ROWAN The words refused to leave my mouth.
I stood frozen in the doorway, my mind struggling to catch up with what my eyes were already seeing.
Rumpled sheets.
Discarded clothes on the floor.
Two figures tangled together on the bed.
Everything felt slightly unreal, like a scene I had wandered into by mistake.
The movement on the bed stopped the instant the door opened.
“Ke… Kelvin…” My voice came out as nothing more than a broken whisper.
Kelvin’s head snapped toward the door.
The color drained from his face so fast.
“Rowan?” He scrambled backward in panic, grabbing the blanket and throwing it over himself and the person beside him in one desperate motion.
The other person quickly pulled the covers higher, turning their face away and burrowing deeper into the fabric as if the cotton could erase him from the room.
For a long moment, nobody spoke or moved No.
This couldn’t be happening.
I had to be dreaming.
Just a few hours ago I had been sitting in my apartment, smiling so hard because I had passed my research evaluation.
I had been counting the minutes until I could celebrate with the man I loved.
The same man who had just shattered the floor beneath my feet.
“Why are you here?” Kelvin finally asked, his voice trembling.
I let out a hollow laugh that scraped my throat.
“Why am I here?” I repeated, staring at him in disbelief.
“I’ve been calling you for hours.
I waited for you.
I thought something had happened to you.” My voice cracked despite how hard I tried to keep it steady.
“I was sitting in my apartment waiting for you so we could check my result together…” I swallowed, but the lump in my throat refused to move.
“…and you’re here?” I looked at the bed, then back at him.
“You’re here cheating on me?” Kelvin shook his head immediately, the motion frantic.
“No… Rowan… it’s not what you think.” A bitter scoff escaped my lips.
“Really?” I pointed at the bed with fingers that wouldn’t stop shaking.
“Then tell me what exactly I’m supposed to think.” “It… it isn’t…” He couldn’t even finish the sentence.
The excuses died somewhere between his chest and his mouth, leaving only silence.
Tears burned behind my eyes.
I blinked rapidly, trying to force them back, but they refused to listen.
My vision slowly blurred.
A warm trail slipped down my cheek, then another.
I wiped them away with the back of my hand, only for more to replace them.
“Was I not enough for you?” The question came out so quietly I almost didn’t hear myself.
Kelvin lowered his head without saying a word.
The blanket still clutched in his fists.
“I asked you a question.” My voice shook.
“Was I not enough?” Still nothing from him.
“You could’ve broken up with me.” Another tear rolled down my face, tracing the path of the ones before it.
“You could’ve told me you didn’t love me anymore.
I would’ve cried.
I would’ve been heartbroken.
But I would’ve accepted it.” My chest tightened until it hurt to breathe.
Each inhale felt like it was pushing against broken glass.
“But this?” I looked around the room.
“You let me worry about you.
I thought you’d been in an accident.
I thought something terrible had happened.” I laughed through my tears.
“Meanwhile…” I gestured helplessly toward the bed.
“You were here.” Kelvin’s shoulders slumped.
The fight seemed to drain out of him all at once.
“I’m sorry.” “You’ve been saying sorry since I walked in.” I looked at him, my eyes still filled with tears.
“What exactly are you sorry for?
For cheating?
For lying?
Or because I caught you?” He couldn’t answer.
His head remained bowed, gaze fixed on the rumpled sheets as if the answers might be written there.
I followed his eyes to the person still hiding beneath the blanket.
“Who is that?” Kelvin’s eyes widened.
“Rowan…” “I said…” I took a slow step toward the bed.
“Who is that?” “Please…” Kelvin moved in front of the other person, angling his body like a shield.
“You don’t want to do this.” That only fed the anger burning inside of me.
“Oh?” I laughed bitterly.
“Now I definitely want to.” I took another step.
“I want to see the person you threw our relationship away for.” “I want to see who’s apparently better than me.” Kelvin’s face turned pale.
“Please, Rowan… Don’t.” I stopped right beside the bed.
My heart was pounding so hard.
My fingers slowly reached for the edge of the blanket.
“Let’s see who was worth destroying everything we had.” I grabbed the edge and yanked hard.
Kelvin held on from the other side, digging his heels into the mattress, refusing to let go.
“Rowan, stop!” “No!” I pulled harder.
Whoever was under there clung to the fabric too.
For a few seconds we stood locked in a ridiculous, desperate tug-of-war—the three of us fighting over a single piece of cloth.
Only there was nothing ridiculous about it.
Kelvin was fighting harder to protect the person beside him than he had ever fought for us.
A bitter laugh escaped my lips.
“Wow…” I shook my head slowly.
“This person must be really important to you.
Look at you.” I laughed again, even though my voice was breaking.
“You’re protecting him like your life depends on it.
And me?” I pressed a hand against my chest.
“What about me, Kelvin?” “It’s not because I care more about him.” His voice was barely above a whisper.
“I’m trying to protect you.
Please… Don’t do this.
Don’t look.” Something inside me snapped.
Protect me?
He thought hiding the truth would protect me—after everything I had already walked in on, after the hours of unanswered calls, after the fear that had driven me here?
Anger flooded through my body.
I yanked the blanket with all the strength I had left.
This time Kelvin lost his grip.
The blanket slipped away in a soft rush of fabric and fell to the floor.
The room fell silent.
The man beside him immediately lowered his head, hands covering his face as though hiding could somehow erase what had already been seen.
His shoulders were bare.
The curve of his spine was familiar in a way that made my stomach drop before my mind could catch up.
I stared at him.
Every part of me was shaking.
“Look at me,” I ordered, my voice low.
His head stayed bowed.
“I said…” The words came out louder this time.
“Look at me.” He didn’t move.
Angrily, I stepped closer.
My hands trembled as I reached for his wrists.
He resisted for a second—muscles tightening under my fingers—then I pulled his hands away from his face.
“Look at me.” His head lifted.
Our eyes met.
Everything inside me stopped.
My heart seemed to forget how to beat.
The air left my lungs in a single, soundless rush.
I blinked once.
Then again.
I even squeezed my eyes shut for a brief second before opening them, praying the face in front of me would change, that it would become someone else—anyone else.
It didn’t.
The face didn’t change.
My legs suddenly felt weak.
I stumbled backward, one hand reaching for the wall that wasn’t close enough.
“N… no…” The word barely escaped my lips.
It couldn’t be him.
Anyone.
Anyone but him.
My breathing turned uneven, shallow and fast.
My chest tightened until every breath scraped.
“Kel…” My voice cracked.
“Kelvin…” I looked from him to the man sitting beside him on the bed, then back again.
“Why…?” Another tear rolled down my face.
“Why him?” I almost laughed, but all that came out was a broken sob.
“Of all the people in this world…” My vision blurred so badly I could barely see either of them anymore.
“You brought my rival into our relationship?” My shoulders shook.
The pain was unbearable and endless.
“The same man who stole my research… The same man who’s been trying to destroy everything I’ve worked for…” My voice broke completely.
“And you…” I looked at Kelvin with eyes full of disbelief and grief.
“You chose him.” “You slept with him.” “Kelvin…” I shook my head over and over, as if the motion could undo what I was seeing.
“You cheated on me… with my rival.”