"This is your fault," Violet turned to glare at him.
"My fault? You were the one who slammed the door shut," his brows lifted.
"Because I was trying to get away from you!"
Ethan crossed his arms, leaning against the desk as if he wasn't the least bit concerned. "And how's that working out for you?"
That did it. Something inside Violet snapped.
All the emotions she had buried for years... anger, betrayal, heartbreak... came rushing to the surface in a tidal wave she could no longer hold back.
"You think this is funny?" she seethed, stepping toward him. "You think this is some kind of game?"
"No, Violet, I don't," Ethan's smirk faded.
"Then why are you here? Why now?" she demanded, shoving at his chest. He barely moved, but she didn't care. She shoved him again. "Why did you come back, Ethan? After all these years? After leaving me... "
"Do you have any idea what that did to me? Do you have any idea how long it took for me to stop waiting for you to come back?" her voice broke, but she refused to stop.
"Violet... " Ethan stood still, his eyes dark with emotion.
"No," she interrupted, her hands trembling as she pressed them against his chest again. "You don't get to say my name like that. You don't get to look at me like that. Like you care."
"I do care," he said, his voice rough.
"If you cared, you wouldn't have left," she let out a bitter laugh.
"I had to," Ethan let out a slow breath, his fingers curling into fists at his sides.
"No. You chose to," Violet shook her head.
"You don't understand... " he exhaled sharply, dragging a hand through his hair.
"Then make me understand," she cut him off, her eyes burning with unshed tears. "Tell me why you left, Ethan. Tell me why you walked away without a word. Tell me why you broke me."
Silence stretched between them, heavy and suffocating.
Then, finally, Ethan spoke.
"I left because I thought I was protecting you."
Violet froze, her breath catching in her throat.
"I was scared, Violet. Of what I felt for you. Of what it meant. And I thought... if I left, maybe you'd be better off without me," Ethan held her gaze, his expression raw.
"And now?" tears welled in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall.
He stepped closer, his voice barely above a whisper. "Now, I know I was wrong."
"You thought you were protecting me?" her voice cracked, years of hurt pouring into every syllable. "Ethan, you weren't some villain I needed saving from. You were the one thing, the one person, I chose despite everything," Violet let out a broken laugh, shaking her head.
"I know," he admitted, his voice hoarse. "I know, and I hate myself for it," Ethan swallowed hard, the weight of her words pressing against his chest.
Her chest rose and fell with ragged breaths. "You don't get to do that. You don't get to come back years later and say you regret it. I needed you, and you just... " she choked on the words, her hands balling into fists before she shoved them against his chest. "You just left."
Ethan didn't move, didn't even flinch as she kept pushing him.
"I waited, you know?" her voice wavered as she hit him again, weaker this time. "I waited for you to call. To explain. To tell me anything that would make it hurt less." Another shove. "But you never did."
Ethan caught her wrists gently, his touch firm but careful. "I know, Violet," he murmured, his forehead nearly touching hers. "I know I broke you. But you have to know... I broke myself, too."
"Then why come back? Why now?" she shut her eyes, willing the tears away.
He exhaled, as if the answer had been burning inside him for years. "Because no matter how much time passed, no matter where I went or what I did... everything led back to you," his hands tightened around her wrists, not to hold her back but to anchor himself to the moment. "I thought leaving would erase you from me. That I'd move on and so would you," he let out a bitter laugh. "But the joke was on me, wasn't it?"
Violet didn't say anything. She didn't trust herself to.
"I saw your name in places I'd never been. I heard your laughter in rooms you'd never walked into. I built a life without you, and it felt empty. I thought I was protecting you, but all I did was destroy everything good I ever had," Ethan took the silence as permission to go on.
She let out a shaky breath, hating how much his words clawed at her heart. "So what now? You think you can just waltz back in and fix this?"
"No," Ethan admitted, his voice laced with regret. "I don't expect you to forgive me. But I'm here, and I'm not running this time," he lifted a hand, hesitant, before tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "And I'll fight for you if you let me."
Violet's heart pounded, the weight of everything crashing down on her at once. She wanted to scream, to cry, to tell him to get out and never come back. But part of her... one reckless, hopeless part... wanted to believe him.
And that scared her more than anything.
"I know it's too late to ask for forgiveness. But Violet... " He exhaled, dragging a hand down his face. "I never stopped loving you," Ethan's jaw tightened, frustration flickering across his face.
Her breath hitched. The words hit her like a wrecking ball, tearing through her defenses before she could stop them. But she couldn't let them sink in. She couldn't let them have meaning.
"Love?" she repeated, letting out a hollow laugh. "You call what you did "love"?" She shook her head, blinking rapidly. "Love isn't running away when things get hard, Ethan. Love isn't leaving someone to pick up the shattered pieces while you go off to figure yourself out."
"I was a coward," he admitted. "I thought leaving would be easier than staying and facing what I felt for you," Ethan looked pained, as if each word she spoke cut into him.
"And did it work?" she bit out. "Was it easier?" Violet scoffed, wrapping her arms around herself.
Ethan's silence told her everything.
She clenched her jaw, the tears she'd been holding back finally slipping down her cheeks. "I hate you for this," she whispered, and God, she wished it wasn't true. But it was. She hated him for the years she spent wondering why she wasn't enough. For the nights she cried herself to sleep. For the pieces of her heart she could never put back together.
"I know," Ethan swallowed hard.
"I should hate you forever," Violet let out a slow breath, shaking her head.
Ethan stepped forward, closing the distance she had tried to create. His voice was quiet, filled with something she wasn't ready to name. "But do you?"
She stared at him, her hands shaking at her sides.
Did she? Could she?
The answer was terrifying. Because no matter how much pain he had caused her, no matter how deeply he had broken her...
A part of her still loved him. And that was the worst part of all.
Violet looked away, blinking rapidly as she turned toward the locked door. "We need to get out of here," her voice was uneven, barely above a whisper.
Violet's fingers fumbled with the lock, her hands trembling despite her best efforts to steady them. But it wasn't the lock that was the problem... it was him. His presence. His words. The way he was standing just a few steps behind her, watching her like she was something fragile. Like he hadn't shattered her years ago.
"Dammit," she muttered under her breath, twisting the knob harder. But the door wouldn't budge.
"Here, let me... " Ethan stepped forward, his hand brushing against hers as he reached for the handle.
She flinched. The touch was brief, barely there, but it sent something sharp and painful through her chest.
"Don't," she snapped, stepping away from him.
Ethan exhaled, dropping his hand. He didn't move closer, but he didn't step back either. He just stood there, watching her with something unreadable in his gaze.
For a long moment, neither of them spoke. Then, finally, he broke the silence.
"I never wanted to hurt you, Violet." His voice was quiet, strained. "But I did. And I have to live with that every single day."
"Oh, you have to live with it?" she repeated, her eyes flashing. "That's funny, Ethan, because I lived it. I had to wake up every day and remind myself that you weren't coming back. I had to carry the weight of your absence while you... you got to just leave," Violet let out a bitter laugh, turning to face him fully.
"I didn't just leave," he said, his voice rough. "I... I was a mess, Violet. I convinced myself that I was doing the right thing, that you'd be better off without me," Ethan's face twisted in something like regret.
"You don't get to decide what's best for me," she shook her head, tears burning her eyes again.
"I know," he admitted, his jaw tightening. "I know that now."
"Then why did you come back?" Violet let out a shaky breath, her emotions colliding all at once.
Ethan hesitated, and for a second, she thought he wouldn't answer. But then, he did.
"Because I couldn't stay away any longer," he said, his voice thick with something raw. "Because I kept telling myself that if I loved you, I had to let you go. But all these years, I've been running from the truth. The truth was that I never stopped loving you."
Violet stared at him, her heart pounding against her ribs. She wanted to scream. She wanted to cry. She wanted to hit him, to make him feel even a fraction of the pain he had put her through. But most of all, she wanted to believe him. And that terrified her.
"You don't get to say that now, Ethan," she whispered. "Not after everything," Violet's breath hitched.
Ethan clenched his jaw, his hands balling into fists at his sides. He looked like he wanted to say more, like he had a million words left unspoken. But he didn't force them out.
Instead, he exhaled slowly and said, "Then tell me what you want me to do."
Violet's chest rose and fell, her pulse thundering in her ears.
What did she want? For him to leave? For him to stay? For this aching, consuming, unbearable love she still felt for him to disappear? She didn't have an answer.
So instead, she turned back to the door and whispered, "Just open the damn door, Ethan."
For a moment, he didn't move. Then, with a slow nod, he stepped past her and reached for the lock. The door creaked open, and the cold air from outside rushed in, cutting through the suffocating heat of the room.
But even as they stepped out...
The storm between them was far from over.