Juniper didn’t flinch. She just smiled—a slow, deliberate curl of her lips that made Alice’s blood run cold.

  "Ohhhh~?" Her voice dripped with faux surprise as she clutched the note to her chest like it was some priceless artifact. "Are you sure you want this? After all that begging and pleading?"

  She tilted her head, eyes glinting with cruel amusement as she dangled the paper between two fingers, just out of reach, before suddenly crumpling it into a ball and tossing it over the balcony railing without breaking eye contact.

  The wind snatched what little remained before Alice could even move to stop it.

  Juniper sighed dreamily: "...Oops."

  Alice lunged without thinking.

  There was no thought, no plan, just an explosion of fury that made her see red as her knuckles slammed into the pop star’s jaw with a sickening crack.

  Juniper staggered backward, more surprised by the force of the hit than the strike itself, and laughing. She was laughing.

  Alice grabbed Juniper by her designer shirt, shaking her hard. "Enough!" The words came out ragged, almost a plea. A last desperate attempt to get through to the pop star who had just torn her entire world to pieces.

  "Is this a joke to you?!" She demanded, furious and broken all at once. "Does it amuse you, playing with people's lives?! What kind of monster finds entertainment in something like that?!”

  Juniper's smirk faltered, just for a split second, as Alice shook her. For the first time, something flickered behind those cruel eyes: confusion.

  Then it was gone, replaced by an even sharper grin as she patted Alice’s clenched fist with mocking pity. "Awwww~! Did I finally break you?" Her voice dripped with false sympathy before dropping to a venomous whisper: "...Or did Juno do that already when she walked out on your dumb ass?"

  She yanked free from Alice's grip in one fluid motion, straightening her clothes like nothing had happened while the wind howled between them thirty stories above concrete oblivion.

  Damn it.

  This wasn't how this was SUPPOSED to go. This was supposed to make her feel BETTER, not destroy what little composure remained.

  But Juniper had been a pop artist for 13 years, and you don't get to that level of fame without knowing exactly how to push your opponent's buttons. She'd had the upper hand this entire time, and she knew it.

  So she just crossed her arms and cocked her head as if Alice was a naughty child. "What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?"

  Juniper froze mid-taunt, eyes widening for a split second before her expression twisted into something between fury and panic.

  "You, " Her voice cracked. "You think I’d touch that pathetic little rejection letter?! As if!" She snatched the photo from Alice’s hand, fingers trembling just enough to betray her as she crushed it in her grip.

  Then, with forced calm: "...I burned it." A lie so obvious even the wind scoffed at her.

  But Alice was already turning away, shoulders slumped in defeat, and Juniper’s facade shattered completely: "WAIT!"

  It was barely a whisper, so different from her usual smug confidence that it stopped Alice in her tracks.

  She paused, turning back slowly, her expression blank, her heart a hollow shell, and her voice nothing but numb resignation. "...What.”

  The pop star suddenly looked fragile, like a wrong move might make her tremble apart: "Alice, I..."

  She struggled for words, looking uncharacteristically lost for the first time since this whole disaster began. "I-I..."

  Finally, FINALLY, Juniper managed something that sounded close to sincerity as she offered Alice a shaky smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "I'm...sorry.”

  Those two words hit Alice like a punch to the gut.

  Sorry.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  How could two words, two syllables, even, carve through layers of anger and heartache to hit every single one of her vulnerabilities like razor-sharp knife blades?

  She opened her mouth to say something, anything, but the words froze on her tongue. All she could manage was an empty whisper: "...Prove it.”

  Juniper flinched at the pain in those broken words, guilt like acid in her throat as she struggled to find something, anything, that would make Alice look at her with something other than heartbreak.

  Finally, she took a hesitant step closer, extending her hand in a tentative gesture. "Alice..." she whispered, voice raw for the first time. "Can I...hug you?”

  A hug.

  The request felt like another stab through the heart, as innocent as the word sounded. It was wrong, so wrong, for Juniper to ask for affection like this. After everything she'd said and done, there was no way in hell Alice could bring herself to accept that hug without feeling like she was a goddamn fool.

  And yet…

  There was something in Juniper's voice that stopped her from saying no. Some hint of genuine regret lurking behind those wide, pleading eyes.

  Alice just froze like a deer in headlights, fighting between her conflicting emotions. The need to push Juniper away. The urge to slam her fist into that flawless face.

  And the desire to collapse into a broken, sobbing mess, because the last person in the entire goddamn world she wanted comfort from was standing right in front of her, asking with that damn vulnerable expression.

  The battle raged in Alice's mind, her expression a tangled web of anguish and anger and so, so much pain. And while a part of her howled to refuse, to say the word "no" a thousand times over until her voice was hoarse, she took a deep breath…

  And forced a nod.

  Juniper didn't smile, didn't even move for a moment, before launching forward and wrapping her arms around Alice.

  The first thing Alice noticed was the heat.

  Juniper was like a furnace, her body temperature strangely high as her arms enveloped Alice in an embrace that was both suffocating and strangely soothing. It was like standing too close to a bonfire, painful but comforting, and even the anger in Alice's chest flickered, her guard slowly lowering despite herself.

  Then, slowly, painfully slowly, she found herself raising trembling hands to hug back.

  For the second time that evening, Alice broke. All the agony and grief and loneliness crashed down on her like a tidal wave, and the tears she'd been holding back so carefully shattered like glass. She buried her face in Juniper's shoulder, her body shuddering on every sob.

  Juniper didn't speak. She just held her, arms wrapped tight around the shaking girl like a shield. Her hands traced gentle circles across Alice's back in an almost-maternal gesture.

  Alice lost all sense of time like that, clutching onto Juniper like a lifeline and crying until she ran out of tears. Her body ached, her mind was numb, and her heart felt raw and open.

  When the sobs finally quieted into hiccups, she slowly pulled away, wiping the wetness from her cheeks and refusing to meet Juniper's gaze.

  They stayed like that for a heartbeat, neither girl sure what to say, before Juniper whispered one more time:

  "...I really am...sorry.”

  Alice finally looked up.

  Juniper's expression was almost unreadable: no trace of the confidence from before, no smug smirk or cold eyes, nothing but a quiet vulnerability. Guilt, shame, remorse that seemed so out of place in her perfect face. And that was the worst part. Alice could handle the taunts, the mockery, even the insults...

  But the guilt.

  That one word.

  That was the thing that almost made her start crying all over again. "Yeah," she whispered, voice cracking. "...I believe you.”

  There was another pause, this one less painful but just as tense as a thousand unspoken words hovered between them. Then, without warning, Juniper reached up to tuck a stray lock of curly raven hair behind Alice's ear in a gesture that felt almost...motherly.

  "Can I ask you one more question?" Her voice was still raw, the slightest tremble of hesitation lacing her words.

  Alice tensed slightly, bracing herself for another verbal blow, but she gave the smallest nod anyway. "What?"

  Juniper hesitated, her fingers lingering near Alice's cheek before she finally asked:

  "...Would you let me take you out to dinner?"

  The question was so absurdly unexpected that it left Alice completely speechless for a solid three seconds. Then, her eyes widened in horror as the realization hit her like a freight train: "Wait… does this mean I'm still gonna cry at dinner?!"

  Juniper laughed at her expression, but the sound was surprisingly soft, lacking all of the usual arrogance and smugness. "Don't worry," she assured her. "I'll make a reservation at a place with dim lights and quiet music."

  A small, almost shy smile tugged at her lips as she waited for Alice to respond.

  It was ridiculous. Absolutely, unbelievably absurd. The girl who had just torn her world apart was now asking her on a date.

  The whole situation was insane, and it left Alice staring at Juniper like she had suddenly sprouted a second head. Dinner. The pop star who had destroyed her faith in humanity, who had made her a sobbing, broken mess, was asking her to a restaurant.

  A hysterical bubble of laughter rose up in her throat, but it came out more like a strangled sob. "You..." she choked out, the words tasting bitter and disbelieving as they left her lips. "You want a date?”

  Juniper didn't miss the disbelief in Alice's voice, but she just nodded like this wasn't the most ridiculous thing ever and gave another sheepish smile.

  "I know I might be the last person in the world you want to spend more time with," she admitted, rubbing the back of her neck in a gesture that looked downright awkward. "But I swear to god, I can explain myself. And…"

  Another pause, almost like she was steeling herself for the next part.

  "There's...something I want to show you.”

  Every instinct in Alice's brain was screaming at her to refuse. To tell Juniper to go straight to hell and never look back. But something in the pop star's expression stopped her.

  Curiosity, maybe.

  Or maybe just the slightest bit of hope that this wouldn't end in more heartache. Whatever it was, she found herself nodding, almost against her better judgement. "Okay," she whispered, words quiet and fragile as a bird wing. "Fine. I'll go.”