Chapter 49: The Girl From The Gym
ROSE’s POV
Rose shut his door behind her and stood in the hallway for a second.
The warmth of the kiss was still there. She could feel it on her lips, which was mildly inconvenient.
She touched them once, then dropped her hand.
Adrian was her boyfriend.
The thought sat strangely in her head. Not badly. Just strangely.
He was her sister’s ex. That fact hadn’t changed. But Maya was with Son now.
Rose had known that for a while. She’d seen the difference in Maya whenever she talked about him.
So why should she keep treating Maya’s old relationship with Adrian like it was still hers to protect?
She headed downstairs.
===
Her apartment was quiet.
Rose set her phone on the counter, tied her hair back, and opened the fridge. She had already prepared everything earlier, which meant she didn’t have to think about cooking.
That was probably for the best.
She took the plates out of the cabinet and set them on the counter.
A moment later, her phone buzzed.
☎️Calling=> Maya.
Rose looked at the screen for a moment before answering.
"Hey."
"Hey, sis," Maya said. "I’ve been meaning to call. How’ve you been?"
"Fine." Rose tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "Still getting everything sorted."
"Settling in?"
"Trying to." Rose said, reaching for another plate. "What’s up?"
"Well...." She replied. " I wanted to give you a heads up that I planned on visiting tomorrow."
She paused. Visiting? That sounded dangerously wrong.
"Visiting?" Rose stacked the plates and thought about that. "You don’t have to. We could meet on campus."
"Mum keeps asking where you’re staying. I figured I should actually see the place."
"Maya... I’m."
Maya cut in, her tone slightly pitched now. "Son found me a better apartment, by the way. It’s way closer to campus. He handled the whole thing. Isn’t that so sweet?"
Son, the guy she’d left Adrian for. One of Daniel’s friends. Of all people.
Rose kept her voice flat. "That was nice of him."
"You wanna check it out?" A small pause. "I promise you’re gonna love it."
Rose frowned. "I’d rather not."
"Why?"
"Because it sounds like Daniel’s world again."
Maya went quiet.
Rose sighed. "I’m not interested in getting dragged back into that."
A beat passed.
"Mmm... that’s understandable . So I should come over? Just so we can talk like normal."
She opened her mouth, still couldn’t exactly tell her no. "Sure. We can talk."
Someone knocked on Maya’s end of the call. Maya said something away from the phone, then came back. "I have to go. I’ll text you later, okay?"
"Okay."
The call ended. Rose set the phone face down and stood there for a second.
This was genuinely insane. How the heck was she suppose to explain to Maya that she’d fallen in love with her ex.
She picked up the pot and the plates, then stopped to step into her slippers by the door.
As she bent down, Rose glanced through the window.
A brunette woman was leaving the building with a bag over her shoulder.
Rose caught only the back of her. Dark hair, tall enough to make Rose glance twice.
Something about her movement felt familiar. She couldn’t place it.
By the time Rose looked again, the woman had disappeared around the corner.
Rose straightened. Probably someone visiting one of the other apartments.
She adjusted the pot and headed upstairs.
Adrian opened the door almost immediately, like he’d heard her coming.
Rose looked at him. He smiled.
"Welcome back." Adrian stepped aside. She carried the pot in and set it on the counter.
"You were quick." he said, following her. "If you already miss me, you can just say so."
"Hentai."
She leaned in and kissed him quickly before walking past. There. That felt natural enough.
Adrian’s stomach growled behind her.
Rose looked at him and smiled. "You craving my cooking already?"
He smiled.
The Mushroom-and-chocolate brownies was as tasty as she’d expected. Rose served him first, then took her own seat.
He took a bite. His expression changed slightly.
"You actually put effort into this."
"I always put effort into my cooking."
"You know what I mean."
Rose did.
She reached over and adjusted the portion on his plate like he’d somehow distributed it wrong, and that was the answer.
They talked about orientation. Rose asked if he had anything planned for the day, and he said not really, and she nodded like that was what she’d expected.
"Maya wants to come visit tomorrow."
Adrian didn’t say anything. Rose could feel his eyes on her, waiting. She kept her face neutral.
"Is that a problem?" He replied.
"No." Rose picked at her food. "She and Son seem good."
Adrian nodded and took another bite. "Good."
Rose looked at him.
He didn’t seem bothered. No hesitation. No change in expression. He just went back to eating.
"You really don’t mind?"
He glanced up. "Why would I?"
"Because she’s Maya." She hesitated . "You know what I mean."
"I know."
Rose watched him for a moment. "You don’t feel anything about it?"
"I feel like she’s with someone she likes." He shrugged. "And I’m not exactly sitting around thinking about her."
Rose’s mouth twitched.
"That’s your way of saying you’ve moved on?"
"I think so." He took another bite. "I cared about her. I’m not going to pretend I didn’t. But that was before."
Rose lowered her eyes to her plate.
"And now?"
Adrian just looked at her. "Now I’m with you."
Her fingers paused around her fork. She looked down.
"Okay."
"Okay?"
She took another bite.
"I wanted to make sure."
"Make sure of what?"
Rose glanced at him. "That you weren’t going to spend the entire relationship comparing me to Maya."
Adrian stared at her. Rose shrugged.
"That would be inconvenient." Adrian traced his fork through the edge of his food. "And idiotic."
She smiled.
"You don’t have to worry about that." He laughed under his breath. "I’m over her."
Rose studied his face for another second, then nodded.
"Good." She took another bite of her brownie.
She was quieter after that. Adrian noticed.
"Do you want to tell her?"
Rose looked up. "Tell her what?"
"About us."
She hesitated. Her eyes dropped to her plate again.
"I honestly don’t know."
"That’s fine."
"You don’t think we should?"
"We just got together." He shrugged. "We don’t have to announce it to the world tonight."
He didn’t argue with her.
He didn’t push, either.
That was probably the part Rose appreciated.
There was no pressure to decide right now. No expectation that they needed to announce anything just because the two of them had finally crossed that line.
They had only just gotten together. Maybe that was enough for today.
She set her fork down.
"Then let’s do something."
He raised a brow. "Like what?"
"I want to take you out today."
He looked at her. "Where?"
"I haven’t decided yet."
"That’s not how invitations usually work."
"I’m paying," she said.
He paused.
She knew Adrian was about to argue. She wasn’t offering out of politeness. Maybe because today was their first day together. Either way, she’d already decided.
"You don’t have to..."
"It’s a date." She said it simply, like that settled it. "Let me treat my boyfriend. I insist."
Adrian looked at her for a moment. She kept her gaze. Finally.
He picked up his fork. "Okay."
The corner of Rose’s mouth lifted.
They finished eating. Rose was starting to tell him about the place she’d chosen when his phone buzzed on the counter.
His phone buzzed on the counter.
Rose’s eyes caught the screen before Adrian reached for it.
Jenna.
She knew the name. The girl from the gym yesterday.The brunette.
Rose looked at Adrian.
"Isn’t she the girl from the gym yesterday?"
Adrian looked up. "Yeah. Why?"
Rose kept her expression neutral. He smiled. It was a small one. Almost casual.
Rose returned it.
Neither of them said anything for a second. She looked at the phone again, before her eyes moved toward the window.
The woman she’d seen leaving earlier came back to her.
Same dark hair.
Rose looked at Adrian again. "She was a brunette, right?"
Adrian’s smile faded by a fraction. Rose noticed. She looked toward the window again.
"I thought I saw a brunette leaving the building a few minutes ago."
She took another bite.
"Really?" He picked up his fork. "There are a lot of brunettes in the world."
Rose let her gaze linger on him. "So it wasn’t her?"
He didn’t answer right away. His fork hovered over his plate, and that was answer enough to make something in her chest tighten.
Rose set her fork down.
"Okay. In that case I’ll make another request..." She tilted her head, pretending to consider it.
Adrian’s hand stopped. "A request?"
She nodded. "You have to be honest to every question I ask you."
His expression shifted. She noticed.
"So..." She leaned back in her chair, giving him time to sit with it.
Then she asked, "Was it her?"