I nearly choked on my own breath when she said it.
It was like she’d just tossed a grenade into the middle of the conversation... It was sothing so out-of-pocket that it didn’t even feel real—and then had the nerve to just sit there, completely calm, like she hadn’t just dropped the most absurd line imaginable.
What the hell was wrong with her?
"A-A threeso... what?" I stamred with my voice cracking in disbelief.
"What’s wrong with it? I don’t think it’s really an issue." Her tone was maddeningly casual, like we were talking about the weather. "We’ve done it before, right? And it’s not like you had any problem when you did it together with Rose."
My jaw tensed. "But you’re—"
I looked at her protruding belly.
"It’s really fine. I can still have sex in this kind of condition, you know?" she said, so matter-of-fact that it almost made doubt my own common sense. "I an, pregnancy sex isn’t really that uncommon."
It was hard—really hard—to believe. But there was sothing in the way she said it... like she ant it. Like she genuinely believed it herself.
Even so, a part of scread that this was insane. Trying to reason with her about it would just be like hitting my head against a wall.
"B-But—"
"It’s just sothing we have to do to understand each other," Gabrielle said, her voice smooth, almost persuasive. "You have to press your bodies together to truly understand one another. It’s not like anything bad will happen if we do it. Just like what we did back then... and what you and Rose did."
Her words dug into . As ridiculous as it sounded, there was a strange, undeniable logic behind them.
Sotis, to understand soone, you needed more than just words—you needed closeness. Real closeness. Skin to skin. And if your feelings were buried so deep that no amount of casual conversation could unearth them, maybe the only way to reach them was to dig. Hard. Until soone—maybe even that person themselves—helped you pull them out.
Still, I wasn’t convinced. I doubted I could understand Gabrielle just by doing... that.
And then, without warning, she reached out. Her fingertips brushed against my skin before her palm settled lightly over my hand.
"There’s nothing wrong with trying, right?" she asked quietly.
That’s when I noticed it—her hand was trembling.
Even she wasn’t as unshaken as she wanted to think.
That tiny, involuntary quiver said more than her words ever could. She was embarrassed too. Nervous or maybe even scared.
And truth be told, I wasn’t much better. I was unsettled, with my stomach twisting, but... was I really going to just brush her off? Pretend I didn’t notice?
I pushed my chair back and stood.
"I... I’m going to go ho now."
I turned and walked out of the cake shop. Gabrielle didn’t stop and she just stayed there in silence, like she had nothing else left to say.
Sliding into my car, I started the engine. The quiet hum filled the space as I pulled out with driving back toward ho.
The mont I stepped inside, I headed straight for my bedroom, collapsing onto the bed without bothering to change.
My chest felt heavy. My stomach churned, and an ugly knot twisted tighter and tighter until I honestly thought I might puke.
Not because of Gabrielle’s insane suggestion—sothing even she had to know was unrealistic—but because of myself.
Because of this festering, choking self-loathing.
Rose and Gabrielle had both moved on from that day... the graduation day. But ? Well, I was still stuck there.
It was like I was still in that mont with and Gabrielle grabbing at each other’s hair, nails scratching, with the both of us snarling like wild beasts that couldn’t be tad. Back then, there was no dignity. We had no restraint. And the worst part? I felt like that version of never went away. Like I hadn’t grown up at all.
"Honestly... I’m pathetic."
I knew that the only real way forward was to understand each other. But no matter how much I told myself that, I couldn’t take a step. Sothing was holding back, chaining to the past.
I sighed, the sound escaping heavier than I intended.
I should be doing sothing. Anything at all. But no matter how many tis I tried to move forward, my feet wouldn’t budge. They wouldn’t move not even a bit.
I glanced at my phone lying beside .
Maybe I was just... stubborn. I was too stubborn for my own good.
"This won’t do, huh?" I muttered to myself.
I picked up the phone and dialed a number.
The call imdiately rang.
The person that I had contacted didn’t pick up right away.
It was almost like sothing was stopping her from answering.
Which... I could understand. It wasn’t exactly a surprise. After all, the two of us had done sothing last night and it was sothing that was very, very, very embarrassing.
Then again, maybe she was just still asleep. We’d both been drunk, after all.
But finally, the line clicked.
"H-Hello."
"Rose. Can I et up with you?"
"H-Huh? Why?"
She sounded a little off. She was a little annoyed, maybe.
"D-Do you want to talk about what happened last night? Huhahahaha! Well, I guess now that you’re sober, you couldn’t help but rember sothing really embarrassing, huh? But you don’t have to worry. I’m over it. I think what happened can just be brushed off in due ti. So you forget about it too, okay?"
She sounded like she was laughing it off, but there was sothing... strained about her tone. I could tell—even she was still a bit miffed about it.
"I want to talk to you about sothing," I said firmly. "And I don’t an what happened last night."
The weight in my voice must’ve hit her, because she went silent for a mont.
"Can you et up with ? Anywhere is fine."
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