Chapter 21: Unfinished Conversations

Evelyn barely slept that night. No matter how hard she tried to shut off her mind, Alexander's voice kept replaying in her head. His words. His eyes. The way he looked at her as if he still cared. As if he never wanted to leave in the first place.

The next morning, she dragged herself out of bed, her body aching from the restless night. She had meetings lined up at work, deadlines to meet, and no time to dwell on old wounds. Or at least, that was what she told herself.

But as she stood in front of the mirror, brushing through the knots in her hair, her phone buzzed on the counter. The second she saw the name flashing across the screen, her stomach tightened.

Alexander.

She hesitated. Every logical part of her screamed to ignore it, to let it go to voicemail. But her traitorous fingers moved before she could stop them, and suddenly, she was pressing the answer button.

"Hello?" Her voice came out rougher than she expected.

"Evelyn." His voice was steady, but there was something unreadable beneath it. "I—uh, I wasn't sure if you'd pick up."

Neither was I, she thought.

"What do you want, Alexander?" she asked, keeping her tone as neutral as possible.

A brief pause. "I just… I wanted to talk. Properly. Without everything being so rushed."

"There's nothing to talk about," she said automatically. But even as the words left her mouth, she knew they weren't entirely true.

"I think there is," he countered, his voice soft yet firm. "Look, I don't expect you to forgive me overnight, or even at all. But I at least owe you the truth."

The truth. That was what she had wanted for so long, wasn't it? And now that he was offering it, she wasn't sure if she was ready to hear it.

"Evelyn?"

She sighed, running a hand through her hair. "Fine. One conversation. That's it."

She could practically hear his relief through the phone. "Thank you. When can we meet?"

"Lunch break," she said before she could change her mind. "I have an hour. If you want to talk, that's your chance."

"I'll be there."

She hung up without another word, her heart pounding harder than it should have.

What was she doing?

At exactly noon, Evelyn found herself sitting in a quiet corner of a café near her office. She had picked the place intentionally—somewhere neutral, somewhere she could leave easily if things got too much.

Alexander arrived five minutes later, looking just as tired as she felt. But despite everything, he still had that same presence, the one that made it impossible to ignore him.

"Thanks for meeting me," he said as he sat across from her.

"Just talk, Alexander," she said, crossing her arms. "You wanted this. So talk."

He exhaled, rubbing his hands together. "Alright. You deserve to know the truth. The real reason I left."

Evelyn braced herself. Whatever he was about to say, she knew it wouldn't be easy to hear.

"I didn't leave because I wanted to," he admitted. "I left because I had no choice."

She frowned. "No choice? What does that even mean?"

He hesitated, looking down at his hands before meeting her eyes again. "My father—he was in trouble. Financially. Legally. A lot of things. And he dragged me into it. If I stayed, I would've ruined everything for you. So I left."

Evelyn felt like the air had been knocked out of her lungs. She had spent so long thinking he had just walked away. That he had abandoned her.

But he had been protecting her.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she whispered.

"Because I didn't want you to get hurt."

She had no idea what to say to that. Because for the first time in years, she realized that maybe—just maybe—Alexander wasn't the villain she had made him out to be.

And that terrified her more than anything.