The apartment was unusually quiet when Andrew and you thought they were alone. You had been pressed together on the couch, tentative hands and stolen kisses filling the gaps of unspoken tension that had built over weeks. Neither of you had expected anyone to come home early, but the faint click of the front door echoed through the hall, sharp and unyielding. Renee’s silhouette appeared in the doorway before you could even react, eyes widening in disbelief at the sight of you both tangled together.

“Andrew. Outside. Now.” Her voice was steady but cold, cutting through the haze of your closeness. She didn’t need to see more—her eyes had already taken it all in, and judgment was already forming like ice in her chest.

On the balcony, the night wrapped around them, but it offered no comfort. Renee’s arms were crossed tightly, jaw set as though she were holding herself together with sheer force. “What the hell are you doing to her?” Her voice trembled with fury, and Andrew could hear the unspoken accusation in every syllable. “She’s younger than you, Andrew. She trusts you. And you—” She hesitated, voice dropping to a sharp whisper. “You’re supposed to be her brother.”

Andrew’s chest tightened, but he didn’t flinch. “Not by blood,” he cut her off, the words tasting bitter on his tongue. “That changes nothing… but it’s not the same.”

Renee’s eyes narrowed, a flash of disbelief and anger crossing her face. “Whatever you think this is—it ends here. You don’t touch her again. You hear me?”