It isn't until we're already in the car that I realize I made a mistake.
A stupid one.
The realization settles slowly somewhere between the estate gates and the main road, while the city moves past outside the window in blurred gray afternoon light and Liang Feng drives with the same steady silence he always does.
Beside me, Bael is answering emails on his phone. Completely normal, completely calm.
And somehow that's exactly what finally makes everything click properly in my head.
Because when has Bael ever actually treated me badly?
Even before the kiss, even before the gala, even before any of this strange shift between us started happening.
Bael has always taken care of things, always noticed things, always paid attention in his own way.
The problem was never that he didn't care at all, the problem was that I kept mistaking what kind of care it was.
My chest tightens unpleasantly at the thought.
