Chapter Text
Chapter 1: Perfect Lies
Sylus POV
The coffee shop buzzed with the usual afternoon crowd, but Sylus only had eyes for the man sitting three tables away. Caleb Xia sat hunched over his laptop, fingers flying across the keyboard with the same intensity he brought to everything else in his life. His dark hair fell across his forehead, and every few minutes he'd push it back in a gesture so familiar it made Sylus's chest ache.
"You're staring again.
MC's voice cut through his thoughts, warm and teasing. She slipped into the seat across from him, her smile bright enough to light up the entire café. To anyone watching, they looked like the perfect couple—her hand finding his across the table, the easy way she leaned into his space.
If only they knew.
"Sorry," Sylus murmured, forcing himself to look at her instead of the man who consumed far too many of his thoughts. "Just thinking."
"About work?" MC followed his previous line of sight and her expression softened when she spotted Caleb. "Oh. He looks stressed again. Maybe I should"
"Don't." The word came out sharper than intended, and Sylus immediately gentled his tone. "He's fine. Probably just another deadline."
MC's brow furrowed slightly, but she didn't press. She never did, which was both a blessing and a curse. It made their arrangement easier, this relationship that looked real from the outside but felt like performing in a play where he'd forgotten his lines.
As if sensing their attention, Caleb looked up from his screen. His eyes swept over them dismissively before landing on MC, and his entire expression transformed. The hard lines of concentration melted into something softer, warmer—the look Sylus would have killed to have directed at him.
Caleb gathered his things and walked over, his movements precise and controlled. Everything about him screamed discipline and focus, from his perfectly pressed shirt to the way he held himself like he was ready for battle.
"MC," he said, his voice dropping to that gentle tone he reserved only for her. "I didn't know you were here."
"Sylus and I were just grabbing coffee," she replied, her fingers tightening slightly around Sylus's hand. "Want to join us?"
The look Caleb shot Sylus could have frozen hell over. "I wouldn't want to interrupt your... date."
There it was—that barely contained hostility that Caleb wore like armor whenever Sylus was around. It should have hurt less by now, after months of the same cold treatment, but it still felt like a knife between the ribs every single time.
"It's not an interruption," Sylus said carefully, keeping his voice level. "We were just—"
"I'm sure you were." Caleb's jaw tightened. "MC, I'll call you later. We still need to discuss the reunion committee meeting."
He turned to leave, but not before Sylus caught the way his eyes lingered on MC's face, soft and longing and completely oblivious to the fact that she was looking back at him the exact same way.
The irony was almost funny. Almost.
"He really doesn't like you," MC said quietly once Caleb was out of earshot.
"No," Sylus agreed, watching Caleb's retreating form. "He really doesn't."
What she didn't know—what none of them knew—was that Caleb's hatred was the most intense emotion anyone had ever felt for him. And pathetic as it was, Sylus would take hatred over indifference any day
His phone buzzed with a text from Zayne: Dinner tonight? Caleb's coming
Sylus stared at the message, his stomach twisting. Zayne Li—brilliant, respected, and apparently the only person on earth who could make Caleb smile without reservation. The childhood friend who held a place in Caleb's life that Sylus could only dream of occupying
"Everything okay?" MC asked.
"Fine," he lied, pocketing his phone. "Just Zayne wanting to get together."
"Oh, that's nice. Caleb always seems happier when Zayne's around."
Of course he did. And of course MC noticed it too, because she noticed everything about Caleb, just like Caleb noticed everything about her, and here Sylus sat in the middle of it all, wanting the one person who would never want him back.
"Yeah," he said, raising their joined hands to press a kiss to her knuckles—the perfect boyfriend gesture for anyone watching. "He does."
The coffee in his cup had gone cold, but Sylus didn't move to leave. Not yet. Because in a few minutes, Caleb would walk past the window on his way back to his car, and Sylus would get exactly three seconds to watch him in profile, backlit by the afternoon sun.
It wasn't much. But it was something.
And for now, something would have to be enough.