Page 112 of Divine Oaths

I’d nearly shut the door when a hand stopped me.

Kasem.

He slipped through the door, closing it behind us. My nerves were on fire seeing him again, especially with him observing my space.

I crossed my arms.

“How did you get here?”

“I grew up on this campus. I know all the secret passageways.” He looked around. “Where’s your roommate?”

“Probably with her boyfriend in Rose House,” I mumbled. “We barely interact.”

“Maybe she quit in the middle of the semester,” he said. “Most do from Poppy House.”

I could read the slight judgment on his face as he examined my room.

“I know it’s messy. Things have been a little hectic, if you haven’t noticed.”

“Yeah, I’m sure.”

There was a barrier between us, and neither of us seemed to know how to approach the other. As he took off his shoes, I noticed he was carrying a yellow bag that I hadn’t spotted when I’d let him in.

“I brought a peace offering,” he said.

“I didn’t know we were at war.”

“Not with you. Never. Myself, perhaps.”

Reluctant, I took the bag from him.

Inside was my mother’s two-piece set. But the fabric wasn’t torn or damaged like it had been after rush. Instead, the seams had been restitched, and the set was almost indistinguishable from when my mother had first left it to me.

“How?” I whispered.

“With Vivian’s help. She figured she owed you for the glove debacle.”

“And the stitching? It’s in nearly perfect condition.”

“Honey has a minor in fashion and I took a soft sculpture class once.” He held up his hand. His fingertips were riddled with needle marks. “Between her and Vivian’s affinity for time, their incantations did a lot of patching up, for me and the set.”

Heat burned at the back of my throat, and my eyes grew misty. Kasem brushed my tears away with his thumb.

“Thank you,” I whispered. “All of you.” I couldn’t explain how much this meant to me. But he knew. He must have. “Is this your way of apologizing for ignoring me?”

Kasem placed the set on my desk, not meeting my gaze as we both sat on my bed.

“I know you have questions,” he began. “I don’t mean to be distant. I just get like that sometimes.”

“Well, it’s awful. And it hurts.”

“I know. I’m sorry. I wasn’t ignoring you. I mean, I was avoiding you, yes. But I think of you always. I just…” He looked away. “Seeing you with him, hearing you talk about this whole separate life that the two of you built together… it’s torture.”

It took a moment for me to understand his meaning. And then it hit me.

He was talking about Jojo.

“Do you know I switched to finance just because I knew he had no interest in it? It’s useful, sure. But it’s not what I love. But love isn’t enough sometimes. My brother always said that, and I think I’m finally coming to understand. It’s easy to be careless and irresponsible when you don’t have anything or anyone you cherish. But now that I do, it’s eating me alive knowing that love won’t be enough to make up for what I’ve done.”