The house was alive with noise again — the kind that fills every corner before a celebration. Boxes of candles, strings of flowers, and the faint hum of music bled together into a soft chaos. Maya's rehearsal dinner was only hours away, and even the air felt busy.
Elena moved from table to table, adjusting name cards, folding napkins, pretending her hands weren't trembling from exhaustion or something she didn't want to name.
Across the room, Adrian stood beside Leela, the two of them bent over a seating chart. Leela's laugh carried across the space — light, melodic, infuriatingly confident. Every now and then, her hand brushed his arm when she spoke.
Elena told herself she didn't care. She told herself a dozen times.
"Can you hand me that ribbon?" Maya asked, jolting her back to the moment.
Elena passed it over, forcing a smile. "Everything looks perfect."
Maya glanced toward Adrian and Leela, then back at her friend. "You sure you're okay?"
"I'm fine."
"Hmm," Maya hummed, clearly unconvinced but too distracted to push further.
Leela's voice rang again, teasing. "Adrian, I swear you're the only man I know who can look at a flower arrangement and give a boardroom answer."
Adrian gave a small chuckle — soft, quiet, but real. The sound sliced through Elena like something sharp.
Later, as the evening crept closer and guests began to arrive, the house shifted into candlelight. Everyone was dressed up — laughter and perfume and the clink of glasses everywhere. Maya glowed beside Ethan, the picture of joy.
And then there was Adrian — dark suit, sleeves rolled just enough, standing beside Leela again as she whispered something that made him smirk.
Daniel caught the look on Elena's face before she could hide it. "You don't look like you're having fun," he said quietly.
"I'm just tired," she said.
He tilted his head, searching her expression. "You sure that's all?"
She didn't answer.
When the music started, couples drifted to the small dance floor. Leela grabbed Adrian's hand before he could refuse. "Come on," she said, pulling him forward with a grin. "One dance won't kill you."
He hesitated — just a fraction too long — before letting her lead him.
Elena's stomach twisted. The sight of their hands together, the easy way she laughed up at him, felt heavier than it should have. Adrian wasn't even smiling fully, but it didn't matter. It looked comfortable.
Maya found her then. "Hey," she said softly, "don't do that to yourself."
"Do what?"
"Pretend it doesn't hurt."
Elena forced a laugh that didn't reach her eyes. "It doesn't."
But when she turned back, Adrian was already looking her way — not smiling, not speaking, just watching her with a quiet intensity that made the air feel heavier. Leela said something that drew his attention again, and whatever was left in Elena's chest caved just a little more.
By the time the song ended, she'd slipped outside, away from the lights and laughter. The night air was cooler, carrying the distant hum of the party inside.
For the first time in a long while, she let herself feel it — the jealousy, the ache, the helpless pull toward a man she didn't understand.
Inside, Leela laughed again.
And somewhere behind her, unseen in the shadows, Adrian's gaze followed her retreating silhouette — his hand clenched slightly at his side, as if he wanted to stop her, but didn't.