Chapter 4

The silence stretches between us, broken only by the occasional gust of wind rustling through the trees. I shift slightly on the hood of the car, feeling the cool metal beneath my fingertips. Kieran stays still, his gaze fixed on the city below, his usual arrogance replaced by something more contemplative.

“Alright,” I say, breaking the quiet. “What do you want to know?”

Kieran turns his head slightly, his smirk returning but softer this time. “Everything.”

I scoff. “Be more specific. I’m not about to spill my deepest, darkest secrets to you just because you brought me to a pretty view.”

“Fair enough,” he says. “Let’s start with something simple. What’s your favorite food?”

I blink, caught off guard by the mundanity of the question. “Really? That’s what you’re going with?”

He shrugs. “It’s a basic, but important, thing to know. If we’re supposed to be madly in love, I should at least be able to answer that question without hesitation.”

I roll my eyes but play along. “Pancakes. The fluffier, the better.”

Kieran grins. “So, breakfast food?”

“I could eat breakfast for every meal if I wanted to,” I admit.

“Noted.” He takes a sip from the coffee cup he somehow smuggled from the café. “Alright, my turn. Ask me something.”

I consider for a moment before settling on a question. “Why do you drink your coffee black? That has to be some kind of red flag.”

He chuckles. “I like things simple. No unnecessary fluff, no distractions. Just coffee.”

“Sounds depressing,” I mutter.

“Or efficient.”

“Mmhm. Sure.” I tilt my head, studying him. “Fine. Next question. Why did you really bring me here?”

Kieran exhales, setting his coffee cup on the hood beside him. He doesn’t answer right away, and for a moment, I think he won’t. But then he speaks, his voice quieter than before.

“Because I wanted to see if there was more to you than what you let people see.” He glances at me, his expression unreadable. “You keep everyone at arm’s length. Even me. Why?”

I tense at the question. He isn’t wrong, but that doesn’t mean I want to explain myself. “Because it’s easier,” I finally say. “Less complicated.”

Kieran hums in acknowledgment but doesn’t push. Instead, he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small, silver lighter, flicking it open and closed absentmindedly. The rhythmic click fills the quiet between us.

“I get it,” he says eventually. “But you do realize we’re stuck with each other for the foreseeable future, right? You can’t keep me at a distance forever.”

“Watch me,” I mutter, but there’s no real bite in my tone.

Kieran chuckles. “Challenge accepted.”

The wind picks up, and I shiver slightly, regretting not bringing a thicker coat. Without a word, Kieran shrugs off his own jacket and drapes it over my shoulders. I stiffen in surprise, glancing at him. “What are you doing?”

“Keeping up appearances,” he says, but the way he avoids my gaze makes me suspect otherwise.

I don’t argue. Instead, I pull the jacket tighter around myself, inhaling the faint scent of cedar and something else distinctly Kieran. It’s comforting, and I hate that I find it so.

“So what now?” I ask after a beat.

Kieran smirks. “Now, we continue this little bonding exercise. Tell me something about yourself that no one else knows.”

I hesitate, but against my better judgment, I answer. “When I was a kid, I wanted to be a writer.”

His brows lift slightly. “Really? What changed?”

I shrug, looking out at the city. “Life.”

Kieran doesn’t press, but something in his gaze softens. “Maybe it’s not too late.”

I huff a laugh. “You sound like a motivational poster.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

We lapse into silence again, but this time, it feels less heavy. Less forced. I hate to admit it, but maybe Kieran was right. Maybe getting to know each other—really know each other—is necessary.

And maybe, just maybe, it won’t be as awful as I thought.

Kieran watches me for a beat longer, then shifts slightly so he’s facing me fully. “Okay, next question.”

I arch a brow. “You’re really committed to this, huh?”

“Of course,” he says, smirking. “How else am I supposed to make our ‘madly in love’ act believable?”

I roll my eyes, but there’s no real annoyance behind it. “Fine. Ask away.”

He tilts his head, considering. “What’s one thing that scares you?”

I freeze.

Of all the things he could’ve asked, it had to be that.

The easy answer—the one I should give him—is something lighthearted. Spiders. Heights. Horror movies. But the way he’s watching me, patient and unrelenting, makes me think he won’t be satisfied with anything surface-level.

I sigh, running a hand through my hair. “Being forgotten.”

Kieran’s expression shifts—just a flicker of something unreadable before he schools it back into that familiar smirk. “You? Forgotten? Not a chance.”

“You say that now,” I mutter, staring down at my hands. “But people move on. They always do.”

For once, Kieran doesn’t fire back with some cocky remark. Instead, he studies me, his fingers still fidgeting with that silver lighter. “Not everyone,” he says after a long pause.

I glance at him, and for a moment, the city lights reflect in his dark eyes, making him seem softer than usual. It’s unsettling.

I clear my throat. “Your turn.”

Kieran hums, as if expecting this. He flicks the lighter shut and sets it on the hood between us. “I’m afraid of turning into someone I don’t recognize.”

I blink. Of all the things I thought he’d say, that wasn’t one of them.

“What do you mean?”

His jaw tightens, and for the first time tonight, he looks genuinely uncertain. “You ever wake up and feel like you’re not yourself? Like you’ve spent so much time being what everyone expects that you’re not sure where the real you begins and ends?”

Something tightens in my chest. I know that feeling. Too well.

“Yeah,” I admit quietly.

Kieran exhales, like he wasn’t expecting me to understand. “Guess that’s something we have in common.”

The silence stretches again, but this time, it’s not uncomfortable. If anything, it feels… grounding.

Then Kieran shifts closer, just slightly. Not enough to invade my space, but enough that I notice.

I narrow my eyes. “What are you doing?”

He grins. “Keeping up appearances, remember?”

I scoff, but I don’t move away.

And maybe that’s the real problem.