C49 After The Silence

Breakfast the next morning never really felt like breakfast. None of us went downstairs after what happened the night before. Instead, we ordered food straight to my room and sat around in awkward silence like strangers sharing the same space.

The table was full of food, but no one was really eating properly. Different thoughts. Different regrets. Different problems. Yet somehow, all of us were sitting in the same room pretending everything was normal. I kept glancing at Alicia without meaning to. Something about her felt… different today.

Quieter. More distracted. She wasn’t her usual confident self, and that alone was strange enough to notice. Chris, on the other hand, looked like he had been hit by a truck.

His face was pale, and he kept holding his head. “Here,” I said, pushing a glass of water toward him. “Take this and some medicine.”

He didn’t argue. He just took it and swallowed it slowly.

Then I asked, “Where did you go yesterday? You disappeared early.” Chris paused. For a moment, he looked genuinely surprised. “You all don’t know?” he asked. I frowned. “Know what?” A brief silence followed. Something flashed across his face, panic maybe but it disappeared just as quickly as it came. “No… nothing,” he said quickly. “I went to sleep early. I was just tired.”

His answer should have been simple. But the way he said it… didn’t feel simple. There was something off. The hesitation. The forced calmness. The way he avoided eye contact. Alicia noticed it too. So did I. But none of us pushed further. “Alright then,” I said slowly. “Let it be.” The room went quiet again. Chris then shifted the conversation. “What about you guys? What did you do after the party?”

I froze slightly. My mind immediately went back to the message. The mistake. The panic. Alicia’s no reply. I couldn’t bring myself to speak at first. Alicia, however, answered casually, “We spoke to a few partners, then went back to our rooms. I had a few drinks so I just slept.” Her tone was calm. Too calm.

I cleared my throat lightly, trying to hide my expression. Chris looked at me directly. “And you, Mike?” he asked. “Something wrong?” I quickly shook my head. “No. Nothing happened.” He stared at me for a second longer, like he didn’t believe me. But eventually, he let it go.

After breakfast, the awkwardness didn’t disappear, it just followed us quietly. One by one, we stood up and began preparing for departure. Tonight, we were flying back to Scotland. The thought should have felt normal. But instead, everything felt heavier than before.

After Alicia and Chris left my room, I quickly grabbed my phone. My heart was still uneasy about last night, so I typed a message to Alicia. “Sorry about the message last night… I was too drunk and sent it wrongly.” I hesitated for a second before pressing send. Then I stared at the word. Wrongly. Something about it didn’t feel right. Too late.

My phone immediately buzzed. Alicia had replied. “Wrongly? ” My heart dropped slightly. Before I could think too much, another message came in. “Don’t worry brother. We all drank a lot yesterday anyway. I know it was meant for Laura. Don’t stress too much about it.”

I exhaled slowly. On the surface, it sounded normal. But something about it didn’t sit right. Alicia put her phone down after sending the message, but her eyes lingered on the screen a little longer than necessary.

She leaned back slightly, staring at the ceiling. The memory of the message kept replaying in her mind. I’ve been thinking about you all day… And then, Mike’s abs. The confusion. The feeling she couldn’t explain. She frowned slightly. “What is wrong with me?” she whispered to herself.

Meanwhile, Chris sat alone for a moment in his room. His headache was gone, but his thoughts weren’t. Everything from last night felt like a blur he couldn’t fully place. Something had happened but not something he could easily explain. And that silence was the worst part.

Elsewhere, Sarah stood in her room staring at her reflection. She had washed, changed, and tried to reset her mind. But nothing felt reset. Every time she closed her eyes, the memory returned in fragments she didn’t fully understand and didn’t know how to explain even if she wanted to. Her grip tightened slightly on the sink.

"My First time went to someone i don't know?" Regrets surfaced “This cannot happen again,” she said quietly. But even as she said it, she knew some things could not be erased so easily. She did not know Chris that much and had only seen him 4 days ago. The consequences of telling her family this made it worse. She decided to keep it a secret.

Later that day, we decided to go out. All three of us needed air. No one said it directly, but we all knew staying inside would only make things worse. We walked through the streets of Paris toward a nearby mall, pretending for a moment that everything was normal again.

But underneath it all… Regret had already started to settle in. And none of us knew yet that this was only the beginning of the consequences waiting to unfold.

The moment we returned from the shopping mall, everyone received the same notification. Flight to Scotland, Departure this afternoon. Please prepare your luggage. The excitement of visiting Paris disappeared instantly. Everyone headed back to their rooms to pack.

Chris closed his room door behind him and leaned against it. Silence. His eyes wandered around the room. Everything looked exactly as it had that morning. His bed... The neatly folded blanket... The bathroom door... His expression slowly darkened. He still remembered waking up beside Sarah that morning.

He remembered rushing into the bathroom while his mind was in complete chaos. When he came out, she had already disappeared without leaving a single word. Not even a note. Not even a Weibo account.Nothing.