This time, I'm serious

If that's what you want.

By the next morning, everyone knew something had happened.

No one really knew the details. Neither of them was really in a state to talk about it.

All Kobi had been able to get out of him was "it's over'"

He could tell Cora and Kobi were worried. Cora had barely left his side since the kitchen yesterday. He was so grateful for having someone to hug. He needed the intimacy. He knew he wouldn't have been able to sleep alone. He was just lying in bed with her. Jas had tried to talk to him multiple times the night before. Kobi and Cora had stopped her, and they eventually got sick of it. So that morning, they'd gone to talk her out of coming to see him again.

Eventually, they came back in.

"Bruno, sit up. We've spoken to Jas."

Bruno narrowed his eyes. "I don't want to hear it"

Cora scolded him, slapping his leg. "Stop sooking. You completely misunderstood what she meant, mate. She told us what happened. This is just a huge misunderstanding."

Bruno sighed. "Maybe to her, mate. I understood perfectly. "

Kobi rolled his eyes. "You know, for someone who's supposed to be good at this , you sure aren't being a very good communicator. Do I need to fetch Juliet?"

Bruno exhaled a laugh.

Cora threw her hands in the air. "Progress! Kobi! You made him laugh!"

"We just want to hear your side, mate."

Bruno sat up. "Honestly, Kobes, I don't want to go into the details. She said something by accident last night that confirmed a lot of insecurities I've had for a long time. "

"But surely you'll let her explain?"

"No. I just don't want to hear it. I'm done with being humiliated. I've already decided I'm not staying. I'm going to talk to the girls later, and get them to send me home. I would've left already, but this way no one else has to go."

"No," she said quietly, from the doorway.

He looked up, and saw her, having caught the last part of their conversation.

"Please, Bruno, just let me explain" .

She looked awful.

He'd never seen her so pale. Or so tired. Or so upset. His heart hurt so much to see her like that. And then his stomach fought back with the anger and hurt he'd been feeling since the night before. But a part of him just wanted to make it better. He wished he could just be someone else for a moment. Someone who didn't feel so hurt and rejected. So that he could just wrap her up in not-his arms without the fear of being humiliated again.

Kobi shot Cora a look, and she reluctantly got up off the bed, trusting that Kobi knew what he was doing. Bruno shot them an annoyed look. He desperately didn't want to have this conversation.

Jas sat down on his bed.

"Please, I only need a few minutes, if you'll let me talk. Cora... Cora told me about the technique she used. She said you thought it worked really well. She told me how to do it. And I really just want to be able to get all of this out. Please just... Don't say anything until I ask you to."

Cora & Kobi shot him a look as they exited the room.

Bruno sighed. "Fine. Go."

Jas looked so hurt. But she nodded.

"Last night was a huge misunderstanding. I was so angry at you last night for not..."

"You were angry at me ?"

She shot him a pointed look. He put his hands up, "my bad, go".

"I was angry at you for how you reacted. You didn't even give me a chance to explain. You finished my sentence for me, then lost your shit before letting me get my head straight. If you'd let me explain first, like you usually do, I would have been able to finish what I was trying to say."

He went to speak but didn't.

"And I was mad . I was quite mad actually. That you think I'm like that. That you think that you being posh or not would matter to me. Or to my family. You don't even know them."

He stared at the blanket covering his knees.

"I said last night that Tom was basically a posh version of you. And that if he'd been here earlier then maybe I might've... and then I realised how that sounded, so I stopped to try and pick the right words. But you didn't let me finish. You just went off. You assumed the worst, and then when I tried to explain, you just hurled insults at me and my family.

And honestly, I'm actually really glad I didn't speak to you last night. Because I probably would have said something to you that I'd regret today. I was furious , Bruno. But I think, more importantly than anything, you need to hear what it was that I was actually going to say. Would you like to hear it?"

Bruno hesitated. But he nodded.

She opened her hand, and in it, was a long piece of toilet paper, with notes written on it in the same lip liner pen that Cora had lent him the night before.

He couldn't help but laugh a little at the gesture.

Jas cleared her throat, trying not to grin at him.

"If Tom had been here earlier, maybe I might've... actually considered him. But he wasn't.

And I feel guilty because as it stands, I know I'm not being honest with him.

Because there was never any part of me that was ever going to be able to give him a real chance.

Because my heart already belongs to someone else. "

She'd underlined the last bit, and drawn a little heart next to it.

She folded up the paper and handed it to him.

"That's all I wanted to say."

Bruno just stared, watching her. This whole time . This whole time . He... just... and... she...

"Jas..."

She looked at him, warmly. Forgivingly. How?

"I..."

She just rested her hand encouragingly on his leg.

But he'd just...

"I don't..."

She squeezed his leg gently.

"Words, baby."

"I just...I... I can't believe I got it so fucking wrong. How did I get it so fucking wrong?"

"I know."

"And you still want to..."

"Yep."

"But Tom..."

"I talked to him already"

"And you're..."

"Completely over."

Bruno just looked at his hands. They were shaking. His whole body was shaking. He just... he couldn't... it was as if the rug had been pulled out from under him, except the rug was a bullet train, and it was going 300km/h.

"So we..."

"We can be together. If that's what you want."