Chapter 71: Confrontation
He kept climbing the last few stairs because stopping mid-flight would’ve been stranger than anything else he could do.
Maya watched him reach the landing with the expression of someone whose mental preparation had accounted for running into him anywhere except here. The girl beside her had adopted the careful neutrality of someone who had decided, very quickly, that she was not part of whatever this was.
"Adrian?"
"Maya."
He said it evenly. Two years had apparently been enough time to make her name just another word.
"You live here?" Her eyes moved past him toward the hallway above, then returned to his face.
"Third floor."
"I didn’t—" She stopped, then tried again. "Rose didn’t mention that."
’No. She didn’t.’
He filed the information away without attaching a conclusion to it. Rose hadn’t told Maya about him. That could mean several things, and none of them needed solving in a stairwell.
"I didn’t know you were coming up here," he said.
"She texted me. Asked me to come by." Maya looked him over once. It wasn’t an obvious stare, just the familiar habit she had always had of reassessing things she thought she already understood. "You look different."
"People keep saying that."
"It suits you."
She said it simply. No nostalgia. No attempt to make the compliment mean more than it did.
The girl beside her shifted.
Maya noticed. "This is Sami. She’s on my floor."
Adrian nodded to her.
Sami returned the gesture, though her expression suggested she had somehow walked into a conversation that had started long before she arrived.
"How are you?" Maya asked.
"Fine." He paused. "You?"
"Getting there."
The answer came with enough hesitation to make it honest, but not enough to invite another question.
"It’s strange," she added, looking around the unfamiliar hallway. "Being here."
"Takes a few weeks."
"Yeah."
For a second, neither of them moved.
Then Maya stepped aside. "You’re going up?"
"Yeah."
"Go ahead."
He moved past them.
The distance between them was small enough that, for half a second, the last two years felt less like time and more like something physical he had to walk through. Then he reached the stairs above the landing, and the feeling disappeared.
He didn’t look back.
He was halfway across the second-floor landing when a door opened below him.
Rose.
He recognized her voice before he saw her.
"Adrian?"
He stopped.
Not because she had called his name. Because there was something in the silence that followed it.
He looked over the railing.
Rose stood in her doorway. Maya was still on the landing. Rose’s eyes moved between them once before settling on him.
She understood what had happened.
So did he.
Rose hadn’t told Maya.
Maya had just met him.
And now Rose was standing there with both sides of a conversation she had apparently intended to have separately.
Adrian could have stayed.
That would mean questions. Who was he? How long had they known each other? Why had Rose never mentioned him? Depending on how Maya asked, there would be more questions behind those.
He looked at Rose.
She looked back.
Neither needed to say anything.
Adrian gave her a small nod and continued upstairs.
Rose didn’t stop him.
Good.
Stopping him would have turned an awkward coincidence into something neither of them could pretend was accidental.
By the time he reached his apartment, the encounter had already become simpler in his head.
Rose had a sister.
Her sister didn’t know about him.
Rose had chosen not to explain the situation yet.
That was her decision.
He unlocked his door, stepped inside, and dropped his keys onto the counter.
The apartment was quiet.
He sat on the couch, leaned back, and checked his phone.
The group chat had moved on without him. Drew had sent a complaint about someone from his seminar stealing the seat he apparently considered his. Jenna had responded with a sentence that managed to insult Drew while defending the unnamed girl.
Adrian read it twice.
He typed a short reply.
Drew immediately sent three messages.
Adrian put the phone down before he could become involved.
A few seconds later, it buzzed again.
Rose.
Sorry about that.
He stared at the message for a moment before replying.
Don’t be. It’s fine.
The typing indicator appeared almost immediately.
She doesn’t know about you.
I figured.
Another pause.
It’s not—
The message disappeared.
Then another appeared.
I was going to tell her when it made sense to.
Adrian looked at the screen.
Rose.
He stopped typing, considered it, then finished.
I’m not bothered. Deal with your sister. Tell me how it goes.
The typing indicator appeared.
Disappeared.
Appeared again.
Okay.
He set the phone face-up beside him.
Then he leaned back and closed his eyes.
Whatever happened downstairs was Rose’s conversation now.
[ROSE POV]
Rose shut the door.
She waited until the latch clicked before turning around.
Maya had already wandered farther into the apartment.
"It’s nice," she said, looking around. "Small, but nice."
"You say that like you expected something terrible."
"I expected student housing."
"This is student housing."
"Then you’ve done well."
Rose smiled despite herself and moved toward the kitchen. "Do you want anything? Tea? Water?"
"Water."
Rose filled a glass and brought it over.
Maya had taken the couch.
She accepted the glass and looked toward the bookshelf again.
"I should’ve come sooner," she said. "I kept meaning to."
"You’re here now."
"I’m here now."
Rose sat in the chair opposite her.
She noticed the choice immediately.
She had avoided the couch without consciously deciding to avoid it.
Maya noticed things like that.
"How’s the first week been?"
"Good. Busy."
"Classes?"
"Manageable."
"The campus is huge."
"The east side is."
Maya smiled. "You already have opinions."
"I’ve been there a week."
"That’s enough time for opinions."
Rose took a drink.
Maya looked around again.
"Do you know your neighbors?"
"A couple."
"The guy in the stairwell."
Rose’s fingers stopped against the glass.
Maya continued as though she hadn’t noticed.
"That’s your neighbor?"
"Which guy?"
"The one who was outside your door when I came up."
Rose kept her face neutral.
"I didn’t know he was outside my door."
"He was."
Maya took another drink.
"He knew your name."
"We’ve spoken."
"And he seemed familiar with you."
"It’s a small building."
"Mm."
Maya’s eyes stayed on her for another second before moving away.
"He’s that guy, right?"
"Which guy?"
"Your ex’s friend. The one from Northgate."
Rose felt the conversation shift.
"He’s at Northgate."
"I know."
"I don’t know if he’s Drew’s friend."
Maya frowned slightly. "Maybe I’m mixing people up."
"You probably are."
"Probably."
She accepted the answer too easily.
That was worse.
Maya leaned back.
"What’s his name?"
Rose answered before she could stop herself.
"Adrian."
Silence.
It was only a second.
Maybe less.
But Rose knew immediately.
Maya had caught it.
She didn’t react dramatically. She simply looked at Rose, then down at the glass in her hand.
"How did you know that so fast?"
Rose said nothing.
Maya looked up again.
"I mean, you didn’t even think about it."
Rose searched for an answer.
Nothing came quickly enough.
Maya’s expression remained calm, almost curious.
But the question had changed.
It was no longer about the man upstairs.
It was about Rose.
And Rose knew she had just given her sister the first piece of information she hadn’t meant to give her.
"You’ve met him before," Maya said.
It wasn’t phrased as a question.
Rose set her glass down.
"Northgate."
"No." Maya shook her head. "That’s not what I mean."
Rose waited.
Maya studied her for a moment, then smiled faintly.
"You know what? Never mind."
Rose’s shoulders loosened by a fraction.
Maya noticed that too.
"That reaction," she said.
"What reaction?"
"That one."
Rose looked away.
Maya laughed softly. "Relax. I’m not interrogating you."
"You’re doing a convincing impression of it."
"I’m curious."
"That’s different?"
"Very."
Rose almost smiled.
Maya leaned forward, resting her elbows against her knees.
"I’m not asking because I care who your neighbors are. I just..." She glanced toward the ceiling. "You said his name like you’ve said it a hundred times."
Rose’s pulse picked up.
"That doesn’t mean anything."
"Maybe."
Maya let the word sit there.
Then she looked toward the door.
"Does he come here often?"
Rose looked at her.
"No."
It came too quickly.
Maya’s eyebrows lifted.
Rose closed her eyes for half a second.
"Sometimes."
"Sometimes," Maya repeated.
"Yes."
Maya nodded slowly.
"Okay."
There was no accusation in it.
That somehow made Rose more nervous.
Maya picked up her glass again, but she didn’t drink.
"So," she said, "you and Adrian are friends?"
Rose opened her mouth.
The answer should have been easy.
It wasn’t.
"Yeah."
Maya waited.
Rose could already tell that one word wasn’t going to survive the conversation.
"Close friends," she added.
Maya smiled.
"Right."
Rose knew that smile.
It was the same one Maya used whenever she had noticed something but decided to wait before saying she had noticed it.
She hated that smile.
And, for the first time since Maya had arrived, Rose understood that keeping Adrian separate from this conversation might no longer be entirely up to her.