Weight of The Untold

Chapter 51

Week 15: The muscles are straightening, the joints are developed and the baby is more responsive. The neck muscles are getting stronger and the head is not dropping forward anymore.

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I turned slightly to my left when I noticed Brie approaching, a glass of juice in her hand. She offered it to me, and I accepted without hesitation, my throat suddenly dry.

“Thank you. No one—I was just thinking out loud.”

She sat beside me, her presence calm, grounding. My chest tightened. I silently prayed she hadn’t overheard anything reckless or revealing. My thoughts were messy enough without witnesses.

“I know what you were thinking,” she said gently. “I think Caleb needs Ari too. He obviously can’t live without her. This past week, he barely ate anything.”

My heart skipped.

“You mean he’s been starving himself?”

She nodded, confirming what I’d feared but hoped wasn’t true. Before I could respond, Caleb returned with his drink, his movements stiff, distracted—like his body was here but his mind was somewhere else entirely.

“Call me if you need anything else,” Brie said softly before leaving.

I smiled after her, then turned back to Caleb. The smell of alcohol lingered faintly.

“Are you sure it’s a good idea to drink before seeing Ari?” I asked carefully.

“I’m not going to get drunk. Trust me, I’m fine.”

I nodded, even though something about his tone felt brittle. I pulled out my phone, pretending to scroll, pretending not to feel the thick tension pressing down on my chest as we waited.

An hour passed in silence that felt too loud.

Then the door opened.

Caleb and I looked at each other instantly. No words were needed. We both knew.

She was here.

Ari appeared at the entrance, pale, fragile, like the weight of the world had drained the color from her skin. Guilt stabbed straight through me—sharp and sudden. Before either of us could move, she rushed toward Caleb and dropped to her knees in front of him, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist.

“No, no, no, no. Please get up, Ari.”

She lifted her head slowly, tears clinging to her lashes, spilling down her cheeks.

“I’m sorry,” was all she said.

Something in my chest cracked.

“Ari, please stop apologising. It’s not your fault,” I said quickly, needing her to hear it, to believe it.

“I still let another man see me naked.”

Caleb and I exchanged a glance, the same thought flickering between us.

“Caleb, I swear I didn’t sleep with him. I only kissed him but stopped myself before we could do anything. I swear I—”

“Calm down,” he said softly, his voice steady but strained.

“Wait—you guys didn’t have sex?” I blurted out.

“No. I don’t know who that girl he’s having sex with is,” she cried.

My mind raced back to the video. Ari’s face had been clear in the beginning—kissing, intimate—but during the sex… her face never appeared. Just hair. The same shade. The same texture.