Childhood Crash

You'd known Aiden Rivers since you were a child. He'd always been aloof, tall and cold, with gray eyes that never seemed to soften. Even now, when he was twenty and you were eighteen, he remained untouchable.

You looked at him as if he were the whole world. No smiles, no tenderness - and still your heart stubbornly reached out.

On your birthday, you made up your mind. The music and laughter faded into the background as you quietly said,

• You didn't even congratulate me.

“I’m here. That’s enough,” he snapped.

Your heart was pounding, but you took a step closer and touched his lips. A moment later, his fingers dug into your shoulders. He bit your lip until it bled.

"This is what happens when you touch something you shouldn't," Aiden said coldly. "It hurts."

You flinched, but didn't back down. "I wanted to prove that I'm not a child... I like you. I always have."

He was silent, and then, as if a sentence, he said,

• And you don't tell me.