Chapter 11 — The Mirror
The door clicked behind her, muffling the air like she’d stepped into a vacuum. The bathroom lights were unforgiving—white, sterile, bright enough to show everything.
Celeste leaned over the sink, hands gripping its edge. Her breath came out slow, shallow. Her reflection stared back at her, almost stunned.
Her face was streaked.
Lines of semen marked her cheek, her nose, her jaw. A thick trail still clung to her lower lip. Some had already begun to dry — a strange mix of warmth and stickiness. The rest glistened under the LED glow.
She didn’t look broken.
She didn’t even look angry.
She just looked... bare. As if someone had peeled something off her skin.
Her fingers moved automatically, dampening a towel, gently pressing it against her cheek. She wiped slowly. Carefully. Not scrubbing — removing. A ritual. One swipe, then another. Under her eye. Near her mouth. Down her chin.
Each pass took away the evidence.
But not the feeling.
His warmth had left her skin. But not her memory.
She rinsed again. Twice. Let cold water spill over her palms, then pressed them flat to her cheeks like she was trying to wake herself up.
Then, without a word, she grabbed her cleanser. Washed. Brushed her teeth, the taste of mint washing out the salt. She scrubbed her tongue until her throat twitched.
Only when she finished did she pause.
She looked at herself again.
No makeup.
No eyeliner. No concealer. No cosplay illusion.
Just skin. Light, smooth, clear. Slightly red at the cheeks.
Her eyes — wider without the usual mascara — looked softer. Almost gentler. Her lips were bare, but they had shape. Warmth.
She blinked.
She looked… pretty.
Not the dramatic, curated kind of pretty.
Not cosplay-pretty.
Just… her.
She stepped out of the bathroom and into the cool, quiet room.
Zach had dressed again. He sat on the couch, scrolling his phone like nothing had happened. But when he looked up, his eyes locked on her — and stayed there.
And something flickered in his expression.
It wasn’t lust.
It wasn’t smugness.
It was... surprise.
He tilted his head slightly, almost like he didn’t recognize her for a second.
“You look different,” he said after a beat.
She didn’t reply.
But she felt the words settle into the space between them.
Not different because she looked worse.
Different because she looked real.
Raw. Unshielded. No filters, no lashes, no Luna.
Just Celeste.
Her phone buzzed in her hoodie pocket.
She pulled it out.
PayNow received: $1,000.00.
She didn’t smile.
Didn’t flinch.
Just locked the screen again.
“I’ll go now,” she said quietly.
Zach stood. “Need me to book a ride?”
“No. I’ll walk to the main road.”
He nodded once.
But as she moved to grab her bag, his voice followed — softer this time. Not transactional.
“Thanks for cleaning up. I... didn’t expect you to look like that.”
She glanced at him. “Like what?”
He paused. Shrugged. “Like yourself.”
She left the house five minutes later, the light outside brighter than she expected. She didn’t look back. She didn’t cry.
But her chest was tight with a strange new weight.
She didn’t regret what she’d done.
Not exactly.
But she knew something had shifted.
Not between them.
Inside her.
To be continued in Chapter 12