Chapter 13%
Damien slowly ended the call, the screen dimming before his eyes. A cold chill crept up his spine as a disturbing thought echoed in his mind. Surely, Amelia already knew.
Amelia had seen through him. Through all the carefully crafted lies he even told himself.”
“How could it be…” he muttered, tapping his fingers against the desk, lost in a haze of denial.
Somehow, Damien had always convinced himself that Victoria was like a sister to him. Those deeper, inappropriate feelings? Long buried. Forgotten. Locked away in the furthest corners of his mind.
But his fingers moved on their own, unlocking his phone, swiping past files until he reached the encrypted memo folder hidden beneath layers of fake work files. Only one entry sat there, untouched since six months ago.
[March 15 – Victoria is coming home today. She looks so good in red. That man is not worthy of her at all …]}
His throat tightened, while his Adam’s apple bobbed painfully.}
The words stared back at him like ghosts from his past.
That folder, that memo was a teenager.
it wasn’t just a moment of weakness. It was a graveyard. A collection of his most shameful thoughts since he
The first time Victoria wore a skirt. The way she jumped into his arms when she got into university. The nausea he felt the day she got engaged to someone else.
And after she got married, he buried everything. Deep. Swearing it was over. That he could move on. Until that drunken night.
Damien hadn’t planned it. One too many drinks, too many swirling emotions and Amelia was there. The quiet, soft–spoken Amelia was there for him. The next morning, he looked at her sleeping beside him and thought that that was fine.
‘Isn’t marriage just about living together?‘ he had told himself while shaving, his eyes cold in the mirror.
‘If it’s not Victoria, I should feel the same for anyone, right?‘)
So, Damien married Arnelia.}
For years, Damien told himself he was being responsible. He convinced himself it made sense. After all, Amelia liked him. It was supposed to be easy. And people always became careless when they were loved.}
But now … alone in his office, Damien was struck by something he had never once allowed himself to consider.
In five years, he rever once thought about divorce. Even after Victoria’s divorce was finalized. Even when she was single again. The first thing Damien thought was how to support Victoria. It wasn’t that he wished to be with her.
Outside, the neon lights flickered on. His reflection casted an eerie glow over his pale face. Soon, his thoughts drifted to that last company party.
Amelia had worn a deep green dress. She looked very elegant yet it was subtle. There, she stood beside him the whole evening, while she offered smiles quietly. But she wasn’t his focus.
Instead, Dmaien scanned the room to look for Victoria. He then stopped doing it when Amelia gently pinched his wrist.
“Don’t look for her,” she said softly.”
“Victoria is at the third table.“}
And Damien had missed it. The sadness in her eyes. The quiet resignation. The hurt.
For five years, Amelia had stood by his side. She never complained. Not only that, she never demanded anything more than he was willing to give. Now, it seemed that she might have finally decided to stop waiting.
The thought pierced him like a dagger.}
His phone buzzed.
[Victoria: Damien, the cream soup is getting cold. How about I come pick you up?]}
The screen glowed with her name, but his eyes blurred.
Damien saw instead Amelia’s pale face after the miscarriage. Her trembling hands on the hospital sheets. The quiet way she tried to speak, but she ended up swallowing her words.
Finally, Damien realized that Amelia had tried to tell him something for months. She might not even want him to love her. She just wanted him to care. Just to see her. And he had failed spectacularly.
On his desk was a photo from last year’s company annual meeting.
Amelia stood beside him, slightly behind with her hand gently tugged on the sleeve of his suit. He used to find that childish. Annoying,
even
Now he saw it for what it was. It was her cautious, quiet way of trying to stay close. She was Trying to hold on.
Damien’s chest tightened. He reached for the photo frame and, in one sudden movement, hurled it against the wall. Glass shattered across the room.
Silence quickly ensued.
Finally, Damien faced the truth he had buried for years. Amelia had already become a part of his life. In the everyday routines. The small gestures. The silence she filled.
Damien hadn’t married Amelia just because she was convenient. He hadn’t stayed with her because he had to. He had loved her in his own blind, clumsy way.
Love
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23 11
4:03 PM d
But by the time he realized it, she was already gone.
O
Just
