The tension between them had always existed, but now it had changed shape—it was no longer just power against defiance, control against independence.
It had become something more complex, something layered with understanding, frustration, and something neither of them had fully acknowledged yet.
"You don't get to decide what I am," Zein said firmly.
"And you don't get to pretend you're unaffected," Ace replied.
They stood closer now.
Too close.
But neither stepped back.
"Why do you care?" she asked suddenly.
The question came out softer than expected.
And for once—
Ace didn't deflect.
"Because you don't," he said.
Zein's breath slowed.
Her eyes searched his, as if trying to find something—anything—that would make sense of what he had just said.
"And that bothers you?" she asked quietly.
"Yes."
The answer was immediate.
Honest.
Unfiltered.
And it changed everything.