I’m In Love With My Brother’s Best Friend?! – Episode 20
Several weeks passed after Kaitlyn’s confession, and Cole kept his promise to himself. At first he avoided her only in class, addressing her with formal neutrality and never allowing his gaze to linger. Soon the distance followed them home.
He left the apartment before breakfast and returned after she went to bed. When they happened to meet in the kitchen, he found a reason to study elsewhere. Their shared home became an elaborate map of avoidance.
Kaitlyn tried to believe he needed time. Each day without explanation made that hope harder to sustain. Cole had not merely stopped touching her; he behaved as though the desire between them never existed.
She attended parties with Sammy and wore dresses she knew would once have provoked him. Cole no longer told her to change. He did not ask when she would return or which men might be there.
The indifference hurt more than his controlling concern had. Kaitlyn wanted proof that he still noticed, even if jealousy was an imperfect form of honesty. Cole gave her nothing.
In reality, he noticed every detail. He heard the apartment door close behind her and imagined strangers watching her dance. He lay awake until she returned, then forced himself to remain in bed rather than check on her.
Distance did not weaken desire. It sharpened it while removing every ordinary kindness that once allowed them to be close. Cole understood he was hurting her but told himself temporary pain prevented disaster.
Kaitlyn reached a crueler conclusion. Being a virgin had disgusted him. Before the confession he could barely keep his hands away; afterward he could barely stand to share a room.
She replayed Amber’s insults about being a little girl. Cole’s behavior seemed to confirm them. No outfit or performance of confidence could compensate for experience she lacked.
The memory of their last kiss became a private torment. Kaitlyn had been close to the only thing she truly wanted—Cole choosing her openly. Now she feared he would never kiss her that way again.
One evening she returned home and found the apartment empty. The silence no longer felt safe as it had after Brent’s betrayal. It felt like evidence that Cole had successfully removed her from his life.
She tried to shower before meeting Sammy, but the faulty fixture produced a burst of freezing water and then nothing. Cole had once warned that it was temperamental. Tonight none of the tricks he showed her worked.
Kaitlyn sent him a message asking whether he was still on his run. No answer appeared. She stared at the screen, unsure whether he had missed the message or chosen not to respond.
Frustration brought tears dangerously close. Even the broken shower seemed like another problem she had to solve without him. She refused to let something so small complete her humiliation.
Cole’s bathroom worked perfectly. They were roommates, she reasoned, and borrowing it while he was gone required no emotional interpretation. She gathered a towel and clean clothes.
Standing outside his bedroom, however, she hesitated. She had not entered since he began avoiding her. The closed door had become a boundary more powerful than any lock.
Kaitlyn told herself she would shower and leave without touching anything. She would not search for signs that he missed her or clues about what occupied him for weeks. She needed hot water, nothing more.
She opened the door. Cedar and citrus surrounded her, drawing memories of the first day she arrived wearing his shirt. So much had changed since that humiliating reunion, yet they remained trapped by the same attraction.
Inside the bathroom, Kaitlyn turned the handle and warm water answered immediately. She muttered that Cole Hart had disappointed her again by possessing the only functional shower in the apartment. Humor did little to conceal how deeply she missed him.
She placed her clothes on the counter and stepped beneath the water, unaware that Cole’s run had ended early. As the front door opened, he heard the shower inside his bedroom—and realized the woman he had spent weeks avoiding was on the other side of his bathroom door.