The days that followed were filled with a cold silence between Lena and Clara. Lena tried to reach out to her sister, but Clara shut her down every time. Jace, too, kept his distance, clearly affected by the fallout of their confession.
One evening, Lena was sitting in the living room when Jace quietly entered. He glanced at her, then at the floor, clearly uncomfortable.
"I'm sorry, Lena," he said softly, breaking the silence. "I never wanted it to get this far."
Lena shook her head. "It's not your fault. It's just... everything feels so broken right now. Clara won't even look at me."
Jace moved closer, sitting down beside her. "I hate that we've hurt her. But I don't think we can keep pretending we don't feel this way."
Lena felt a tear slip down her cheek. "I know. But how do we fix this? How do we go back to the way things were?"
Jace's hand found hers, squeezing gently. "I don't think we can go back. But maybe we can figure out how to move forward."
Lena looked at him, her heart heavy with uncertainty. "I don't know what the right choice is anymore. I don't want to lose my family, but I don't want to lose you either."
Jace pressed his forehead to hers. "We'll figure it out, together. No matter what happens, we'll face it."
Lena wasn't so sure. She wasn't sure about anything anymore. But as she looked into Jace's eyes, she realized that she couldn't walk away from him. Not now. Not when everything had already changed.
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