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On Tuesday, I was back at the theater and planned to confront Kilian, but he didn’t show up.

“He took an impromptu day off,” Theo answered when I asked, after hearing Tim’s voice over the walkie-talkie.

My concern for him intensified as I wondered if he was okay.

To my surprise, Kilian reappeared on Wednesday as if he materialized out of thin air. He stood in front of the stage with Theo and Manuela, conversing with Sebastian, who was holding up two different fabrics.

Just seeing Kilian made my pulse race, and a wave of anger welled up inside me. Anger at Kilian, but also at myself.

How could I have been so stupid to trust him?

The guy lives completely in his own world.

It’s my fault for not seeing that earlier.

Still, I struggled to let it go. I needed to confront him.

I held back until Theo and Manuela settled in the front row, and as soon as Kilian made his way to the direction room, I intercepted him in the side corridor. Though it was nearly impossible, I did my best to keep my emotions in check. Just seeing Kilian in front of me stirred something inside me that I didn’t want to feel.

“Hey!” he greeted me enthusiastically, as if we’d just seen each other yesterday. “How are you?”

I took a deep breath to gather myself. “Where were you?”

“Out and about,” he replied in a casual tone as he touched my arm. “And you? How’s the hangover? Did you get over it?”

“That was three days ago,” I said, narrowing my eyes at him in suspicion, but before I could stop myself, my anger unleashed itself. “God! Kil! I tried to reach you!”

Kilian furrowed his brow, but his confusion and remorseful look seemed fake. That dark gleam in his eyes emerged again, the one that swallowed everything. Greedy and insatiable.

“I had Monday and Tuesday off.”

“That doesn’t explain where you were. Damn it! I woke up in your bed and was alone in your apartment. That’s not cool!”

“You were … oh …”

“What ‘oh’? Where were you?”

“I … damn …”

Kilian turned away from me and rubbed his forehead. He looked sleep-deprived but strangely alert, so I didn’t buy the awkwardness for a second.

“That’s why the apartment key was in the mailbox.”

He wasn’t that drunk when we went to his place on Sunday morning, was he? Unfortunately, I didn’t remember much after that and had just collapsed into bed, half-dead.

“You undressed me,” I said. “And then? Where did you go?”

“I went out again.” He seemed to squirm under my questioning gaze. “Sorry … I … Can we just drop it? This happened a few days ago. I’ll make it up to you. How about a beer? Before the show tonight?”

My jaw dropped, and I stared at him in disbelief. “Are you serious?”

“Look, I haven’t gotten much sleep these last few days, so …”

I tilted my head and studied him. “You’re not going to tell me where you were, are you?”

“I wasn’t anywhere,” he answered with a shrug, forcing a smile.

“With a woman? Or a guy?”