Episode 4: Secrets Revealed
Coco stood outside Brian's apartment longer than she meant to.
The hallway was quiet, the kind of quiet that made every thought echo louder. Her heart thudded unevenly in her chest, each beat asking the same question she'd been avoiding since she'd left the library.
What are you doing?
She raised her hand to knock—hesitated—lowered it again.
This wasn't like her. Coco planned. Coco prepared. Coco didn't show up unannounced at someone's door with emotions she couldn't neatly arrange into sentences.
And yet, here she was.
Before she could lose her nerve entirely, the door opened.
Brian stood there, keys still in his hand, surprise flickering across his face before softening into something gentler.
"Coco?" he said. "Is everything okay?"
She swallowed. "I was afraid if I didn't come now, I wouldn't."
He didn't ask her to finish the sentence.
Instead, he stepped aside. "Come in."
---
1. Inside His World
Brian's apartment felt like him.
Not flashy. Not cold. Thoughtful. Lived-in.
Bookshelves lined one wall, crowded with novels, notebooks, and folded pieces of paper tucked between pages like bookmarks with secrets. A guitar leaned against the couch, strings slightly worn. The faint smell of coffee lingered in the air.
Coco noticed everything.
"You read," she said quietly, gesturing toward the shelves.
Brian smiled faintly. "That obvious?"
"I didn't expect… this."
"What did you expect?" he asked, genuinely curious.
She hesitated. "Someone who hides behind humor to be… emptier."
He winced, but not in offense. In recognition.
"Fair," he said. "I used to be."
They sat on opposite ends of the couch, distance carefully maintained. The silence stretched, not uncomfortable but charged.
Brian broke it first.
"You said you were afraid you wouldn't find the right words."
Coco nodded. "I usually do."
"And now?"
"Now I'm not sure any of them are safe."
He leaned forward slightly. "Say them anyway."
---
2. Coco Speaks
Coco stared at her hands.
"I don't hate you," she said finally. "I tried. It would've been easier."
Brian's breath caught, almost imperceptibly.
"I don't know when it stopped being about the project," she continued. "Or when you stopped being… just someone I argued with."
"And became?" he asked softly.
She looked up. "Someone I think about when I shouldn't."
The honesty felt like stepping off a ledge.
Brian nodded slowly. "I was hoping that's what you'd say."
"You were?" she asked, surprised.
"Yes," he said. "But I didn't want to put words in your mouth. Words matter to you too much for that."
Her chest tightened.
---
3. Brian's Secret
Brian stood, restless, walking toward the window.
"There's something you should know," he said. "Something I didn't plan on telling you tonight."
Coco tensed. "What is it?"
He exhaled. "A year ago, I was engaged."
The word landed heavily between them.
"Engaged?" she echoed.
"Yes." He rubbed the back of his neck. "We'd been together for three years. Everyone thought it was inevitable."
"What happened?"
"She said I didn't fight for things," he said quietly. "That I treated everything like it could be laughed off. That when things got hard, I hid."
Coco stood, closing the distance between them without realizing it.
"Did you?" she asked gently.
Brian met her gaze. "I didn't know how not to."
Her anger softened into something closer to understanding.
"And now?" she asked.
"Now I'm careful," he said. "With my heart. With other people's."
That scared her more than any confidence ever could.
---
4. The Kiss
Neither of them moved.
The space between them felt fragile, like glass under pressure.
Coco was the one who crossed it.
Her hand brushed his arm first—tentative. Testing.
Brian didn't pull away.
She rose onto her toes and kissed him.
It wasn't rushed. It wasn't desperate. It was careful, almost reverent, like both of them understood this moment mattered.
Brian's hand came to her waist, grounding her. When the kiss deepened, it was slow, exploratory, filled with restraint.
When they pulled apart, Coco rested her forehead against his chest.
"This doesn't solve anything," she whispered.
"No," Brian agreed. "But it tells the truth."
She closed her eyes.
---
5. Coco's Truth
They didn't go further.
Instead, they talked.
And somewhere between shared laughter and quiet pauses, Coco said the thing she'd been dreading.
"I'm leaving," she said suddenly.
Brian stilled. "Leaving where?"
"Out of state," she said. "I got accepted into a writing program."
"When?"
"In three months," she lied—then corrected herself. "Or maybe sooner. They haven't finalized everything."
His jaw tightened, but his voice stayed calm. "Were you going to tell me?"
"I didn't know how," she admitted. "I didn't know if there was an us to protect."
"There is," he said softly. "Or there could be."
"That's what scares me."
---
6. The Outside World Interferes
The next day, reality intruded.
Coco heard it in passing—words not meant for her.
"Brian always does this," a girl whispered nearby. "Gets close, then backs off."
"He's scared of commitment," another voice added. "Engagement really messed him up."
Coco's stomach twisted.
Later, she confronted him.
"Is it true?" she demanded. "That you pull away when things matter?"
Brian looked blindsided. "Who told you that?"
"So it is."
He sighed. "It's not that simple."
"It never is," she snapped. "But you let me think I was different."
"You are different," he said urgently. "That's why I'm terrified of messing this up."
She shook her head. "You don't get to make me feel safe and then ask me to accept uncertainty."
Silence fell hard between them.
---
7. Fallout
They parted without resolution.
That night, Coco cried—not loudly, not dramatically. Quiet tears that soaked into her pillow.
Brian sat alone in his apartment, replaying every word, realizing that waiting too long to be honest could be its own kind of betrayal.
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8. The Cliffhanger (Extended)
Coco opened her email before bed.
Subject: Program Update – Start Date Changed
Her heart dropped.
Six weeks.
Her phone buzzed.
Brian:
I don't know how to fix this, but I want to try.
She stared at the screen.
Six weeks.
Six weeks to decide if love was something she could carry with her—or something she'd have to leave behind.