Chapter 5

Adele remained silent throughout, unwilling to continue playing along.

"It’s getting late. I’m heading home.”

Elias immediately stood to follow her, but his friends quickly stepped in to stop him.

"Come on, Elias! Adele needs rest, but it’s been forever since we’ve all hung out. You can’t leave yet!"

"Exactly. Let her head back for some beauty sleep while you stay and catch up with us."

Adele gently pulled her hand from Elias’ grasp, her tone steady. "The driver can take me home. You should stay."

Before he could respond, she turned and walked away, her pace quick enough that Elias didn’t have time to stop her.

Not long after the car pulled out, Adele felt something unfamiliar in her coat pocket. She reached in and found a phone that wasn’t hers. It was a sleek black one that belonged to Elias.

She frowned and asked the driver to turn back.

The car had barely stopped outside the bar when Adele spotted Evelyn stepping out of a taxi.

Evelyn was busy checking her makeup in her phone’s reflection, oblivious to her surroundings as she made her way toward the lounge.

Adele’s grip tightened around the phone, her knuckles whitening as she instinctively followed Evelyn.

As she suspected, Evelyn stopped right outside the lounge where Elias was.

The moment Evelyn walked in, she threw herself into Elias’ arms.

He caught her with ease, his hand slipping around her waist as he brushed a lock of her hair aside with affectionate care. "Why’d you get here so fast?"

Evelyn leaned against his shoulder, her smile coy. "I missed you! The second you called, I came running."

Elias chuckled softly. "Then you deserve a reward."

With that, he leaned in and kissed her, a deep and fiery kiss that quickly turned into a heated tangle of lips and tongues.

"Alright, alright, enough of that! Not in front of us!" one of the friends teased, breaking the moment.

Elias’ friends didn’t seem the least bit surprised.

Instead, they laughed and teased him as if it were all perfectly normal.

Standing just outside the door, Adele stared through the crack, her body going cold as ice.

So, everyone knew.

They all knew about him and Evelyn.

And yet they had been acting in front of her this whole time.

"Hey Elias, now that Evelyn’s here, how about we play something a little more daring?" one of his friends joked, grinning suggestively.

With that, they clapped their hands, calling back the women who had been sent away earlier.

Soon, every man had a woman draped over him, the room buzzing with laughter.

The game was simple: spin the bottle. Whoever the bottle pointed to had to answer a truth or complete a dare.

The bottle spun again and again, each turn raising the excitement in the room until it finally stopped on Elias.

The atmosphere reached its peak as everyone cheered loudly, urging him on.

"So, Elias," one of the men asked with a knowing smirk, "when was the last time?"

His tone left no doubt as to what he meant.

Elias arched a brow, his expression calm and composed, before replying flatly, "Yesterday. In the car."

The room erupted in uproarious laughter and cheers.

"Wow! That’s impressive! Come on, tell us—how was it?"

Evelyn, already blushing furiously, buried her face into Elias’ chest, too embarrassed to look up.

Elias, his lips curving into a smug smile, drawled each word deliberately. "She did well. Very… unforgettable."

"Hahaha, I’ve always said that wildflowers are sweeter than those at home!"

"Exactly, Elias. Guys like us—how could we not have a few women on the side?"

"As long as you keep it hidden, you can enjoy it for a lifetime. Adele will never find out."

As they spoke, the men each leaned in to kiss the women beside them, their hands wandering freely.

Hearing Adele’s name, the smile on Elias’ face instantly froze. His expression darkened, and his tone turned serious.

"Don’t let this reach Addie. If she finds out… you know the consequences."

"Yes, yes! She’ll never find out," they quickly assured him.

Every word of their conversation reached Adele’s ears.

The laughter and teasing inside carried on, oblivious to the fact that Adele’s world had turned to ice. Her body felt numb, her legs shaky beneath her, as if she were no more than an empty shell. Without thinking, she stumbled out of the building, moving as though on autopilot.

The driver, noticing something was wrong, rushed toward her, intending to inform Elias, but Adele stopped him immediately.

"Don’t take me home. I’ll walk by myself," she said, her voice hollow. "And don’t tell Elias I was here."

The driver hesitated but obeyed, watching as she turned and disappeared down the empty street.

Rain began to pour in torrents, drenching her in moments, but she didn’t seem to notice.

The icy drops falling against her skin only sharpened her clarity.

She had no idea how long she walked. It felt endless, like a lifetime, even longer than that snowy night when she was seventeen, the time Elias carried her home after she sprained her ankle.

"So, this is how quickly love can change," she thought to herself.