Aria sat beside her mother’s hospital bed, holding i’s hand and trying to smile like everything was fine.
It wasn’t working.
"Stop pretending," i said, her voice stronger than it had been in months. The treatnt was working miracles. "I can see right through you, baby girl."
"I’m not pretending. I’m just....I’m tired, Mama."
"You’re heartbroken. There’s a difference." i squeezed her hand. "Talk to . Really talk to . Tell what’s going on in that head of yours."
"I don’t know where to start."
"Start with how you’re feeling. Right now. This mont."
Aria was quiet for a long ti, trying to find words for the emptiness inside her. "I feel like I’m drowning. Like I’m underwater and I can see the surface but I can’t reach it. Every day I wake up and think maybe today will hurt less. But it doesn’t. It hurts the sa. Or worse. And I don’t know how to make it stop."
"Do you want it to stop?"
The question caught her off guard. "What?"
"Do you want the pain to stop? Or do you think you deserve to suffer for what you did?"
"I...." Aria’s throat tightened. "I do deserve it. I destroyed sothing precious. I betrayed soone who loved . I...."
"And you’ll spend the rest of your life punishing yourself for it if I let you." i’s voice was firm. "But I won’t. Because Aria.....you’re not the only one who made mistakes here."
"Mama, you don’t understand. He was perfect. He was patient and kind and he knew everything.....knew I was lying....and he was preparing to help the whole ti. And I still couldn’t trust him. That’s on . That’s my failure."
"Was he really perfect?" i’s eyes were knowing. "Or are you rewriting history to make him a saint and yourself a demon?"
"He is....was.....he saved your life after I betrayed him. What more proof do you need that he’s a good man?"
"I’m not saying he’s not a good man. I’m saying he’s a human man. Which ans he made mistakes too." i shifted in her bed, getting more comfortable. "He knew you were lying from day one, right?"
"Yes."
"And instead of just telling you he knew and offering to help, he played gas. Made you go through tests. Waited for you to trust him on his tiline, his terms."
"He wanted to choose to trust him....."
"He wanted control," i interrupted gently. "He wanted you to co to him in exactly the way he’d decided was acceptable. And when you didn’t....when you made your own choice, your own plan.....he was devastated. Not just because you betrayed him, but because you didn’t follow his script."
Aria shook her head. "You’re making excuses for ."
"I’m giving you perspective. Because right now, you’re so deep in guilt and self-hatred that you can’t see clearly." i’s grip on her hand tightened. "Yes, you made mistakes. Big ones. But so did he. He let you spiral into desperation when he could have ended it at any ti. That was his choice."
"He was waiting for to trust him!"
"He was testing you. There’s a difference." i’s voice was soft but firm. "And the fact that you failed his test....that you couldn’t trust him the way he wanted.....doesn’t make you a terrible person. It makes you a scared person who made a bad choice under impossible circumstances."
"But I hurt him, Mama. I saw his face. I heard his voice. I destroyed sothing inside him."
"And he destroyed sothing inside you. That’s what happens when two hurt people collide." i was quiet for a mont. "Do you love him?"
"More than anything. More than I thought I could love anyone."
"Does he love you?"
"He did. I don’t know if he still does. How could he?"
"Love doesn’t just disappear because of betrayal, Aria. It gets twisted. Buried. Hidden under pain and anger. But it doesn’t vanish." i squeezed her hand again. "The question isn’t whether he still loves you. The question is whether either of you is brave enough to face that love and figure out if it can survive what you’ve both done to each other."
"I don’t think he wants to see . He had escorted off the property by security. He hasn’t responded to any of my ssages. He’s made it very clear that we’re done."
"Then maybe you need to respect that. Maybe you need to let him have his space and his pain and his anger. Maybe you need to focus on healing yourself instead of trying to fix what you broke."
The words made sense. But they hurt.
"How do I do that? How do I heal when every part of is screaming that I destroyed my only chance at happiness?"
"By rembering that you’re more than your worst mistake." i’s eyes were fierce now. "You’re brilliant. You’re talented. You’re capable of incredible things. Yes, you fucked up. Catastrophically. But that doesn’t define you. Not unless you let it."
"I don’t know how to not let it."
"You start by getting out of bed. By eating. By taking care of yourself. By visiting without looking like a ghost. By slowly....so slowly....building a life that has aning beyond him." i paused. "And maybe.....maybe soday....if he’s ready and you’re ready....you’ll get another chance. Or maybe you won’t. But either way, you keep living. Because that’s what strong won do."
Aria felt tears streaming down her face. "I don’t feel strong, Mama. I feel broken."
"Broken things can be repaired. It just takes ti. And patience. And the willingness to keep trying even when it hurts." i pulled her closer. "You saved my life, baby girl. Now you need to save your own."
****************
THE BLACKWOOD ESTATE
MRS. CHEN’S POV - Day Three, Night
Mrs. Chen stood in the staff kitchen with Lucy and Julian, all three of them looking exhausted and worried.
"It’s been three days," Lucy said quietly. "And they’re both getting worse, not better."
"He fired two people yesterday for nothing," Mrs. Chen added. "And I heard him screaming in his study last night. At 2 AM. Just.....screaming. Like sothing inside him broke."
"Serah’s not doing any better," Julian said. He’d gotten an update from Marcus earlier. "Her friend says she’s barely eating. Not sleeping. Just existing. Like she’s already given up."
"This is unsustainable," Mrs. Chen said. "For both of them. Sothing has to give."
"Should we intervene?" Lucy asked. "Bring them together? Force them to talk?"
"No," Julian said firmly. "That would only make it worse. They need to co to that decision themselves."
"Then what do we do?" Lucy’s voice was desperate. "We just watch them destroy themselves?"
"We wait," Mrs. Chen said quietly. "We support them as best we can. And we hope that eventually, the love they have for each other becos stronger than the pain."
"And if it doesn’t?"
"Then we accept that so things break in ways that can’t be fixed."
The three of them sat in heavy silence, each thinking about the two broken people they cared about, and wondering if there was any way forward from this devastation.
DAMIEN’S POV
Damien stood in the greenhouse the scene of her betrayal....and stared at the Vitalis Radix plants she’d been trying to steal.
He didn’t know why he’d co here. Masochism, maybe. Or a desperate need to feel sothing other than the numbness that had settled over him like a shroud.
This was where it had ended. Where he’d caught her. Where he’d shown her the truth and watched her face crumble.
Where he’d walked away from the only woman he’d ever loved.
"I’m sorry I wasn’t enough," her note had said.
Julian’s words echoed: "You’re terrified that you gave her everything and she still chose to betray you, which ans you weren’t enough."
Was that true? Was this really about his own inadequacy rather than her betrayal?
He didn’t want it to be true. Didn’t want to admit that maybe—maybe—he’d been so focused on making her trust him on his terms that he’d missed how desperately she needed him to just help without conditions.
But the thought wouldn’t leave.
He’d known. From day one, he’d known. And he’d let her struggle. Let her plan. Let her spiral into desperation. All because he wanted her to trust him. To choose him. To prove she loved him enough.
But what had he proven? That he loved her?
Or that he loved control more than he loved her?
The question was unbearable.
His phone buzzed. Another hospital update:
Patient continues to improve. Full recovery expected. Your treatnt saved her life.
He’d saved her mother. But he’d lost her.
And standing alone in this greenhouse at midnight, surrounded by the plants she’d tried to steal and the ghost of what they’d been, Damien finally had to face the truth:
He didn’t know if he was angrier at her for betraying him, or at himself for letting it happen.
And until he figured that out, he’d stay stuck in this hell of his own making.
Alone.
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