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"Are you okay? Why do you seem so strange?"

Emma’s voice was soft but direct. She walked the rest of the way to the bed and sat down on the edge beside Victoria, close enough that the mattress dipped under her weight. Without waiting for permission, she reached out and pressed the back of her hand gently against Victoria’s forehead, checking for fever the same way she had done since she was a little girl.

"You’re not hot," she murmured, frowning. "No fever. So why do you look like this?"

Victoria’s body went rigid the moment Emma touched her. She forced herself to stay still, forced her breathing to stay even, and answered in a voice that sounded thin even to her own ears.

"I... I’m fine. Just tired. I want to sleep early tonight."

The words came out slightly unsteady. She kept her eyes fixed on a point somewhere past Emma’s shoulder, unable to meet her daughter’s gaze. Her heart was pounding so hard she was half-convinced Emma would hear it. Under the heavy quilt, Jason remained perfectly motionless, every muscle locked, listening to the entire exchange with sharp, cold clarity.

Emma pulled her hand back but didn’t move away. She studied Victoria’s face with open suspicion.

"Are you hiding something from me?" she asked quietly. "You’re not acting like yourself at all tonight."

Her eyes moved carefully over Victoria’s features~too-pale skin, the stiff set of her mouth, the way her fingers kept tightening and loosening on the edge of the quilt. Something was off. Emma could feel it even if she couldn’t name it yet.

A sudden, uninvited memory of her own evening with Jason flickered through her mind~the kiss, the way he had looked at her, the warmth of his hand~and a soft flush rose in her cheeks before she could stop it. She pushed the thought aside and focused again on her mother.

Victoria’s stomach dropped. She waved both hands in a quick, nervous denial.

"No, no, of course not. What would I even be hiding? You’re overthinking things, sweetheart. Really."

The smile she forced onto her face felt brittle and wrong, worse than if she had simply looked upset. Inside she was pleading.

*Please stop asking. Please just go back to bed. I can’t keep this up much longer.*

Emma still didn’t look convinced, but the cool air from the vent made her shiver. She was only wearing the thin nightgown and Jason’s borrowed shirt. She wrapped her arms around herself.

"The air conditioning is freezing in here. Aren’t you cold? You’re going to get sick."

Victoria seized the new topic like a lifeline.

"I’m not cold. I’m actually hot. Really hot." She grabbed the remote with slightly clumsy fingers and raised the temperature a couple of degrees. Her mind was racing in useless circles. If Emma noticed anything~the rumpled quilt, the too-careful posture, the lingering scent in the air~everything would collapse.

Emma watched the flustered movements with growing puzzlement.

"Okay... just take care of yourself."

"I will. I promise."

Victoria rushed to change the subject before another silence could form. "Why are you even awake this late? Did you need something?"

She tried to make the question sound casual. It came out tight and almost breathless.

Emma’s expression shifted. The suspicion softened into something shyer. She looked down at her own hands, fingers twisting together in her lap. A soft pink spread across her cheeks.

"It’s just... I don’t really know how to say it..."

Victoria’s pulse spiked again. "What is it?"

Emma hesitated, clearly gathering courage. Victoria, sensing danger from a different direction, tried one last deflection.

"Maybe it’s better if you sleep on it and we talk tomorrow?"

*Please leave. Please just leave.*

Her thoughts had narrowed to that single desperate hope. The strain of keeping her face neutral while Jason hid under the same blanket was eating through her self-control. Heat that had nothing to do with the room temperature kept flickering under her skin, tangled up with guilt and fear.

But Emma shook her head.

"No. Now that I’m here, I want to say it tonight."

Victoria’s shoulders sagged a fraction in defeat. She managed a thin smile.

"...Okay. Tell me."

The temporary relief of realizing Emma wasn’t about to accuse her of anything was immediately replaced by a strange hollow feeling in her chest, as if something important had been quietly removed.

Emma bit her lower lip, then lifted her eyes. The shyness was still there, but underneath it burned a clear, steady determination.

"It’s about tonight. About going to the movies with Jason."

Victoria’s heart rate jumped so hard she felt it in her fingertips. Her hands curled into fists beneath the quilt.

"What about him?"

Emma’s voice turned soft and almost dreamy. "I realized something. Whenever I’m with him~whether it was when we were kids or tonight~I just feel... happy. Really happy. Even when we’re not doing anything special."

Her face was bright red now, but she didn’t look away. Her eyes shone with the kind of open affection that was almost painful to witness.

Victoria felt the words land like small, precise blows. She kept her voice carefully even.

"You’ve known each other your whole lives. You’re basically like siblings. It’s normal to feel comfortable with him."

The explanation sounded weak even to her. Inside, a messy collision of emotions~protectiveness, guilt, jealousy, confusion~churned without direction.

*She’s falling for him.*

*Of course she is.*

*What am I even doing?*

Emma immediately shook her head, more animated now.

"No. It’s not like that. He’s different. He’s kinder and funnier and more handsome than anyone else. Just being next to him makes me feel safe and excited at the same time. That’s not how you feel about a brother."

Victoria’s throat tightened. She hadn’t been prepared for this level of honesty, not tonight, not while Jason could hear every single word. She scrambled for a safe response.

"Emma... don’t rush into feelings like this. You need to be careful. Take your time."

Part of her genuinely worried that Jason might not return the same intensity of feeling~at least not yet. Another, quieter part of her felt like a hypocrite of the worst kind. If Emma ever found out what had almost happened in this room tonight, the damage would be catastrophic.

Emma’s expression only grew more resolved. A small, confident smile touched her mouth.

"I like him. I want to be with him. Even if he doesn’t feel the same way yet, I’m going to try. I’m not going to sit around and wait. I think he at least likes me a little. Tonight felt different. The way he looked at me... the way he held my hand..."

She trailed off, clearly replaying the evening in her mind, the memory making her eyes go soft again.

"I’m going to keep asking him to hang out. Meals, movies, walks~whatever. We’ll get closer. I’m not letting anyone else take him away."

Victoria stared at her daughter’s determined face and felt her own resolve waver. She knew that look. Once Emma set her mind on something, she was almost impossible to turn aside. The gentle, stubborn girl sitting on the bed had already decided.

Victoria exhaled slowly, the sound heavy.

"I know you like him," she said at last. "But feelings this big need time. You still have to learn each other as adults, not just as the kids you used to be."

It was the only answer she could give. Appease her for now. Buy time. Figure out the rest later~when she wasn’t sitting on top of the very man her daughter had just declared she intended to win.

She still had no idea how to handle her own tangled feelings for Jason. The weight of that uncertainty sat in her chest like a stone.

Under the quilt, Jason had not moved a single muscle. He had heard every word~Emma’s confession, Victoria’s strained replies, the complicated silence between them. His mind was already turning, cold and clear, sorting through consequences and possibilities while his body remained perfectly still in the dark.

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