Page 63 of You. Me. Us.

She smoothed her hair with trembling hands and crossed the room, hope and apprehension warring within her. Taking a deep breath, Hillary reached for the doorknob, rehearsing the speech she’d been crafting for hours.

The door swung open, and there he was. Devastatingly handsome even in his disheveled state. But something was different. His eyes, usually so warm when they fell upon her, were distant. Guarded.

“Julius, I?—”

He brushed past her without a word, his shoulder grazing hers in a cold whisper of contact. Hillary’s carefully prepared words died on her lips as she watched him stride into the apartment, a sinking feeling settling in her gut.

She closed the door with a soft click, the sound deafening in the heavy silence. Steeling herself, Hillary turned to face the man she loved, desperate to bridge the chasm that had opened between them.

He threw a newspaper onto the coffee table and kept his back to her, forcing her to see what he brought.

The first page was a photo of her and Ethan’s kiss. And even looking at it, she couldn’t deny that even if she’d felt nothing, she’d leaned into it, responded to it because she was annoyed at Julius.

“Can we talk about this? Please?” Her voice wavered, the vulnerability she tried so hard to hide laid bare in the scant space separating them. “The kiss was a childish response. One I’m not proud of.”

Julius kept his back to her, his broad shoulders taut with tension. The seconds stretched into an eternity condensed into a handful of heartbeats.

“I don’t know if there’s anything left to say.” His words were flat, devoid of the warmth that usually suffused his tone when he spoke to her.

Hillary’s vision blurred, hot tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. This couldn’t be happening. They were supposed to be the couple that defied the odds, that proved love could conquer all.

She took a step forward, hand outstretched, aching to touch him. To remind him of what they shared. “Julius, please. I love you.”

He turned then, his gaze meeting hers, and the pain she saw there stole the breath from her lungs. At that moment, Hillary knew their story had reached its final chapter.

His eyes, usually so vibrant and alive, were now filled with a heart-wrenching mixture of sadness and frustration.

“I can’t trust you anymore, Hillary.” His voice was low, the words heavy with the weight of his disappointment. “There will always be other people in our lives, trying to come between us. I need someone who can handle that, who can be honest with me no matter what. I understand I threw you into a huge new world, and that leaving the bubble of filming was bound to be hard on us, but you left out that another man touched you. Kissed you. Even if you hated it, thought it was nothing, you kept it from me.”

Hillary’s heart sank, the gravity of the situation hitting her like a physical blow. She’d never meant to hurt him, never wanted to be the source of his pain. But the relentless media scrutiny, the constant pressure to be perfect, had taken its toll.

“I won’t be something you see as a mistake. Not after spending my entire life trying to be perfect for everyone else.” Her words were barely above a whisper, the lump in her throat making it hard to speak. “You were right. I’m not used to this world, to the spotlight and the gossip and the endless judgment. I’m not used to someone loving me so deeply they push me to do things that feel like controlling me, but I know you weren’t doing that.”

She looked down at her hands, her fingers twisting together in a futile attempt to steady herself. How had everything gone so wrong? Just yesterday, they’d been happy, wrapped up in each other and the promise of a future together.

Julius sighed, the sound weary and resigned. “I know you didn’t mean for this to happen, Hillary. But it did.”

He ran a hand through his hair, the gesture so familiar it made her chest ache. How many times had she watched him do that, marveling at the way the strands slipped through his fingers like silk?

“I just...I don’t know if I can do this anymore.” His words were a knife to her heart, twisting deeper with every syllable. “I love you, Hillary. I know I do, but I’ll constantly be wondering what else you aren’t telling me. I’m not saying I need to know every detail, but if an asshole comes onto you, I want to know.”

“And if I don’t want your protection?”

“Then you won’t get it, but I’ll at least know to watch the ass. Your life is about to get insanely different. This isn’t my attempt control, but at boundaries. I’ll still be here for you every step of the way on this film, but I don’t think I can let the secret go. Not when it was that type of a secret.”

Tears spilled down her cheeks, hot and full of bitterness. She wanted to argue, to fight for what they had, but the defeat in his eyes stopped her cold. He’d already made up his mind, and nothing she said would change that.

“So, what now?” Her voice was small, broken. A far cry from the confident, driven journalist she’d once been.

Julius looked away, his jaw clenched tight. “Now, we go our separate ways. Try to pick up the pieces and move on and be ready for the rest of the tour together. Outside of the set, no oneknows we were ever anything to each other. And now the world thinks you are with Ethan and I’m a jealous jackass.”

Hillary nodded, the motion mechanical, automatic. She felt numb, like she was watching someone else’s life unravel before her eyes. “I don’t belong to anyone.”

“Sadly, this world has a habit of making women property. We’ll fix this, but I need to be alone for a bit. You need to figure out how to handle this and maybe we’ll find our way back to each other when you’re more grounded in this world.”

“I’ll always love you, Julius.” The words were a plea, a desperate attempt to hold on to some small piece of what they’d shared. “No matter what happens, that will never change.”

He smiled then, a sad, wistful curve of his lips. “I know, Hillary. I’ll always love you, too.”

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