Chapter 006: The Woman From His Past
482 Words
I didn’t sleep that night.
The image of the woman standing beside Damian replayed in my mind again and again. The way she said his name. The way he stiffened when he saw her. Nothing about it felt casual.
Morning came with a dull ache in my chest.
When I stepped into the living room, she was already there.
She sat comfortably on the sofa, legs crossed, sipping tea like she owned the place. Elegant. Confident. Beautiful in a way that made you feel small without trying.
“You must be Amelia,” she said, smiling. “I’m Celeste.”
The name settled heavily in my chest.
“I’m Damian’s fiancée,” she added smoothly.
The world tilted.
Fiancée?
I forced myself to breathe. “Wife,” I corrected quietly. “I’m his wife.”
Her smile didn’t fade. In fact, it widened. “On paper,” she replied. “Some things don’t change just because a document exists.”
Before I could respond, footsteps echoed behind me.
Damian entered the room.
His eyes flicked to Celeste, then to me. The air shifted instantly, thick with tension.
“What are you doing here?” he asked her.
She stood, walked toward him, and stopped far too close. “You didn’t answer my calls,” she said softly. “So I came.”
“I told you this was over,” he replied, his voice cold.
She laughed lightly. “You don’t get to decide that alone.”
I watched them, my heart pounding. This wasn’t just history. This was unfinished business.
Celeste turned to me again. “You should know something,” she said. “Damian doesn’t fall in love. He makes arrangements. And when he’s done, he walks away.”
My hands clenched at my sides. “Then why are you still here?” I asked.
For the first time, her smile faltered.
Damian stepped between us. “That’s enough.”
He looked at me then, really looked at me, and something unreadable passed through his eyes.
“Leave us,” he told Celeste.
She hesitated, then leaned closer to him. “Be careful,” she whispered. “You’re starting to look… attached.”
She left.
The silence she left behind was louder than her words.
I turned away, my chest tight. “You don’t need to explain,” I said quickly. “I already understand my place.”
Damian caught my wrist gently, stopping me.
“That woman means nothing,” he said.
“But she meant something once,” I replied.
He didn’t deny it.
That hurt more than I expected.
Later that day, alone in the room, I stared at the contract hidden in my bag. My name. His name. Ink that bound me to a man who belonged to someone else’s past.
Maybe I wasn’t just a liability.
Maybe I was temporary.
And the realization terrified me.
- Writer
