Chapter 376: Apology
Sarah didn’t speak at first, she just stared at me, eyes wide, frozen like she was trying to absorb what I’d said. Then slowly, she stood up, circled the table, and slid into the seat beside me.
"Oh, Aria," she whispered, her voice trembling with practiced gentleness. "I’m so, so sorry that happened."
The words broke something in me. I pressed my hand over my mouth as tears spilled down my face, my body folding toward her shoulder.
Sarah’s arm wrapped around me, firm and possessive, her perfume enveloping me until I couldn’t tell where she ended and I began. "Maybe it was for the best," she murmured softly, brushing her fingers through my hair. "Some things just... aren’t meant to be. And you have me, okay? You’ll always have me."
I nodded into her shoulder, my voice breaking. "It’s my fault," I whispered. "I should’ve—"
"Don’t," she cut in, her tone sharper now, almost scolding. "Don’t say that. It wasn’t your fault." Then softer, almost tender again: "You’ve suffered enough, Aria. Don’t keep punishing yourself."
I let myself cry there for a while longer, clinging to her, grateful for the warmth even though somewhere inside me, a quiet unease had begun to stir.
By the time we left the restaurant, the sky had turned that pale, hazy blue of late afternoon. The city buzzed around us, cars, chatter, wind all of it muffled behind the fog of exhaustion in my head.
Sarah was humming beside me as we entered the tower again, the mood restored, the earlier tears replaced by something lighter, almost glowing.
Then my phone started ringing.
Kael.
His name lit up my screen like a spark I didn’t want to touch. I hesitated, my breath catching, then hit ignore.
Sarah glanced over. "You’re not answering?"
"Not now," I said quietly.
It rang again, and I turned the phone face-down in my hand.
We parted at the elevators, she went one way, I the other, and I rode in silence to the top floor. My heart was heavy, and I didn’t know if it was guilt or dread or both.
When the doors opened, there he was, Kael, standing by Rose’s desk, speaking to her in that calm, low voice that always made everyone stand straighter. He looked up just as I stepped off the elevator, and that small, infuriating half-smile flickered across his mouth.
"Welcome back," he said, voice roughened at the edges.
I ignored him. "Hi, Rose," I said instead, walking straight past them.
Rose blinked, obviously caught in the crossfire. "Oh—uh—hi, Ms. Thorne."
"Aria," Kael called after me, but I was continued walking without looking back.
I could feel Kael’s gaze burning into my back as I reached my office door. The air seemed to shift with him behind me, that faint cologne I’d memorized ghosting closer. I didn’t even look back when I slammed the door in his face and turned the lock.
For a second, there was silence. Then the soft knock, once, twice.
I didn’t answer.
The knocking stopped, and I let out a long breath, sinking into my chair. My phone buzzed again. It was a message.
KAEL: I could’ve gotten you a welcome gift, you know.
I rolled my eyes and set the phone facedown on the desk.
Another buzz.
KAEL: You didn’t mention resuming work.
That one ticked me off.
I bit the inside of my cheek, because maybe I would have, if he’d answered his damn phone when I called him god-knows-how-many times over the night.
I busied myself with straightening the pile of papers on my desk, determined not to look again. But then, another vibration.
KAEL: I’m tempted to break the door down.
My jaw tightened. Of course he’d say that. "Go ahead," I muttered under my breath.
A knock came again. I didn’t move.
Then a gentler voice through the wood: "Ms. Thorne? It’s Rose."
I frowned and stood, opening the door just a crack to find Rose standing there, clutching a folder to her chest.
"Kael sent you, didn’t he?" I asked suspiciously.
"N-no," she stammered. "These are the new contracts you need to review. Urgent."
I raised an eyebrow. "And Kael?"
"He, um... went into his office right after you came in."
"Rose..." I narrowed my eyes. "You’re not lying, are you?"
She blinked rapidly. "Why would I lie about contracts Ms. Thorne?"
I sighed, muttering, "Fine." And I opened the door fully.
Rose smiled nervously, but it faltered fast, her eyes darting behind me as a shadow loomed.
Kael.
He was right there like the devil himself, tall and effortlessly smug, hands shoved in his pockets, looking at me like I was something he’d just found again after losing it for too long.
Rose’s voice wavered. "I’m so sorry Ms. Thorne! He made me do it!" She squeezed sideways through the door and bolted down the hall.
I didn’t even bother fighting when Kael’s hand pressed against the door, holding it open. He stepped inside before I could stop him, his presence filling every inch of the room.
I turned away, marching back to my desk. "You’re unbelievable."
"Maybe," he said softly, following. And then his hand was on my waist, his breath ghosting against my neck. "But I can never get enough of seeing you like this."
I spun around, pressing a hand to his chest before he could kiss me. "So was that why you disappeared? Why you didn’t pick up my calls? To get a kick out of me?"
He froze, guilt flickering across his face like a crack in glass. "N—"
"Save it," I whispered, cutting him off and pushing him back, my voice trembling more with exhaustion than anger. "Go back to whoever it was, Kael. Whoever kept you so busy you couldn’t call me back."
He let me go, but not fully, his fingers brushed my arm, gentle, almost pleading before tightening back.
And despite everything, despite the ache in my chest, the confusion still spinning in my head, I could already feel the weakness tugging at me again, the part of me that never knew how to stay angry at him long enough to make it hurt.
He didn’t let go. Not even when I stopped struggling against him.
"I said I’m sorry," he murmured again, his voice low against my ear, stubborn, like if he said it enough times it might fix something.
"You think that fixes everything?" I muttered, my hands caught between us. "This isn’t the first time you’re doing this. I thought we were more than that "
He loosened his grip, just for a second, enough for me to breathe, and then his arms were around me again, tighter, as though he was afraid I’d vanish if he let go completely. His body wrapped around me.
"Kael—"
He buried his face into my neck before I could finish, the warmth of his breath shivering against my skin. "I’m sorry," he whispered again, softer this time, and the sound of it made something inside me crack even though I didn’t want it to.
"I left because.." he said. "There’s a situation happening right now that I can’t control. And I didn’t know what to do."
I turned my head slightly, enough to see him. His eyes looked darker in the low light, and there was that weary edge again, the one I’d seen too many times.
"You could have called," I said quietly.
"I know."
"Then why didn’t you?"
He hesitated, his voice barely a breath when it came. "Because when things spiral, I—" He stopped, shaking his head. "I don’t know how to stay. I never did. It’s a bad habit, I know that, but I can’t seem to stop it."
I studied him for a moment, the guilt etched in the lines around his mouth, the quiet helplessness he tried to hide behind control. "What happened?"
"It’s nothing you need to worry about," he said quickly.
"Kael."
He met my eyes, his expression unreadable. "It’s better that way. For now."
That last part sat wrong with me. It always did. I hated how easily he decided which truths I was allowed to carry, how he thought protecting me meant keeping me blind.
"You’re hiding something," I said finally.
He didn’t deny it. He just sighed and brushed a strand of hair from my face, his hand trembling slightly. "Please, Aria. Just trust me on this one."
And even though every instinct in me wanted to keep pushing, I didn’t. I let him hold me there, my chest tight with the weight of everything unsaid.
For a long moment, there was only the hum of the air conditioner, the faint rhythm of our breathing.
Then Kael’s voice broke the quiet again. "Did my brother show up?"
The question startled me. "Andrew?"
He nodded once, his grip on my waist unconsciously tightening.
"Yes," I said slowly. "He came earlier. I didn’t know he was even in the city. He said something about staying for a while."
Kael’s whole body went still behind me.
"What did he say to you?" he asked, voice dropping an octave, calm but too sharp at the edges.
"Nothing much. He just... said he decided to stop hiding in the shadows or something like that. It sounded like a jab, but—Kael, what’s going on?"
He didn’t answer right away. His jaw flexed, his gaze distant, unfocused, like his mind was already somewhere else entirely.
"Kael?" I asked again, quieter this time.
Finally, he said, "It’s nothing. But if Andrew’s back, it means he wants something."
"What do you mean?"
He didn’t answer. He just pressed his lips to my shoulder, a faint touch that felt more like a promise to himself than to me, and whispered, "Don’t let him get too close."