Chapter 34
COLE
Apainful tightness formed in my throat the moment I stepped out of Jiya’s house.
I barely remembered walking to my car. My hands trembled slightly as I opened the door, and when I dropped into the driver’s seat, the frustration and hurt inside me exploded. I slammed the car door shut harder than necessary.
The silence inside the car felt suffocating.
I gripped the steering wheel and stared straight ahead for a few seconds, trying to regulate my breathing, but the image of Jiya standing in her kitchen replayed relentlessly in my mind.
That shouldn’t have happened.
The words stabbed at me all over again.
I started the engine and drove back to my apartment, my jaw clenched so tightly it ached. The streets blurred past me as anger slowly replaced the initial shock and pain.
How could she say that to me? How could she look at me after everything that had happened between us and say that it should not have happened? How could she say she felt nothing? The thought made my stomach twist.
By the time I reached my apartment building, my emotions had hardened into something darker, like steel cooling after fire.
I parked, got out of the car, and stormed toward my apartment, slamming the door behind me as soon as I entered.
The sound echoed through the apartment.
The place felt colder than it had the night before; the warmth had drained out of it.
Just hours earlier, Jiya had been here. She had been laughing softly in my living room, her hand in mine as we danced slowly to the music.
Now the silence felt unbearable.
I walked into the living room and sank heavily onto the couch, running both hands through my hair as I leaned forward.
A long, heavy sigh escaped my chest.
I had gone to her house believing something completely different. I had imagined we would talk. I had imagined we would acknowledge what had happened between us. I had imagined we would figure out what came next together.
I closed my eyes.
I felt something for her. Something real. Something deeper than friendship.
But that did not mean she had to feel the same. Just because I was ready for her, ready for us to become something more, did not mean she was standing in the same place emotionally.
I understood that. Yet the frustration refused to leave me.
Because I knew I was not wrong.
I had seen it. Instead, I had walked straight into a wall.
In my anger, I had raised my voice. The memory of it made my stomach twist again. Was I right to do that?
I had seen the same flash of emotion reflect in her eyes that lived inside my own chest.
The desire.
The want.
The quiet longing neither of us had ever said out loud.
Those moments had existed between us long before last night.
She had felt it too.
I was certain of it.
Jiya was holding on to something. Some invisible wall stood between her heart and the rest of the world, and no matter how close I came, she refused to let me see what was behind it.
But what was it? What was she so afraid of?
Could it be Emma’s father? The possibility struck me like a punch.
A wave of nausea rose.
I pushed myself off the couch and walked quickly to the bathroom. Leaning over the sink, my stomach heaved as the emotional storm inside me spilled over physically. When it finally stopped, I stood there breathing heavily, gripping the edge of the counter.
My emotions were everywhere.
Anger.
Frustration.
Hurt.
Hope.
Everything collided together inside my chest until it was almost impossible to sort through.
I knew Jiya felt something for me.
She would not have looked at me the way she did if she felt nothing. She would not have kissed me the way she did. She would not have held me the way she had last night.
What I had seen in her eyes had been real.
She probably just did not want to admit it. Maybe she was not ready to accept it yet. Or maybe she was simply afraid to face it.
I turned on the faucet and splashed cold water onto my face.
The shock of it helped steady my breathing.
I lifted my head slowly and looked at my reflection in the mirror.
My eyes looked tired and frustrated, but also determined.
As I stared at myself, a thought slowly formed in my mind, and I finally understood what needed to be done next.
Over the next couple of days, I kept myself busy with work.
The office became my refuge. Emails, meetings, proposals, client calls—I buried myself in everything I could find so I would not have to sit alone with my thoughts.
Every quiet moment gave my mind an opportunity to wander back to Jiya’s kitchen…
to the way she had looked at me… to the words she had said that morning.
That shouldn’t have happened.
The memory still hurt, gut-wrenching, as if my insides had been ripped out. I hadn’t believed I could feel that kind of heartache again… yet there it was.
So I worked.
And when work was not enough to keep my mind occupied, I decided to take action.
I contacted Stephanie and made plans to meet her on the weekend.
Walking into the Tipsy Cow restaurant with her on Saturday evening, I requested a table right in the middle of the restaurant.
I had already confirmed earlier that week that Jiya would be working that evening.
I wanted her to see me.
That was the whole point.
I couldn’t see her when we first entered, but I did see Jack standing near the bar. His eyes narrowed immediately the moment he spotted me.
After ordering appetizers and drinks for Stephanie and me, I walked over to the bar where Jack was standing, wiping down a glass.
“What are you doing?” Jack asked bluntly. His tone carried a mix of confusion and suspicion. “I thought you had broken up with her because you wanted to be with Jiya.”
I smiled calmly and took a sip of my sparkling water. “That’s exactly what I’m doing,” I said.
Jack frowned. “What?”
“I’m working on it.”
His eyebrows pulled together. “How?” he demanded.
I set the glass down slowly and leaned slightly against the counter. “Wait and watch.”
Jack stared at me like I had completely lost my mind.
I smiled again before walking back to my table.
A two-piece band played soft music in the background.
The staff entrance door opened, and Jiya walked out. She had not seen me yet. She was speaking to one of the waitresses, who handed her a notepad and pen. Jiya nodded, said something quietly, and then turned around.
And then she saw us.
I watched her carefully.
The shock on her face was instant, followed by a subtle tightening around her mouth before she quickly broke eye contact.
Jiya then walked toward our table. “Hi guys!” she said, her lips pressed into a polite, professional smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “What can I get you for dinner tonight?”
Her voice sounded calm, but the strain beneath it was impossible to miss.
“What are the specials again?” I asked, looking directly at her.
We had not spoken since the argument in her kitchen. I wanted to see how she would react to finding me here with Stephanie.
And the answer was written plainly across her face.
“Well,” she said quietly, glancing down at her notepad, “there’s a lobster thermidor with roasted potatoes and carrots, a Chilean sea bass with lemon butter, mashed potatoes and turnips, and tiger prawns on a bed of saffron rice and Mediterranean vegetables.”
“Baby,” Stephanie said sweetly beside me. “I’m gonna have the tiger prawns. What about you?”
I turned toward Stephanie and took the menus from her hands before handing them back to Jiya. “I’ll have the lobster,” I said calmly, “and a bottle of the most expensive white wine for Stephanie.”
“Sure,” Jiya replied tightly. “It will take about twenty minutes. Would that be all?” Her foot tapped once against the floor before going still.
“Hmmm…” I said, glancing toward Stephanie. “Would you like anything else, hun?”
“No, baby,” Stephanie said smoothly. She smiled at me and traced her finger along mine. “Remember to leave room for dessert… you know what I mean.”
I bit back a laugh, aware of the strain radiating from Jiya despite the professional calm she was trying so hard to maintain.
She’s a great actress. Stephanie had gone far beyond what I had even asked her to do.
“I’ll get you some bread in the meantime,” Jiya said. Her eyes narrowed slightly.
Then she turned and walked away.
I watched her retreat toward the kitchen. My chest tightened slightly at the tension in her shoulders. From the corner of my eye, I could see her glance back toward us.
So I leaned slightly closer to Stephanie, playing with her fingers and lifting her hand to my lips.
“I knew deep down you liked Jiya,” Stephanie said quietly, still playing with my fingers. “We never really made sense anyway.”
Earlier that week, when I called her and explained my plan, she had listened carefully before agreeing to help.
“You were nice to me and treated me so well,” she continued softly. “Thanks to you, I got the job at the modelling agency.”
I smiled faintly. “I’m glad it worked out.”
When our food arrived, I began eating slowly, forcing myself to stay relaxed.
As I dug into the lobster, I paused to enjoy the music.
Then my eyes drifted across the restaurant.
Toward Jiya.
Her face went rigid, like a mask snapping into place. She stood near the counter for a moment before turning and walking quickly toward the back of the restaurant.
I leaned back slightly in my chair and allowed myself a small breath of relief.
Because I knew that my plan had worked.
Two days later, I drove to the construction site with Liam. I had brought my camera along because I needed to capture pictures of the progress of the building.
The morning air carried the scent of fresh lumber, concrete dust, and steel—the sharp industrial smell of a place slowly transforming from blueprints into something real.
“This place is really coming together,” Liam said as he leaned over my shoulder, checking out the previous shots I had taken on the camera screen.
“These look great,” he added with a satisfied nod. “I will send these to the IT department to put them on the website.”
“I’m glad you like them,” I replied, lowering the camera and adjusting the strap around my neck.
My relationship with my brother was even better than before.
The bridge of silence that had grown after Eva and Chloe died had completely vanished.
During the weekdays, we often grabbed lunch, sitting at small cafés or quick takeout spots near his office, talking about everything and nothing.
Other times, he would pull me into one of his projects, asking for my help with photography or design ideas.
More often than not, those workdays ended with him dragging me over to his house for dinner.
And I never really complained.
Spending time with his children, watching my niece and nephew run around the house laughing, reminded me painfully—and beautifully—of the days when Eva and I used to visit Liam with Chloe.
Those memories no longer crushed me the way they once had.
Instead, they carried a bittersweet warmth that reminded me what family felt like.
I had found that sense of belonging again.
The need to have family around me had slowly been filled.
And if I was being honest with myself, a large part of that healing had begun when Jiya walked into my life.
Even now, the thought of her stirred something complicated inside my chest.
The construction area buzzed with activity. Workers moved across the scaffolding, forklifts buzzed in the distance, and the constant clang of metal echoed across the open space.
I lifted my camera again, instinctively scanning the structure for good angles.
We walked toward the site manager, who greeted us and handed over safety helmets and reflective vests.
“Standard procedure,” he said with a quick smile.
I slipped the helmet on and adjusted the strap beneath my chin while Liam did the same.
With the camera hanging around my neck, we began walking through the site. Liam stayed a couple of steps behind me as I snapped photographs of steel beams, framing structures, and the skeletal outline of what would eventually become a fully functioning building.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Each shot captured a different stage of progress.
“So,” Liam said casually from behind me, stepping over a stack of wooden boards. “How’s it going with Stephanie?”
The question caught me slightly off guard.
I was about to answer when a sudden sound split through the air.
A loud crack.
Then a sharp snap.
Both Liam and I looked up instinctively.
My stomach dropped.
A heavy cart loaded with construction materials had broken loose above us and was tipping forward, sliding off the elevated platform.
Everything seemed to slow down.
My heart began pounding violently against my ribs. A wave of cold fear rushed through my body.
Oh my God. It’s going to fall on Liam.
My legs moved before my brain had time to process anything else. Without thinking, I lunged toward him. With quick strides, I reached my brother and shoved him hard out of the way.
His body stumbled backward just as the cart came crashing down.
A deafening boom exploded around us as metal and debris slammed against the ground.
The sound rang through my skull.
Everything spun.
Then darkness rushed in like a curtain dropping.
And I slipped into unconsciousness.