The silence that followed the exposure did not last long, because the moment the truth settled fully in the air and the weight of it pressed down on everyone present, Lan Yue was the first to break under it as her composure collapsed and she stepped forward in a hurry, her head lowering as her voice came out unsteady.
"We were wrong," she said, her words rushed as if she was trying to gather them faster than her thoughts could keep up. "We did not think it would go this far."
Lan Xin followed immediately, her earlier confidence gone as she lowered her head as well, her fingers tightening against her clothes as she struggled to speak.
"We were only angry," she said, her voice trembling slightly. "We did not mean for it to become serious."
Their apologies came one after the other, filled with urgency and desperation, but the more they spoke, the less it softened the people around them, because what they had done was already too clear for simple words to erase.
