Chapter 7: When Reality Hits

The morning sun didn’t bring warmth. It only exposed the cold reality of the penthouse.

When Ava opened her eyes, she was tangled in Noah’s sheets, but the space beside her was already cold.

No lingering touch.

No soft conversation.

Noah stood by the glass windows, already dressed in a charcoal suit, speaking quietly into his earpiece. His voice was low, controlled, distant.

Last night felt unreal.

This morning, he was someone else entirely.

He didn’t look back as she got dressed and left

By nine, Ava was back under the bright lights of Ava’s Glam.

She threw herself into work, moving faster than usual, needing the noise to drown everything out. The salon buzzed around her dryers humming, scissors cutting, voices blending into something easy to hide inside.

She focused on the mirror in front of her, styling a client’s hair with careful precision.

Steady hands.

Controlled movements.

Like nothing was wrong.

“You went back to him, didn’t you?”

Tessa’s voice cut through the noise.

Ava didn’t look up. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You do,” Tessa said, stepping closer. “You have that look.”

Ava sighed, still avoiding her reflection. “I’m just tired. The shop is busy. Dinner last night was a mess. Can we not do this right now?”

Tessa studied her for a moment, unconvinced.

Before she could push further, Ava’s phone rang.

The sound was sharp enough to break the tension.

Ava reached for it, expecting a message.

It wasn’t Noah.

It was her mother.

She answered immediately.

“Ava—” her mother’s voice came through, rushed and unsteady. “You need to come now. It’s Leo.”

Ava straightened. “What happened?”

“He got into a fight,” her mother said. “It’s bad. They’re taking him to the hospital. Ava, you need to come.”

Everything went still.

The noise of the salon faded.

The clients.

The mirrors.

The routine.

Gone.

“Not again,” Ava whispered under her breath.

Fear hit first.

Then frustration.

Then that familiar exhaustion she could never quite shake.

While she was losing herself in Noah’s world, her real life was falling apart again.

“I’m on my way,” she said quickly, ending the call.

She didn’t think.

Didn’t check her schedule.

Didn’t even look at herself.

She untied her apron with shaking hands and dropped it on the counter.

Tessa stepped forward immediately, already holding her keys. She pressed them into Ava’s hand without a word.

Ava nodded once, then turned and rushed out.

The city hit her all at once noise, traffic, movement.

She got into her car and drove.

Faster than she should have.

Her grip tightened on the steering wheel as her thoughts spun.

She had spent so long running to Noah.

Using him as an escape.

Something controlled.

Something predictable.

Even if it hurt.

But this?

This wasn’t controlled.

This was her real life.

Messy. Loud. Unstable.

And as she drove toward the hospital, one truth settled heavily in her chest.

Noah wasn’t the only chaos in her life.

Her family was a different kind of storm.

And this one… she couldn’t walk away from.

For a second, Ava didn’t move.

The phone stayed in her hand, her grip tight, her breath shallow as the words settled in.

Leo.

A fight.

Hospital.

It felt unreal, like something she had heard before too many times. Like a cycle that never really ended, no matter how much she tried to step outside of it.

Her chest tightened.

This was exactly why she worked so hard. Why she built Ava’s Glam from nothing. Why she tried to create a life that felt stable, controlled, hers.

And yet, no matter how far she moved forward, something always dragged her back.

Back into chaos.

Back into noise.

Back into a life that never stayed still.

Ava closed her eyes briefly, pressing her fingers to her temple.

For one moment, she thought of Noah.

Of how different his world felt. Quiet. Controlled. Predictable in its own way.

But even that wasn’t real.

Not really.

Because with him, she was still waiting.

Still adjusting.

Still trying to fit into something that was never fully hers.

Her eyes opened again, sharper this time.

This wasn’t about Noah.

This was real.

This mattered.