Eva's Breaking Point
Meanwhile...
Damian sat in his office, his face unreadable as he stared across the room.
Eva stood before him, thin and pale, her shoulders slumped under invisible weight. Her hair had lost its usual bounce, her eyes sunken, dim, fixed to the floor, avoiding his gaze at all costs.
Damian's brows rose slightly in surprise. He had not expected to see her again, especially not like this, she looked too pale, could she be sick again? He wondered. As he took in her weak appearance.
Her presence hit him like a ghost from a fever dream, real and distant all at once.
She lowered her head again just like she always do when she wants to ask for absurd things, or perhaps, when she wants to exercise her incompetence, and he wondered what she could possibly want.
Eva hesitated, then slowly raised the envelope in her hand.
"Sir… I came to tender my resignation letter," she said quietly.
And that was when Damien discovered she was holding a small letter. He didn't notice earlier, his eyes had been glued on her from the moment she walked into his office acting wierd timid and off, especially after disappearing for four whole days.
And for the first time in a long while, something flickered in Damian's expression, shock, confusion, pain, maybe even regret, as he looked at the woman who had haunted his thoughts for days.
"Why?" Damian asked softly, his voice calm but probing as his intense gaze never left her.
"I'm relocating," Eva replied quietly, still maintaining her lowered gaze.
"To where?"
"Singapore."
"Why?" Damian asked, his voice deceptively calm.
"I'm getting married," she murmured again, her voice cracking like brittle glass, eyes still glued to the floor.
Damian let out a slow, incredulous scoff, one brow rising in disbelief. Getting married? He leaned back, studying her with a look that was both amused and furious. The words struck him as absurd, laughable even. He could see right through her. She looked fragile, sad, very sad even, defeated. This wasn't joy, it was surrender.
"Married?" he echoed, almost mockingly, his thoughts falling apart.
How pathetic, he seethed inwardly. What the hell does Victor have on her? To force her against her will to accept something as serious as marriage?
This wasn't a proposal, it was a prison sentence. He wasn't blind, it was too obvious.
So this is his idea of revenge?
She's clearly being forced, he thought. Manipulated. Coerced. And this... this is how that fool fights back? Victor thinks taking her away will break me?
A cold smirk touched Damian's lips as he leaned forward slightly, his voice slicing through the air like a blade.
"I don't agree."
That was the first time Eva lifted her head. Their eyes met, startled, uncertain, and the weight of his stare made her breath hitch.
"Sir?" she asked, voice trembling.
"I said, I do not agree," Damian repeated, firmer this time.
"Why?" she asked confusedly, her voice trembling.
""When you were hired, you signed a binding agreement," he said firmly. "I suggest you revisit that document." He said with chilling composure. "You can't just waltz in here and drop your resignation like a postcard." He scoffed, shaking his head. "It doesn't work like that.
Company policy demands proper notice. Also, you're required to remain in your position until a suitable replacement is found. And let's not forget, you've been absent without official leave for the past four days. That's a breach of contract."
Eva stood frozen, stunned. He was right. She had signed that agreement. Back then, she never imagined her life spiraling into this chaos. Now it felt like the walls were closing in, Victor's control on one side, Lopez Group's legal chains on the other.
Am I going to jail now? she wondered bleakly, her shoulders slumping under the weight of it all.
Her lips parted, trying to speak, but no sound came. Then, chime, her phone rang. Startled, she glanced at the screen.
Bob.
Her heart dropped.
She hadn't seen him since Victor locked her away. She'd planned to see him and her mother after stopping by the office. But now, a sudden, bone-deep dread seized her.
She didn't even remember she was standing before her boss anymore, all her air was standing upright and her face was contorted into an expression of dread.
She snatched up the phone and answered quickly. "Hello? Bob?"
"Sis, where are you? Where have you been?" His voice cracked. "You have to come right now! Please, come, I'm at the hospital."
Eva's blood ran cold. She knew it. She sensed it.
"W-What happened? Where's Mom?" she gasped, her face dreadful as her hands started to shake, and her knees starting to buckle.
"I-I don't know what the doctors are saying..." Bob's voice fractured into sobs. "Sis, I don't know if she's still alive. Please, come quick! I don't want her to die, Sis! Mom can't die like this! Please, God_ !"
The sound of his anguish shattered something inside her.
The phone slipped from her fingers and clattered to the floor.
Her lungs forgot how to breathe. Her brain nosedived, replaying every chance she had to help her mother, every moment she wasted.
The world around Eva spun. Her heart stopped, her knees give way then thudded with brutal force as she clutched the phone.
The thought, that her mother might already be gone, that all the chances she had to help, to be there, were now nothing but dust, hit her like a freight train.
She collapsed to the ground, her vision blurring, her mind fracturing under the weight of regret, fear, and the unbearable guilt crashing down all at once.
And in that moment, surrounded by silence and the echo of Bob's cries, she shut her eyes, wishing the world would just disappear.
After Damian delivered his final words, he didn't move. He simply sat there, arms folded across his chest, watching her, studying her like she was a riddle only he could solve. He knew. God, he knew she wasn't resigning out of her own free will. This wasn't just about a relocation or a convenient marriage, it reeked of coercion. Victor's fingerprints were all over this. The trip. The wedding. The silence in her eyes.
He clenched his jaw subtly, a storm raging behind his calm exterior. He had to do something. Anything. He needed time, time to think, time to act, time to pull her out of whatever trap she was getting into.
And so, he used the contract, the damn agreement she signed without knowing what fate it would chain her to. It wasn't about the paperwork. It was never about that. It was about keeping her here just a little longer. About delaying the inevitable, or fighting to change it.
The honest truth is, he should probably be happy that she was resigning, for Pete's sake she was constantly a mess. He knew she wasn't that good with her job, she was clumsy and always gets on his last nerves, how many times had he thought of replacing her? She was terrible at following instructions. Clumsy beyond reason. Always fumbling with files, mixing up schedules, or forgetting important details. A walking hurricane of chaos in the pristine order of his world. She made him want to scream half the time.
But yet.
Somehow, her chaos had become his comfort. The very thing that used to grate his nerves had grown into a strange, grounding presence. The sound of her voice in the morning, the smell of the meals she makes, the way she bit her lip when nervous, the way she walks around him, the way her presence fills the air and chased away his loneliness without even trying.
And most importantly, the way she taste.
No.
He couldn't just let her go. Not like this. Not after that night. Not when he hadn't even figured out what exactly she meant to him. All he knew was that the company, this place, would feel cold, empty, and lifeless without her.
He wasn't even sure he would want to stay here anymore without her presence.
So he spoke those words to stall. To make her stay. Even if just for one more moment.
But as soon as he saw her face, her expression shifting from confusion to fear, from fear to devastation, he knew something bigger was going on.
Then when her phone rang. The way she answered without thinking made Damian frowned, it was obvious something was wrong, be could feel every single glimpse of her pain.
Then it happened.
Damian watched as her eyes widened, her lips parted in disbelief. Her whole body began to tremble. And just like that, the phone slipped from her hands and hit the floor with a soft thud, followed by her.
She collapsed like a puppet whose strings had been violently severed.
There was no scream. No warning. Just the sound of her breath hitching, and the weight of her body crumbling to the ground.
Damian had hurriedly stood up and rushed to her, but she has collapsed already.
Later...
Silence.
Eva felt weightless, like she was floating in a dream, then slowly… the beeping sounds started.
Beep… beep… beep…
The sterile smell of antiseptic filled her nose. Her lashes fluttered open, revealing stark white ceilings and harsh fluorescent lights.
Confusion.
Where was she?
She turned her head weakly and saw hospital machines beeping beside her. Tubes. Needles. An IV drip. Panic crept up her spine.
Mum...
The memory hit her like a whip. Bob's voice. His cry for help. Her mother's name echoing in the air like a prayer on fire.
"No..." she gasped under her breath and yanked the wires off her wrist in a frenzy.
She didn't care about the pain. She didn't care where she was or how she got there. All she knew was that she had to find her mother. Now.
Just as she was about to get up, the door burst open.
"Eva!" Bob ran in, panting, his eyes red and wide with fear and relief. "Thank God, you're awake!"
She froze.
"Bob... Mama... where's Mama?" Her voice cracked as her heart pounded wildly against her ribs. "Is she...?"
He rushed to her side, holding her hands tightly.
"She's alive. They're doing everything they can. But you need to calm down. The doctor said you fainted from shock and exhaustion."