No one said anything.
We stood there, looking at each other. The air between us was thick enough to choke on.
Kaelen stood in the doorway of Sienna's apartment, every inch of him looking like ruin and regret. His shirt was half-unbuttoned, collar limp, eyes ringed with sleeplessness. The man who'd once made rooms fall silent now looked like someone who'd been stripped of everything but his name.
And still, when I saw him — when I really saw him — my heart lurched like a fool remembering how to hope.
"Elara," he said, my name a rasped prayer. He took a step forward, hesitant but desperate. "Please. Let me explain."
I shook my head once, sharp, a brittle motion that barely held me together. "Don't," I whispered. "Please don't. I don't want to hear it. I can't—"
His voice broke. "You deserve to know the truth."
I laughed, short and hollow. "The truth? Kaelen, the whole world saw the truth. Her lips on yours. You, frozen. And me, standing there like an idiot in front of them all."
His expression twisted. "It wasn't what it looked like."
"It never is," I said quietly. "That's what they always say."
He raked a trembling hand through his hair. "I froze, Elara. That's all. It wasn't—God, it wasn't choice. It was shock. The memory, the lake, the years of debt I owed—"
I cut him off, my voice shaking now. "You think I care about her debt? You think I'm angry because she kissed you? I'm angry because you didn't move. You didn't stop her. You just stood there."
The pain that flashed through his face almost undid me. But I pressed on, unable to stop now that the flood had started.
"Do you have any idea what that looked like? What it felt like?" My voice rose, trembling between fury and heartbreak. "You were supposed to be my partner, Kaelen. My equal. You were supposed to be the one man who—"
My throat closed around the word. Who wouldn't let me down.
His hands clenched at his sides. "I made a mistake. One second. That's all it was. Don't throw everything away over that."
"One second," I whispered, tears burning my vision. "That's all it ever takes for everything to fall apart."
He stepped closer, desperate now. "Don't do this. Don't walk away from what we've built."
I shook my head. "Built on what? Strategy? Appearances? You think I'm angry about the alliance?" My breath hitched. "You hurt me, Kaelen. Not my reputation. Me."
He looked stricken, the words hitting their mark. "Elara—"
"No," I said, backing away. My voice cracked. "Just go, please."
His eyes darkened — that storm-grey dimming into something unrecognizable. "If that's what you want."
It wasn't. God, it wasn't. But I couldn't take another word, another apology, another look from him that might make me forgive what I shouldn't.
"Please," I whispered, barely audible.
He hesitated — one heartbeat, two — and then he turned. The door opened, closed.
And just like that, he was gone.
The silence that followed was unbearable. It pressed on my chest until I couldn't breathe.
I sank to the floor, my hands covering my face, and the sob tore out of me like something breaking loose from the inside. All the restraint, all the composure I'd clung to shattered in that moment. I cried until my throat burned and my body ached, until I couldn't tell where the pain started — his betrayal, my foolish hope, or the terrifying realisation blooming in the wreckage:
I had fallen for him.
Somewhere between the plans and the partnership, between the games we played and the masks we wore, I had fallen for him. Completely, irrevocably.
And now it was too late.
I pressed my forehead to my knees, trembling. The apartment was still except for the sound of my uneven breaths. I thought I imagined it at first — the soft creak of a floorboard, the whisper of movement behind me.
Then — footsteps.
"Elara."
I froze.
His voice.
I lifted my head. Kaelen stood in the doorway again, chest heaving, eyes wild. His composure was gone, stripped away entirely. He looked at me like a man seeing the edge of the world and deciding to step off anyway.
"I couldn't leave," he said, his voice breaking. "Not like that."
Before I could speak, he crossed the room and dropped to his knees in front of me. His hands hovered for a moment — uncertain, reverent — before finding my shoulders.
"Please," he whispered, his forehead almost touching mine. "Please don't send me away again."
Tears spilled down my cheeks. "You hurt me, Kaelen," I said, my voice raw. "You made me believe you were different."
"I am," he said fiercely. His hands trembled where they gripped my arms. "You think I haven't torn myself apart for that moment? You think I haven't wished I could trade places with you, take the pain myself? I would burn every bridge I've built if it meant earning your forgiveness."
The sincerity in his voice, the agony in his eyes — it cracked something in me that no apology could.
"Don't," I sobbed, trying weakly to push him away. "Don't say things you don't mean. I can't... We shouldn't... I don't want to.."
His breath hitched. His hands slid to my waist, pulling me closer until I could feel his heartbeat — frantic, matching mine.
"I'm sorry," he said again, voice breaking. "I am so goddamn sorry, Elara. I'll spend every day in my life to make it up to you."
And then he did what I'd been too afraid to do — he pulled me against him, arms wrapping around me with a desperation that felt like survival. I resisted for a single, trembling heartbeat… then I broke.
My hands fisted in his shirt. I pressed my face to his shoulder, sobbing as the last of my defences fell away.
We stayed like that — on the floor, in the quiet aftermath — breathing the same broken air. His tears fell into my hair; mine soaked through his shirt.
When I finally spoke, it came out in a whisper. "You should've fought for me."
"I am," he murmured, his voice hoarse against my temple. "That's why I came back."
I closed my eyes. The ache in my chest was unbearable — not just pain, but the terrifying pulse of something alive, fragile, and still beating.
I didn't forgive him. Not yet. But I couldn't let go either.
So I held on.
And for the first time since the night of the soirée, the silence between us didn't feel like an ending. It felt like the start of something raw, uncertain — and real.
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*Author's Note: Thank you Glorious_7 for your constant support!