The plane sliced through the clouds, but Jennifer's heart was still stuck back on the beach where the man she thought she knew shattered into someone else.
She sat beside Ana, staring blankly out the window. The sky looked endless, but her thoughts were trapped.
Kevin Richard.
She still couldn't wrap her head around it. Not Zen. Not the boy who danced with her in the rain, kissed her forehead before she fell asleep, and laughed like he didn't carry the weight of the world.
He had another name… a name that came with empires, lies, and a mother who looked at her like dirt on designer heels.
He lied to me.
She kept repeating it, but a part of her whispered: He also loved you in silence. Maybe too much to risk losing you.
Jennifer shut her eyes. The pain didn't ease.
Meanwhile in the other row...
Roby nudged Zen. "You good?"
Zen didn't answer. He stared at the seat in front of him like it might swallow him whole.
"She won't even look at me," he whispered.
"What did you expect, bro?" Roby said, not unkindly. "You lied to her face. For months. And your mom just aired all your dirty laundry like it was a press conference."
Zen flinched. "I was trying to protect her. She deserved peace. Not Kevin Richard's drama."
Roby sighed. "Maybe. But now she's got both. The truth and the pain. Question is… what're you gonna do next?"
Zen clenched his jaw. "Fight. Even if she hates me now I'll fight."
Back at Richard Estate
Zen's mother poured herself a glass of wine, her red nails glinting against the crystal glass.
"Well," she smirked, dialing a number. "That little beach fantasy didn't last long, did it?"
A voice on the line answered.
"Prepare the media leak," she said coldly. "I want the world to know Kevin Richard is back. And if he refuses, we'll drag that girl's name through every tabloid in the country."
She hung up.
"If I can't control my son," she muttered, "I'll control what he clings to."
Two Days Later: Back at College
The campus buzzed as students poured into the courtyard. The moment Jennifer, Ana, Zen, and Roby walked through the gates, it was as if the earth paused.
Whispers, stares, and half-muttered rumors filled the air. Someone had seen the news. A few had even found old articles about Kevin Richard the missing heir.
Jennifer kept walking, head high. She didn't need pity.
Zen walked a few steps behind her. He didn't try to speak. He knew better.
Roby murmured, "Looks like the gossip wildfire has started."
Ana grabbed Jennifer's hand. "Ignore them. You've got nothing to explain."
But Jennifer wasn't worried about them.
She was scared of the way her heart still beat faster when she caught Zen's scent. She hated how her body still remembered the feel of his hands on her waist. She despised how badly she wanted him to grab her, pull her aside, and say say something real.
That Night
Jennifer walked to her dorm roof alone, hoodie pulled tight, the stars stretching like secrets above her.
She needed air. Space. Anything that wasn't whispering his name inside her mind.
Zen.
No Kevin. A lie wrapped in boyish smiles.
The rooftop was quiet until the door creaked.
Footsteps.
She didn't turn. She didn't need to.
"I figured I'd find you here," he said.
She exhaled sharply through her nose, still facing away. "Lucky guess or old habit?"
Zen stood behind her, silent.
"I just wanted to talk."
Jennifer laughed bitterly. "Now you want to talk? After months of lying to my face? After letting me stand next to your mother like a fool while she peeled my dignity off in layers?"
"I didn't know she'd do that."
"That's not the point!" she spun around now, eyes blazing. "The point is you knew. You had months to tell me who you were. You had so many chances. Why didn't you?"
Zen opened his mouth, but no words came out fast enough.
She stepped closer, her voice rising. "Was I just a game to you? Some normal girl to play normal with until your real life called you back?"
"No—"
"Then what, Zen? Or Kevin, or whoever the hell you really are?"
"I was scared, alright?!" His voice cracked finally, the mask slipping. "Scared that the moment I told you, you'd look at me like everyone else does like a name on a paycheck, not a person."
"Oh poor little rich boy," Jennifer snapped. "Try being the girl who thought she was enough, only to find out she was just a placeholder until reality showed up."
"That's not true!"
"Isn't it?" Her voice shook. "Because it sure as hell felt like it when your mother stood there like some villain from a Netflix special, and you just stood behind her like a coward."
Zen flinched. "Don't you think I hate myself for that?"
"Not enough apparently."
Silence.
Their breathing echoed across the rooftop, sharp and uneven. Both trembling, both furious, both breaking in different ways.
Zen looked at her, eyes stormy. "I lied. I admit it. I screwed up. But don't stand there and tell me what we had was fake."
Jennifer shook her head. "I don't know what we had anymore."
"Say whatever you want," he growled, "but you know it was real. Every second."
She stared at him, tears burning but refusing to fall. "Yeah? Then tell me how the hell am I supposed to ever trust you again?"
He didn't answer.
Because he didn't know.
Jennifer turned around. "Don't follow me again. Not until you know how to stop hiding behind lies."
She walked toward the door, her hands trembling.
Zen stayed behind, fists clenched, chest rising with words he was too late to say.
And above them, the stars didn't care.
Zen tossed his bag onto the couch like it owed him answers.
Silence.
He came back home.
He stood in the middle of the room heavy, suffocating.
Roby followed him in, kicking the door shut. "Nice welcome back, huh?"
Zen didn't reply. He walked over to the kitchen, grabbed a bottle of water, opened it and then didn't drink. Just stared at it.
Roby dropped onto the couch, legs wide, arms slung over the backrest. "You're not gonna say anything?"
Zen ran a hand through his hair, jaw tense. "What do you want me to say?"
Roby leaned forward. "I don't know. Maybe start with: 'Hey, bro, thanks for having my back while I burned my entire relationship to the ground.'"
Zen closed his eyes. "I didn't ask for this to happen."
"No, but you sure as hell didn't stop it either."
That hit.
Zen turned slowly. "What was I supposed to do, Roby? Just walk up to her and say, 'Hey, I'm actually a billionaire and my mom's a monster. Want to go to dinner?'"
"You could've tried telling her the truth before she found out like that. You could've trusted her."
Zen snapped, voice low and sharp. "I did trust her. I just didn't trust myself not to ruin the one thing that felt real in my life."
Roby stood up, tension rising between them now.
"You lied to her, man. You lied every day you let her fall harder. That's not protecting her—that's setting her up to fall without a net."
Zen's hands curled into fists. "You think I don't know that?! You think I don't relive the look on her face every damn time I close my eyes?"
Roby's voice dropped. "Then why are you still acting like you're the victim?"
Silence.
Zen looked away.
Roby exhaled. "Look… I know you love her. Anyone with a pulse could see that. But love without truth? It doesn't survive."
Zen swallowed hard.
"She looked at me like I was a stranger," he whispered.
"Because you were," Roby said gently. "The Zen she knew wouldn't hide behind silence. He wouldn't let his mother destroy someone like that."
Zen sank into the kitchen stool, burying his face in his hands.
"I messed everything up."
"Yeah," Roby said, sitting across from him. "You did."
"But it's not over. Not unless you let it be."
Zen looked up, eyes tired but burning. "I'm not giving up on her."
Roby nodded. "Then stop sulking and start fixing. Because your mom? She's not done. And Jennifer's out there thinking you never loved her to begin with."
Zen's eyes narrowed. "Then I'll make damn sure she knows exactly how wrong she is."