I’m In Love With My Brother’s Best Friend?! – Episode 14
Amber’s warning lingered between them. She looked Kaitlyn over with deliberate contempt and declared that Cole would never be interested in a little girl. The insult found the fear Kaitlyn had tried hardest to bury.
Cole had used nearly the same argument after their first adult kiss. He had called her too young and sent her to bed as though adolescence still defined her. Hearing it from a stranger transformed private pain into humiliation.
Amber boasted that she knew how to keep Cole satisfied in ways Kaitlyn could not imagine. Her intimacy with him was offered like evidence of ownership. She warned Kaitlyn not to take him away.
Kaitlyn denied trying to take anyone. Frustration forced her to say that she and Cole were nothing, even though the words hurt. They were roommates, childhood friends, and two people who kept kissing, but none of it had become a relationship she could defend.
Amber seized on the admission. Kaitlyn was nothing, she said—tiny, ugly, and insignificant. As a graduate student with history on campus, Amber considered herself Cole’s equal. Kaitlyn was merely an inexperienced freshman playing at adulthood.
She claimed everyone knew Amber and Cole belonged together. The confidence of the statement made Kaitlyn wonder what Cole had withheld. If this woman truly shared his past, his rumors, and his world, Kaitlyn might be competing in a contest she did not understand.
Still, she refused to accept cruelty quietly. Kaitlyn asked Amber to wait until she learned who she was. Cole had known her almost his entire life, a history no campus romance could erase.
Amber laughed and dismissed childhood familiarity as irrelevant. She said Cole wanted a woman, not the little sister of an old friend. The repetition sharpened Kaitlyn’s anger until fear no longer mattered.
Kaitlyn noticed the strain beneath Amber’s polished expression. She told her not to scowl because it deepened the lines around her eyes. It was a petty answer, but after a day of public attacks, restraint had become difficult.
Amber’s composure snapped. She raised her hand and struck Kaitlyn. The blow turned her face and sent shock through the courtyard before pain arrived.
A student nearby lifted a phone. Instead of intervening, she captured the aftermath—the angle making it appear Kaitlyn had begun the confrontation. Amber saw the camera and immediately understood how to weaponize it.
Kaitlyn touched her burning cheek. She warned Amber never to hit her again. Amber stepped closer, daring her to retaliate while the phone continued recording.
When Kaitlyn defended herself, Amber stumbled theatrically. The student took another photograph, freezing a version of events in which Amber appeared to be the victim. Digital proof required no truth when people were eager to believe scandal.
Amber obtained the image and sent it to Cole with a carefully edited message. She described Kaitlyn as jealous, unstable, and obsessed. Then she displayed the screen to Kaitlyn and promised Cole would finally see what kind of girl she was.
Kaitlyn’s stomach dropped. Cole already believed she was impulsive and too young; the photograph seemed designed to confirm every doubt. She hated that his judgment mattered enough to frighten her.
Amber predicted he would lose interest once he saw the image. She called Kaitlyn a child again and said men like Cole did not choose girls who created scenes. The hypocrisy would have been almost funny if Kaitlyn’s cheek had not still been throbbing.
Kaitlyn demanded the phone, but Amber held it out of reach. Their struggle drew more attention, and every new witness arrived too late to know who had started the confrontation. Amber thrived inside that uncertainty.
Somewhere nearby, a man’s voice shouted for them to stop. The authority in it made the crowd split. Kaitlyn recognized Cole before she saw him.
Amber released the phone and immediately arranged her expression into distress. Kaitlyn realized the entire performance had been staged for this moment. If Cole accepted the evidence before hearing the truth, Amber would win.
Cole strode into the courtyard and demanded to know what was happening. His gaze moved from Amber’s calculated tears to the red mark on Kaitlyn’s face. Something dangerous entered his expression, and Amber’s confidence faltered.