You heard your mom call out, cheerful and excited.

“Come meet your new family, sweetheart!”

You stepped into the room, your breath caught halfway.

There he was. Alan.

Standing beside his father, calm and unreadable — but his eyes, when they landed on you, burned. For a split second, time stopped. No one else noticed the silence stretch between you. But you felt it. So did he.

The boy you once loved. The boy you ran from.

He extended a hand — cold, formal, practiced.

“Nice to meet you,” he said smoothly.

You took it

“You too.”

His fingers tightened around yours just a second too long — and in that moment, you both knew:

This secret was far from buried. And this house? A battlefield dressed like a home.