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“Aiden, listen… what I did was horrible and I understand if you never want to forgive me, but I want you to know that there was a moment where everything became real. Regardless of whether you want to keep talking to me or not, I want you to know that I’m sorry, I don’t want to see you hurt.” James apologized, voice full of remorse as he and Aiden stood at the cliff top of Camp Tipiskaw.
Wind was soaring through the air as James delivered a heartfelt apology. It almost felt poetic in a sense. It felt like one of those romance movies Aiden liked to watch while James scoffed at them, believing they were unrealistic as hell with how cheesy they tended to be. Now… James was hoping more than ever that a romance movie cliche would convince Aiden to come back to him.
“How do I know you’re not just saying that to win back your followers?” Aiden asked, with very visible tears in his eyes. It hurt to see Aiden this way but James knew what to say to reassure him.
“Because… when I lost everything, I understood something very important.” James said, the words slipping out of his mouth easily.
“What’s that?” Aiden asked curiously.
“You are… everything I ever wanted.” James said, choking up a little as he spoke.
Aiden’s eyes widened as he heard those words. He wanted so badly to just jump into James’ arms, kiss him, and forgive him right now. Every word James said struck a chord with Aiden and it all felt so believable. It almost felt like a romance movie.
But then Aiden thought back to everything. The first lie James ever told him when he said they’d work with Karol, the time where James forcibly kissed Aiden for longer than necessary for his sick amusement, when James worked with Yul to manipulate him again just so Maggy could go home, and now the reveal that their whole relationship had been used to give James more followers and easy clickbait.
It was so tempting to just brush all of the bad aside and pursue a relationship with James but Aiden knew he couldn’t… the wounds were still fresh.
“I’m sorry James…” Aiden began tearing up again, but this time for a different reason. These weren’t just tears of hurt, but also guilt.
“Why?” James asked, confused and worried that Aiden was still crying.
“I want to believe you, part of me does, and I want to be in a relationship with you more than anything… but you’ve burned me too much. I can’t pursue something with you when all you’ve done is lie to me since we first interacted.” Aiden spoke tearfully.
Aiden could hear Rosa and Lake’s silent gasps of shock from below the mountain thanks to his earpiece but he didn’t care. He didn’t like this ending just as much as they did but the idea of being in a relationship with James with all the emotional baggage he still carried terrified Aiden and he was afraid that a worse ending would become of it.
To his surprise, James didn’t continue pleading for forgiveness like Aiden expected but instead just wiped a tear from his eye before walking towards the cliff in his gliding suit.
“I understand, Aiden. I’m just glad you were willing to listen to me… if only for one last time.” James smiled sadly.
“Thanks James.” Aiden also smiled but it was filled with just as much pain and heartbreak as James’ was, “I believe you have a million dollars to win now.”
“Huh?” James raised an eyebrow in confusion.
“James, I’m not fucking stupid! Riya was right, there’s no way I can win this game and only one of us can stay in the game at this point. I can't beat her but you can.” Aiden continued smiling but his tone reeked of misery.
“What? But you fought so hard to make it this far.” James said in shock.
“I got here because of Lake. Don’t make this harder than it already is James. Just GO!!!” Aiden shouted as tears began streaming down his cheeks.
James wanted so badly to comfort Aiden in this moment of unbridled despair but he solemnly looked away as he realized that nothing he could say would ever fix what he broke.
Aiden’s heart is shattered beyond repair and James could never hope to fix it.
“If that’s what you want… that’s what I’ll do. Goodbye Aiden, I wish you the best.” James said, tears beginning to form before he wiped them with his arm and leapt off the cliff and began gliding away.
As soon as James was out of sight, Aiden fell to his knees and began weeping, feeling nothing but despair.
If there was one good thing to come out of this tragedy, it was that in the end, despite his heartbreak, James was able to pull it together enough to win the one million dollars and defeat Riya once and for all. Kristal and the rest of the cast minus Riya, Karol, and Yul celebrated the TikToker’s victory and James even felt a tinge of happiness when Rosa hugged him after he offered to give some money to her to invest in Sofia’s future.
But as James was celebrating his victory with the cast, his eyes never left Aiden. Sure, Aiden seemed happy and hell, James would like to believe that Aiden was happy that he won against Riya but deep down, James knew he was still hurting and it was all his fault.
Maybe in another universe, he and James could’ve actually worked things out. Maybe they’d be happy…
But James knew better than to indulge in such unrealistic thoughts. Life was not a romance movie after all.