If I Could Dance With You Again

IICDWYA: 74

Chapter 74

Aaliyah Brielle's POV

Soonyoung's eyes searched mine, unsettled by the way I spoke of Bren and Bryan's resemblance to him. His lips parted, but no words came.

I drew in a shaky breath. My chest felt tight, but I knew I couldn't stop now.

"Soonyoung..." My voice faltered, but I forced it steady. "It was me. That night. At Club Red."

His brow furrowed, confusion flickering across his face.

"In the Red Room," I continued, each word heavier than the last. "It was me who took advantage of your state of mind—drunk, broken, lost. You didn't know. You couldn't have known. But I did."

The silence that followed was unbearable.

Soonyoung froze, his expression hollowing out as if the ground beneath him had vanished. His hands trembled slightly, but he didn't speak. He couldn't.

I pressed on, though my throat burned. "I never meant to hurt you. I thought I could carry it alone. I thought if I buried it, you'd never have to know. But the truth... the truth was always going to find us."

His gaze locked on me, wide and unblinking, as if he were staring at a stranger.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, my voice breaking. "I'm so sorry."

Still, he said nothing. His silence was louder than any scream.

I stood, my legs weak but determined. "I'll leave you to process this. You deserve that space. You deserve the truth, even if it shatters us."

Soonyoung's lips parted again, but no sound came. His eyes glistened, his body rigid, his breath shallow.

I turned toward the door, each step heavier than the last. My heart ached, but I knew I couldn't stay—not when the reality was too much for him to handle.

Outside, the air felt colder than it should have. I leaned against the wall, pressing a hand to my chest, trying to steady the storm inside me.

I hadn't told him everything. Not yet.

Because how could I? How could I explain that I did it not out of cruelty, but out of desperation—because I was sick, because I had cancer, because survival had twisted my choices into something unrecognizable?

That truth would have to wait.

For now, I had given him enough to break.
And I had to let him decide if he could ever piece us back together.

Soonyoung's POV

The door closed behind her, but the echo of her words stayed.
Club Red. The Red Room. That night.

My chest tightened, as if the air itself had turned against me. I sat frozen on the couch, staring at the untouched glass of juice on the table. My hands wouldn't move. My throat wouldn't work.

It was her.
All this time—it was her.

Memories I had buried clawed their way back. The haze of alcohol, the ache of heartbreak, the way I had stumbled through that night like a man already half-dead. I had told myself it was a blur, a mistake, something I could forget. But now the blur had a face. Her face.

Aaliyah.

My mind screamed for words, but none came. I wanted to ask why. I wanted to demand how she could do that to me. But the questions tangled in my chest, strangled by disbelief.