LILY'S POV
The ringing of my phone had become a constant reminder of everything I was trying to forget. Every time it rang, I'd glance at the screen, and the name Damien would flash in front of me, taunting me with memories I wasn't ready to confront.
For the past two days, I hadn't answered a single call. Not from him, not from Caleb. I couldn't bring myself to pick up, couldn't face either of them. The whirlwind of emotions I had felt after walking in on Damien and Samantha, the betrayal, the anger—everything was still too raw, too fresh. I needed distance. I needed silence. But every time I looked at my phone, it felt like the silence was being suffocated by their voices calling out to me.
I'd taken refuge in Jess's apartment, hiding away from everything that reminded me of the chaos. Jess was an incredible friend—her quiet support, the way she didn't pressure me to talk, to make decisions I wasn't ready to make, had been the only thing keeping me grounded.
But even Jess couldn't shield me from the phone calls. I had ignored them all, and the more I did, the more the weight of it all seemed to press in on me.
It was a late afternoon when the doorbell rang. I had just curled up on the couch with a book in my hands, trying to distract myself from the growing emptiness inside. Jess was in the kitchen, and I was just starting to lose myself in the pages when I heard her call out from the hallway.
"Lily, it's Caleb."
I froze. My body stiffened at the sound of his name. I hadn't spoken to Caleb since the last time I saw him in Damien's office, when everything had unraveled so violently. I had shut him out, and now here he was, standing at Jess's door, looking for me.
I didn't know what to do. The anger I felt toward him was still there, but so was the part of me that had once loved him so deeply. The part that had trusted him, even when he had given me so many reasons not to.
"Lily, please," Caleb's voice echoed from the hallway, muffled through the door. "Just hear me out."
I didn't respond, didn't move. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to say to him. I was so tired of being pulled between two men—two very different worlds. Part of me wanted to tell him to go away, to leave me alone. But another part of me wanted to listen.
Jess came back into the living room, her gaze lingering on me as if waiting for a decision. She didn't say anything, but I could tell she was silently offering me the space to decide.
Taking a deep breath, I stood up, my legs feeling unsteady as I walked toward the door. When I opened it, Caleb stood there, his hands shoved into the pockets of his jacket. He didn't look like the confident, carefree Caleb I had once known. His posture was hunched, his face a mixture of apprehension and determination. He looked like a man on the edge, not sure if he was about to fall or if he was about to rise up.
"Lily," he said softly, his voice almost a whisper, like he wasn't sure if I would shut him out immediately. "Can we talk?"
I stepped aside without saying anything, silently inviting him in. My heart was a mess of emotions, but I wasn't ready to send him away just yet. I needed to hear him out.
He stepped in slowly, glancing around the apartment as if unsure of what to say next. Jess had already retreated to the kitchen, giving us the privacy we needed.
"İ missed you" he whispered
Caleb cleared his throat before looking at me directly. "I know you've been ignoring my calls. I deserve that. I deserve the silence. But I need you to hear me out. Just once."
I crossed my arms over my chest, my gaze steady but guarded. "What do you want, Caleb?"
He took a step forward, the tension in his shoulders more visible now, like he was bracing himself for my rejection. "I've been an idiot. I've always been an idiot, and I know that. I was selfish, and I hurt you. I cheated on you, and I can never take that back. But what I realized, when you left me, was how much I lost. How much you meant to me. And now, I can't imagine my life without you in it. I don't expect you to forgive me, but I need you to know that I see you. I see the woman you are. And I'm sorry."
His words hit me like a sledgehammer, each syllable cutting through the protective armor I'd built around my heart. I wanted to tell him to leave, to go back to whatever mess he had made with his life. But part of me was still raw from the betrayal I had experienced with Damien, and the other part of me—stupidly—was still clinging to some old hope that maybe Caleb had changed. Maybe he was different now.
But I couldn't give him that power. Not anymore.
I shook my head, trying to make sense of everything he was saying. "You cheated on me, Caleb. I didn't even know who you were anymore. And now you come to me, acting like nothing happened?"
He winced, the guilt washing over his face as he stepped closer, his voice quiet but intense. "I know. I know it doesn't make sense. I've spent the last few days thinking about what I did, trying to figure out what went wrong with us. And I'm not going to lie to you—I messed up. I'm sorry for everything I did. I can't change it, but I'm asking you for one thing: one chance. One chance to prove that I'm not the same guy I was when I hurt you."
I stared at him, trying to read the sincerity in his eyes. My heart ached from the weight of the past, but there was something different about the way he was speaking. He wasn't pleading with me to take him back. He wasn't demanding forgiveness. He was asking for closure.
I didn't respond immediately. Instead, I just looked at him, weighing his words, trying to decide whether I could even entertain the idea of letting him back into my life.
After a long pause, Caleb spoke again, his voice low. "There's a gala in three days. The biggest one in the city. The elites of elites will be there. And I'm asking you to come with me. As my partner. Not for me, but for us.....For closure".
I blinked, the suddenness of his invitation catching me off guard. A gala? With Caleb? Was he serious?
But the more I thought about it, the more I realized what he was offering. It wasn't just about the gala. It was about the chance to confront the past, to finally face the mess we had made of our relationship. It was a chance to look at each other, face-to-face, and decide what came next. Even if it was just to say goodbye.
I felt my pulse quicken as the weight of the decision pressed down on me. Could I do this? Could I walk into that gala, side by side with Caleb, and confront everything that had been broken between us?
For the first time in days, I didn't feel the chaos inside me. For a brief moment, everything was still.
"Okay," I said finally, my voice steady, though my heart was beating in my ears. "I'll go with you. But this is for closure, Caleb. Nothing more."
His eyes softened, the faintest trace of a smile tugging at his lips. "I don't expect anything more, Lily. Just… one chance. One night."
I nodded, feeling a strange sense of finality wash over me. Whatever happened at that gala, it would mark the end of something. The end of a chapter I had been trying to close for so long.