As she frantically opened her phone, my gaze unconsciously drifted to the screen, and what I saw stunned me.
A photo of us together, frozen in a moment where everything felt right. How long had she clung to this image? If she truly loved me—if she really missed me—why had she waited so long to reach out? The confusion blazed inside me, igniting a simmering frustration that had been festering for years.
Unable to contain the turmoil of emotions bubbling within me, I snatched her phone out of her hands and hurled it across the car. And then, like a dam breaking, a surge of urgency overtook me. I crushed my lips against hers, the kiss initially rough and forceful, as if I were punishing her for the years of silence and heartache she had given me. But even in that moment of anger, the kisses soon turned to tenderness, softening my resolve against her.
"I love you.... Rafa," I murmured against her lips, I finally revealed my long-buried secret.
She tried to pull away, wanting to say something but before she could utter a word, I couldn't hold back any longer. In a rush of desire laced with desperation, I bit her lower lip, drawing a small gasp from her. I seized the moment, sliding my tongue into her mouth, causing her to moan.
"Why didn't you just come to me?" I murmured between kisses, tracing my lips along her jawline, savoring the sensation of her warmth against my skin. "After everything, why wait until now?"
"Because I was afraid!" she admitted, breathless. "I was afraid you'd moved on, that you'd found someone who could replace me. I didn't want to disrupt your life again."
The intensity of her confession struck me, mingling with my own fears. "You don't get it, do you?" I whispered, pulling back slightly to look into her eyes. "You were never someone I could replace. You were… you are everything to me."
She bit her lip, emotion shimmering in her gaze, as if the weight of my words was finally sinking in. "But what about Alice?"
A shadow crossed my features. "Alice never held my heart, Rafa. She's a good person, but she's not you. My heart has always been with you, even when I tried to convince myself otherwise," I confessed, pouring all of my vulnerability into that moment.
Her expression softened, and I saw a flicker of understanding spark in her eyes. "Please give me one last chance to be with you. I'll love you twice as much as I did in the past."
"Are you sure?" I asked, my breath hitching. I needed her to be certain, to know the stakes involved. "If you step back into my world, I won't let you go again. If you try to leave, I would chain you up by my side."
She nodded, her gaze unwavering. "Did you remember our promise? That we will only love each other? I never once broke that."
With an overwhelming surge of emotion, I captured her lips with mine again, missing our moment over the years.
"I know, and neither did I," I murmured against her lips. "Did you know that I was the same as you? When you first started your career, I quietly supported you from a distance. I even ordered several companies to partner with your company, making sure you had the opportunities to shine."
Her eyes widened in surprise, the laughter that bubbled up between us breaking the earlier tension. "Really? How did I not know this?"
"We were both too stubborn to admit our feelings," I chuckled, the sound rich with the warmth of nostalgia. "It was foolish of us to think we could just move on without addressing what was truly in our hearts."
Indeed, love is a tangled mess.
END~