My Stepbrother, My Enemy {BL}-Chapter 160: Tell Me The Truth

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Adrien opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, then just shut it again, his face twisting into a mix of unease and conflict. He rubbed his hands on his jeans, avoiding my gaze, and the nervous energy coming off him made my stomach tighten.

"Because what?" I asked softly, watching him struggle with his words. "What... were you going to say?"

He shook his head almost right away, letting out a hollow laugh as if trying to brush it off. "I... it’s nothing. Just forget it, Noah. It really doesn’t matter."

But it did matter. I could feel it deep down, that instinctive pull telling me he was standing on the edge of the truth, desperately trying not to fall into it. I’d spent years swallowing things people wouldn’t explain, years accepting silence like it was all I deserved, and I was too tired for that anymore.

"No," I said, surprising myself with how firm my voice was as I sat up a bit straighter. "That’s not right. You don’t get to just stop halfway and pretend it means nothing."

Finally, he looked at me, clearly surprised that I was pushing back.

"You said you were sorry," I pressed, my heart racing but my determination growing stronger. "You said you wanted forgiveness. So tell me the truth. Why did you bully me, Adrien? Really. Not the watered-down version, not the cleaned-up one. I deserve to know."

His jaw tightened, and he looked away again, exhaling slowly through his nose like he was trying to calm himself. "Noah, just...just let it go."

"I can’t," I replied, my voice trembling now—not from fear, but from exhaustion. "I’m tired of people deciding what I can handle and what I can’t. I’ve spent years wondering what was so wrong with me that you and your friends treated me like I was invisible. If you want me to forgive you, then you need to be completely open with me."

The silence stretched between us, heavy and suffocating.

Adrien let out a long, defeated sigh, his shoulders slumping as if the fight had finally left him. "I can’t," he said quietly.

I stared at him, my heart aching. "What do you mean you can’t?"

He turned back to me, eyes dark and conflicted, frustration seeping into his expression. "I can’t tell you the truth," he snapped, not harshly but with desperation. "Don’t you see?!"

My breath caught in my throat because the way he said it made it sound like the truth was not just uncomfortable, but dangerous—like something that would change everything once it was out in the open.

He pushed himself off the edge of the bed as if the weight of this conversation was too much, muttering something about getting me food, saying I needed to eat and rest, already turning away like that would neatly wrap up everything we’d just uncovered. The door clicked softly behind him as he stepped into the hallway, and something inside me snapped.

No, not again.

I didn’t care that my legs felt weak or that my head throbbed faintly when I stood. I wasn’t letting him walk away from this, not after everything that had happened, not after he’d looked me in the eyes and said he was sorry. I deserved real answers, not half-truths wrapped in concern and avoidance, because clarity was the only thing that might ease my troubled mind.

"Adrien!" I shouted, my voice sharper than I meant it to be as I rushed after him, my bare feet hitting the cool marble floor. He kept walking, taking longer strides, like he thought distance would save him, and the unfairness of it all burned fiercely in my chest. "Shit!"

"Stop!" I said, louder now, anger seeping into every word. "Don’t you dare do this, get your ass back here, now."

He paused at the bottom of the stairs, his back still to me, shoulders tense—and that only made it worse. I hurried down the last few steps, ignoring my body’s protests, my heart pounding for reasons that had nothing to do with physical exhaustion.

"You don’t get to shut me out," I pressed, my voice shaking despite my efforts to steady it. "Not now. Not when you finally started being honest with me."

He turned slowly, and I could see the conflict all over his face, but I was beyond caring how hard this was for him. I was angry, not just at Adrien, not even mostly at his friends—but at the universe and that endless chain of things that kept happening to me without warning or explanation.

"I need to know," I said, fists clenched at my sides. "Do you have any idea what it’s like to go through all of this and still not understand why? To feel like you’re being punished for something you don’t even remember doing?!"

My voice cracked, and I hated that it did, but I kept going anyway.

"I was bullied, humiliated, almost destroyed last night, and before that, it was years of you and your friends treating me like I didn’t matter," I said, fresh tears stinging my eyes. "I need clarity, Adrien. I need something to make sense of this, because right now, it feels like bad things just happen to me for no reason, and I can’t live like that."

The hallway felt too big and too quiet, every word echoing back at me as I stood there, trembling, refusing to let him turn away again.

He stood there like someone bracing for impact, shoulders rigid and jaw clenched so tightly I could almost hear his teeth grinding. For a moment, I thought he might actually keep walking, choosing distance over truth again, and that thought twisted painfully in my chest.

Then he exhaled.

It wasn’t a normal sigh. It sounded like something tearing loose from deep inside him.

"God," he muttered, dragging a hand down his face, fingers pressing into his eyes like he could physically push the memory away. "You don’t understand what you’re asking me."

I stepped closer, despite the tension that radiated from him like heat. "Then help me understand," I said softly. "Because I can’t keep guessing anymore."