asking you to come with me?"

Kian nodded, his throat tightening.

"Yeah."

Chloe exhaled. Not shaky, not composed—just tired.

"Then I need to tell you what I saw."

She stayed facing forward, like the memory still played in the sky above the water.

"It was a random afternoon. I was dizzy during class, so I went to the infirmary. I didn't expect to see anyone when I walked out. But there you were."

Her voice lowered slightly.

"Standing outside. With Layla."

Kian froze.

Chloe's jaw clenched at the name.

"My best friend. Or she was. And she had her arms around you."

She finally turned her eyes to meet his, and there was no rage in them—just the haunting ache of something she had never released.

"I didn't wait to see more. I didn't ask. I just… turned around."

Kian's lips parted, but Chloe raised a hand gently, stopping him.

"Then I called you. Asked where you were."

Kian closed his eyes. He already knew.

"You lied. You said you were in the computer room working on a project. And I stood there outside the infirmary, heart in my throat, trying to process what I had seen versus what you had told me."

Her voice cracked—not from tears, but from something heavier.

"God knows I tried to believe you. I tried to trust you after that. I forced myself to wake up every day and not spiral, to not think about it when Layla sent me messages like nothing ever happened."

The corners of her eyes shone—but the tears didn't fall.

"Two months of anxiety. Of wondering if I imagined it. Or worse—if I hadn't."

Kian finally spoke, his voice rough.

"Chloe… I didn't cheat on you."

She looked at him, unreadable.

"But you lied."

And that—more than the image, more than Layla's arms, more than all the speculation—was what broke her.

And Kian knew it.

Knew that one lie, one instinct to avoid an awkward conversation, had cost him everything.

But the worst part?

Chloe still didn't know what had happened after she turned away.

She still believed he might have cheated.

And he had never had the chance to correct it.

Until now.