Chapter 21%
The phone call was suffocating in its silence. On the other end, Bianca’s sobs had stopped abruptly.
Troy’s voice, low and strained, filled the void. “Blanca… I spoiled you too much. I’ve done everything for you, but now you’re married. It’s time for you to move on.“8
“Move on?” Bianca’s voice trembled, sharp with disbelief. “What are you talking about, Troy?”
Troy closed his eyes, exhaustion dragging his every word down. “I really can’t handle this anymore. I can’t keep pretending. I’m telling you this because it’s time. It’s better for you too.” His words were laced with an air of finality. “You should tell our parents. I can’t be the one to deal with this anymore. It’s… it’s not fair to anyone.”
Bianca’s breathing became frantic, fast and desperate, her voice rising to a fever pitch. “Are you serious? You don’t really mean that… You don’t mean it, Troy! After everything, how can you just give up like this?”
Troy’s heart clenched at the pain in her voice, but he pressed on. “It’s the only way. Blanca. For everyone’s sake.”
“I can’t survive like this, Troy! I can’t…” She gasped, her breath hitching as if the weight of it all was collapsing on her. “Are you really in love with her? With Thalia?!”
Troy’s grip on the phone tightened, his knuckles turning white. A long silence followed, broken only by his strained exhale.
“Yes,” he said quietly, barely above a whisper.
Those words, hit like a blow, and Bianca’s breath caught, the sharpness of it slicing through the silence.
Impossible!” Her voice cracked with rage and disbelief. “You lied to me, Troy! You’ve always been mine! How could you… How could you
love her?!” Her voice was rising, full of confusion and fury. “You can’t just switch like that! You can’t!”
Troy let her words wash over him. He didn’t speak. And then, through the phone, a rough male voice echoed, far too familiar
“Who told you to keep calling? Don’t you think you’ve had enough lessons in bed by now?” The voice was harsh, possessive. Troy could practically feel the tension through the phone.
Bianca’s frantic cry followed. “Troy! Please, don’t let him–please, help me! Save me!” Her voice grew distant, muffled, as if she were being pulled away.
The call cut off.
Troy stood frozen, staring at the phone in his hand, his mind blank. Slowly, he set the device down, his fingers trembling. His chest tightened with a heavy, bitter ache, but he didn’t call back. He didn’t know what to say. He couldn’t do this anymore.”
During his few days of recovery, Troy was surrounded by whispers. He overheard the nurses discussing the couple in the other room.
“The couple is so sweet. Did you hear? She stayed with him for three whole days, never once leaving his side, not even to sleep…”
Troy listened quietly, the words stabbing at him with every mention of love, of devotion. It felt suffocating–like a heavy weight pressing against his chest, making it hard to breathe.
One day, as he walked through the halls of the hospital on his way out, he passed by the room. The door was cracked open just enough for him to see through.”
Through the gap, he saw her. It was Thalia sitting beside the bed of the man who had taken everything from him, the man who now held her heart. Thalia was laughing softly, her smile bright, free of the pain Troy had so carelessly caused.
Troy stood in the hallway, hidden in the shadows, a mere witness to the happiness he could no longer claim. Troy’s discharge from the hospital was supposed to mark the end of his recovery, but in reality, it was just the beginning of his real suffering.
He tried to win Thalia back, throwing himself into gestures, desperate attempts to show her he was sorry. Flowers. Her favorite desserts. A limited–edition bag that she’d once mentioned wanting. But none of it moved her.
Thalia was cold.
“Enough, Troy,” she finally said, her patience worn thin. “How long are you going to keep this up? Go back to the States. Don’t stay here. You’re just an eyesore.”
Her words cut deeper than he expected. He stood still, swallowing the pain that rose in his throat. “Are you really never going to forgive me? No matter what I do?%
Thalia didn’t even look at him. She just sighed, her expression unreadable. “I can’t say I won’t forgive you, Troy. But it doesn’t matter. You’re no longer in my heart. I don’t think of you anymore. You’ve been replaced.”
Her words were sharper than any dagger. They pierced him straight to the core. The silence that followed was suffocating, and he could feel every inch of the man he used to be slipping away. He was no longer the person she loved, and maybe that was his own fault.
“I need to speak with Xander, Troy said, his voice barely above a whisperi
Thalia’s brow furrowed in confusion “No need,” she replied, her voice disinterested.
Xander, standing behind her, spoke up with a lazy smile. “Let me handle it, Thalia. He’s been following you around like a lost puppy. It’s really starting to get old. His tone was dismissive, almost bored.
Troy stood frozen, staring at the two of them, knowing in his heart that he had already lost..
