Her father's tone was different that evening — clipped, distant, unreadable. There were no questions at first. Just a phone placed on the table between them, screen facing up.
Her heart sank before she even looked.
The pictures were not inappropriate. They were simple. Harmless. Moments of her and him standing close, smiling, existing together. But in the wrong hands, even innocence can look like rebellion.
"Care to explain?" her father asked.
The room felt smaller. The air heavier. Words tangled in her throat. She tried to understand how something so private had traveled so far.
Later, she learned the truth.
It wasn't an accident.
Her former friend's boyfriend had sent them. Deliberately. Quietly. As revenge for a conflict she didn't even know had grown that serious.
The betrayal didn't feel loud.
It felt surgical.
Trust cracked in two places at once — in friendship, and at home. Conversations turned sharp. Restrictions followed. The warmth she had slowly rebuilt in her life trembled again.
For a moment, she wondered if loving openly was always going to cost her something.
She had trusted the world.
The world had answered.