Back in the present...
Tessa's voice faded out as the memory ended, her fingers twirling the crust of her second pizza slice like it was a secret she just couldn't stop replaying in her head.
Zuri blinked slowly. "You actually kissed Malik?"
Tessa turned her head lazily. "Mmhmm."
Alia sat up straighter, brows rising. "Like—you mean, kissed-kissed? Actual contact?"
"Did you think I meant telepathic affection?" Tessa snorted.
Zuri slapped a hand dramatically over her heart. "You sneaky little succubus—you were walking around here like you didn't taste sin!"
Tessa grinned shamelessly. "Argentum girls don't broadcast. We archive."
Alia choked on her drink, laughing as she wiped her mouth with her sleeve. "So that's what that smug smile was about the morning after."
Zuri shook her head, grabbing a pillow and launching it across the room. "Meanwhile, I was crawling through dryers for your stupid laundry while you were playing star-crossed lovers!"
Tessa caught the pillow and hugged it with pride. "A girl's got her priorities."
Alia was still giggling, laying back on the carpet and stretching her legs. "Wow. You really did that. First kiss with Malik... under the moonlight like a Pinterest board."
"I'm still mad about it," Zuri huffed, crossing her arms. "You got romance while I got laundry rash."
The room filled with their snickers and ridiculous banter, voices overlapping like a familiar playlist. The air still smelled faintly of melted cheese and soda, and the soft lighting in the room made everything feel safe, like the world outside didn't exist.
Tessa leaned into the warmth of the moment, lips still curled in a grin. "What can I say? The arcade wasn't the only thing lighting up that night."
Zuri threw another pillow.
They burst into laughter again.
And just like that, the weight of Alia's simulation, the secrets of the Vault, the confrontation with Ajax—all of it was muted beneath the easy rhythm of girlhood and giggles.
But behind Alia's smile, something still lingered. Something soft, secret, and slightly dangerous.
Carmen.
And that kiss she still hadn't processed.
---
22:37
After the mess and the laughter and the full-bellied chaos of their girlhood evening, the dorm finally settled into that warm silence reserved for the late hours. The kind of stillness where only whispers, skincare, and distant night buzzes were allowed. The girls had slipped into their routines—Zuri with her rollers in, Tessa playing lofi beats way too loud, and Alia half-dead in her hoodie.
Alia had been face-planted in her pillow, hoodie swallowing half her face, when her cuff beeped—twice, sharp and expectant.
Carmen.
She groaned, flipping over with the weight of the world on her spine, mentally debating the pros and cons of ghosting the Sovereign of House Noctis. But it was official. Not optional. Her presence was being requested.
Dragging herself up, she threw her hoodie over her head, sleeves covering her hands like makeshift gloves. Her hair was half-tied in a lazy bun, lip gloss smudged from earlier pizza mayhem, and her attitude in shambles. She looked like a war criminal of aesthetic.
22:50 — Northwest Girls' Housing, Rooftop
The moment she stepped out onto the roof's night air, the wind slapped her with regrets. Cold. Sharp. And Carmen—Carmen was already there.
Standing like a statue on the cemented floor, hands buried deep in her coat pockets, her dark hair whipping around her face, half-shadowed by the moonlight. She looked... cinematic. Dangerous. Beautiful. Almost too perfectly composed to be real. Like she belonged to another dimension, not a school.
Alia almost turned around. Almost. But she didn't.
Carmen's voice cut through the chill, soft but anchored. "Alia."
Alia stopped short. She didn't look up at first, just kicked a pebble near her boot. "Hey," she said, casual but clearly anything but.
There was a beat.
"What were you looking for in the Vault the other day?" Carmen asked, voice calm but edged, like a question from someone who already knew part of the answer.
Alia's hoodie sagged around her face as she raised her head, eyes catching the glint in Carmen's. There was no accusation there. Just curiosity. Guarded, but real.
She hesitated. Her breath fogged in the air.
Then muttered, "Files. On someone."
Carmen tilted her head slightly. "Who?"
Another pause. Alia swallowed, like the words were bitter on her tongue. "Cade."
Something flickered in Carmen's expression. A shadow of surprise. Barely there. "Cade?" she repeated.
Alia nodded slowly, stuffing her sleeves deeper into her palms.
"Why?"
"I just..." Alia exhaled. "Something feels off. I can't explain it. I just wanted to know if it was in my head."
Carmen didn't speak for a moment. She didn't press. Didn't scoff. She just looked at Alia with unreadable calculation.
Instead, she asked quietly, "Aren't you two friends?"
The question felt sharp in a way that wasn't meant to be. But it pricked anyway.
"I've seen you two together a lot," Carmen continued, more evenly. "Like... yesterday."
Alia's brows lifted. Her voice slid into that dangerous smile. "Oh? So you did notice."
Carmen looked away, unimpressed. But her jaw tightened, just a little.
Alia stepped slightly closer, testing the edge of a blade with her tone. "Are you keeping tabs on me now?"
No response.
Her voice dropped to a murmur, playful and loaded. "Were you... jealous?"
Carmen gave her the coldest side-eye known to mankind. The kind that could slice glass.
Alia bit her lip, half-laughing. She knew she was toeing the line. But god, it was worth it.
"Too soon? Okay," she asked, mocking her own flirtation.
Carmen didn't answer. She just looked at her for a long moment, then said, "If you think Cade's off... stay away."
Alia's smirk faltered just a bit.
"Why?" she asked, voice more serious now.
Carmen finally stepped closer. Not dramatically. Just enough to close the space, to shift the air.
"Because instincts are usually right," she said. "And I trust yours."
Then, without waiting for another flirty remark, Carmen turned and walked away, her silhouette folding back into the dark.
Alia stood still.
Heart pounding. Throat dry.
That simple line—I trust yours—echoed like a pulse in her ears.
And damn if her heart wasn't thudding like a fool.
---
23:29
After Carmen disappeared down the stairwell, Alia lingered. Just for a second longer. Watching the spot where she'd last been. The wind had calmed, but her pulse hadn't.
Then she turned and headed back inside, the door clicking shut behind her like punctuation.
When she got to her room, the lights were dim, and the world was quiet again. Zuri had rolled onto her stomach, one arm dangling off the bunk. Tessa had kicked her blanket to the floor. The peace was sacred, messy, lived-in.
Alia climbed into bed wordlessly, hoodie still on, face half-buried in her pillow. And she smiled.
Just a little.
Carmen hadn't said anything about the kiss. Not a word. But she hadn't pushed her away either. She hadn't called her foolish. Or pretended it didn't happen.
That had to mean something.
Right?
Still, as the silence stretched and her heart settled, her mind slowly drifted somewhere else.
To her brother.
Ajax.
He was probably still pissed. That bone-deep, furious-in-silence kind of pissed.
She hadn't meant to steal the pass–well, okay, she had. But she hadn't thought it through. Not properly. Not like he always said she should. She'd just... acted. And she knew better.
Alia sighed and pressed her face deeper into the pillow.
Growing up, she'd always been the one tucked under someone's wing. Her mom babied her. Her dad spoiled her. And Ajax? Ajax had protected her like his life depended on it. Always calm, always composed, always in control.
So being scolded by him-really scolded-was foreign.
It felt like a heartbreak she wasn't ready for.
She didn't hate him for it. She didn't even resent it.
It just... stung.
A quiet kind of tough love. The kind that sat heavy on your chest when the world finally went still.