《Dirty Little Secret 》全部章節：第 41 章 - 第 50 章

Avery woke up before her alarm, eyes opening into a quiet that didn’t feel peaceful. For a second she lay still, staring at the ceiling, trying to remember why her chest felt tight.Then she reached for her phone.Nothing new.The last message was still there. Jace’s name at the top. Short replies from the night before, nothing that lingered, nothing that felt like him.She typed a message, erased it, typed again.Are you up?She stared at it.Then sent it.The three dots didn’t appear.She locked her phone and sat up, running a hand through her hair. It was too early to feel this anxious. Too early to already be waiting.She forced herself to get ready, moving through her routine on autopilot. Brush, dress, pack her bag. Every few minutes, her eyes drifted back to her phone.Still nothing.By the time she left her room, her mood had already shifted.Outside, the air was cool, the campus slowly coming to life. People moved around her like everything was normal. Like there wasn’t somet

Avery didn’t sleep.Not really.Her mind kept replaying everything from the night before, every pause in Jace’s voice, every word that didn’t feel complete. It was like trying to hold onto something that kept slipping through her fingers no matter how tight she tried to grip it.By morning, she felt drained in a way that sleep couldn’t fix.Her phone was still in her hand when she opened her eyes. She didn’t even remember falling asleep with it there.She checked the screen.No messages.For a moment, she just stared at his name, expecting something to appear, something that would undo the feeling sitting heavy in her chest.Nothing came.She placed the phone beside her and sat up slowly, pressing her palm against her forehead. The room felt too quiet, like it was waiting for something that wasn’t going to happen.The day passed without meaning.She went to class, sat through lectures, wrote things down she knew she wouldn’t remember. People spoke to her, and she responded automatical

Avery didn’t call him back.She didn’t text.She didn’t sit there waiting for her phone to light up with his name like she had every other night.Instead, she placed it face down on her bed and walked away.It was the first real decision she had made since everything fell apart.Not reaction.Not habit.A choice.The room felt quieter, but not the same kind of quiet as before. This one didn’t press against her chest. It didn’t demand anything from her.It just existed.She stood by the window, arms crossed loosely, staring out at nothing in particular. Her mind wasn’t racing the way it had been for days. The thoughts were still there, but slower now. Clearer.Nina’s voice echoed in her head again.He’s in the shower.Avery closed her eyes briefly.It hurt.Of course it did.But it didn’t confuse her anymore.That was the difference.Before, everything had felt uncertain. Like she was guessing, hoping, trying to hold onto something she couldn’t fully see.Now, she saw it.Maybe not the

It happened three days later.Not at night when things felt heavier. Not in the quiet moments when her mind wandered back to places she was trying to leave behind.It happened in the middle of the day.Avery was sitting in class, half-listening, half-writing, her thoughts finally starting to feel like her own again. It wasn’t perfect, but it was better. The weight in her chest had shifted into something manageable.She wasn’t checking her phone every five minutes anymore.That was the biggest change.So when it buzzed against her desk, the sound felt louder than it should have.She glanced down casually.Then froze.Jace.Her heart didn’t race the way she expected.It didn’t drop either.It just… paused.Like her body didn’t know how to react anymore.The phone buzzed again.Incoming call.Avery stared at it for a second too long.She could ignore it.She probably should.But her fingers moved before her mind fully caught up.She stood up quietly, slipping out of the classroom without

It didn’t happen all at once.There was no sudden realization, no dramatic shift where everything became clear in a single second.It was slower than that.Quieter.Avery noticed it in the way her days started to feel full again. Not because something big had changed, but because she wasn’t carrying the past into every moment anymore.She woke up without reaching for her phone.She went through her day without checking for messages that didn’t exist.She laughed without that lingering thought in the back of her mind, wondering if she should be sharing it with someone who wasn’t there anymore.It was small.But it was real.And that was enough.Daniel became part of that normal.Not in a forced way. Not in a way that felt like a replacement.Just… there.Consistent.Steady.He didn’t push her to talk about things she wasn’t ready to revisit. He didn’t bring up Jace unless she did first, and even then, he listened more than he spoke.It made everything feel easier.Safer.And that scare