Chapter 12 The Ex #3
For a moment, everything was quiet.
Then Ling said,
"Ariya was my past."
Orm looked at her.
"And me?"
Ling smiled.
"You're my present."
Orm's heart stopped.
"That's dangerously romantic for someone who told me not to fall for her."
Ling laughed softly.
"I know."
Orm smiled.
Then she leaned her head against Ling's shoulder.
Ling stiffened for half a second.
Then relaxed.
She rested her cheek lightly against Orm's hair.
No cameras.
No audience.
No campaign.
Just them.
?
Inside the venue, Ariya watched them through the glass doors.
She smiled.
Not sadly.
Not angrily.
Almost knowingly.
Fluke appeared beside her.
"You okay?"
Ariya nodded.
"Yes."
"You don't look surprised."
"I'm not."
Fluke frowned.
"How?"
Ariya looked at Ling and Orm.
"Because I've known Ling long enough."
She smiled.
"And I've never seen her look at anyone the way she looks at that girl."
Fluke nodded slowly.
"Then why did you come back?"
Ariya looked at him.
"To find out if I still had a place in her life."
"And?"
Ariya smiled.
"I do."
Fluke frowned.
"Really?"
"Not the place I wanted."
She looked back through the glass.
"But perhaps the place I was supposed to have."
Then she walked away.
Fluke watched her go.
For once, he didn't make a joke.
?
The next morning, Orm arrived at Veyra feeling lighter.
She still felt embarrassed about her jealousy.
But she also felt strangely secure.
Ling had chosen honesty.
That mattered.
She hadn't hidden the past.
She hadn't dismissed Orm's feelings.
And she hadn't allowed Ariya's return to become something between them.
When Orm reached her desk, she found a cup of coffee waiting.
She smiled.
A note was tucked beneath it.
You were jealous.
Orm laughed.
She wrote beneath it.
You enjoyed it.
She left the note on Ling's desk.
An hour later, another note appeared.
Maybe.
Orm smiled.
She wrote:
Terrible executive.
The reply came before lunch.
Terrible girlfriend.
Orm froze.
She stared at the words.
Girlfriend.
It wasn't part of the campaign.
It wasn't in a script.
It wasn't something they had agreed on.
And yet Ling had written it.
Orm looked toward the executive office.
Ling was standing behind the glass wall.
Watching her.
Orm's heart pounded.
She smiled.
Ling smiled back.
Neither said anything.
But for the first time, the word didn't scare Orm.
It felt right.
Maybe they weren't ready to say it aloud.
Maybe the campaign still required them to pretend.
Maybe the world still believed their love story had been created by a marketing department.
But somewhere between the first photograph and the first real kiss, the lie had become something neither of them could deny.
And Ariya's return had made one thing painfully clear.
Orm wasn't simply afraid of losing Ling.
She was afraid of how much she had already fallen.
She sat down at her desk and looked at the coffee again.
Then she smiled.
Because perhaps Ling was right.
Perhaps she was jealous.
Perhaps everyone knew.
Perhaps even Ling knew before Orm was ready to admit it.
And perhaps that wasn't something to be ashamed of anymore.
?
That evening, just as Orm was preparing to leave, her phone buzzed.
A message from Ling.
Roof.
Orm smiled.
She walked upstairs.
Ling was waiting beneath the same city lights where they had stood days before.
"Hi," Orm said.
"Hi."
Orm walked toward her.
"You know, you caused me considerable emotional distress this week."
Ling raised an eyebrow.
"Did I?"
"Yes."
"How?"
"Your ex."
Ling sighed.
"I thought we settled that."
"We did."
"Then?"
Orm smiled.
"I just wanted to complain."
Ling laughed.
"You're impossible."
"So I've been told."
They stood together.
Then Ling reached for her hand.
"I don't want you to compare yourself to her."
Orm looked at her.
"I'm trying."
"Don't."
"It's difficult."
"I know."
Ling squeezed her hand.
"Ariya knew me when I was younger."
Orm nodded.
"But you know me now."
Orm looked up.
Ling continued.
"You know the version of me that is scared."
She smiled faintly.
"The version that doesn't always know what to say."
Another squeeze.
"The version that pretends she doesn't care."
Orm smiled.
"I know that one very well."
Ling laughed.
"And you still stay."
"Unfortunately."
Ling smiled.
"Good."
They stood quietly.
Then Orm asked,
"Are you afraid?"
"Of what?"
"Of us."
Ling thought about it.
"Yes."
"Me too."
Ling looked at her.
"But I'm more afraid of losing you."
Orm's breath caught.
Ling's eyes softened.
"That's the truth."
Orm smiled.
"Then I guess we're both in trouble."
"Probably."
Orm leaned closer.
"Good."
Ling laughed.
And this time, when she looked at Orm, there was no fear in her eyes.
Only something warmer.
Something deeper.
Something that no campaign strategist had created.
No photographer had captured.
No script had written.
Love was still frightening.
The past was still there.
The future was uncertain.
And there were still cameras waiting for them downstairs.
But for tonight, none of that mattered.
Because Ling had chosen her.
And Orm had finally stopped pretending that she didn't want to be chosen.
Neither of them noticed the figure standing at the rooftop doorway for just a moment before quietly walking away.
Ariya.
She had come looking for Ling.
Instead, she had seen enough.
She smiled to herself.
Then she sent one final message before leaving Veyra.
We need to talk. About the past. Before it becomes a problem for your future.
Ling's phone vibrated in her hand.
She looked at the screen.
Her smile disappeared.
Orm noticed immediately.
"What is it?"
Ling stared at the message.
For a moment, she didn't answer.
Then she looked at Orm.
"Nothing."
Orm frowned.
"That's not your convincing face."
Ling slipped the phone into her pocket.
"It's something I need to handle."
"With Ariya?"
Ling nodded.
Orm watched her carefully.
"Should I be worried?"
Ling reached for her hand.
"No."
But this time, the answer didn't sound completely certain.
And somewhere beneath the city lights, the past had just opened a door that neither of them knew was still unlocked.
The next chapter of their story had already begun.
And this time, it wasn't the campaign that was going to test them.
It was everything they had been trying not to feel.