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Aurelia POV 

My heart skips.

Something important?

The way he looked didn’t feel like good news. Not even close. His shoulders were too stiff, his eyes too careful, like someone handling glass they already know is cracked.

“I’m listening,” I signed back, my fingers trembling despite my effort to keep them steady.

He hesitated. Just a little. But I saw it. The warmth that had wrapped me minutes ago was gone, replaced with a quiet caution, the kind that means someone is about to hurt you and knows it.

I prayed it wasn’t what my mind kept screaming at my heart. I refused to believe he would ever do that. Not him. Not us.

The paranoia I had shoved away crept back into my chest, sharp and insistent. My body shook lightly, nerves buzzing beneath my skin.

He wouldn’t. We had come too far. Too much history, too many promises, too much healing to let the past tear through what we had built so carefully.

Seth sighed, deep and heavy, then stood up. He reached for a file on the shelf nearby.

My heart started racing.

What was in that folder?

What I’m about to tell you now, he signed, pausing midway, his hands hovering like they weren’t sure they wanted to finish the thought.

“You might not like it. But it’s for the best.”

The way his hands moved was slow, deliberate, almost rehearsed. Careful. Like he was cushioning a blow.

My shaking worsened. My fingers clipped the fork by mistake and it fell from my hand, clattering against the table. I couldn’t hear it, but I saw the way Seth flinched, the worry rushing into his eyes as he hurried to my side.

“Are you okay? he signed, concern written plainly across his face.

“It’s fine. It was a mistake”, I signed back quickly, forcing calm where there was none.

“What is it you want to tell me? What’s in the folder?”

His gaze flicked back to the file before he slowly pulled it closer and sat beside me, closer than before. Close enough that I could feel the heat of him, close enough that my chest tightened painfully.

My body wouldn’t settle. A restless hum ran through me, but I stayed still, clinging to composure.

Maybe it’s something else. Maybe I’m overthinking. Let me just wait and listen.

He paused again, staring at me with deliberate focus. His mouth twitched slightly, like he was bracing himself.

“Aurelia…

Regina is back.”

My brain processed the name faster than my eyes could follow his lips.

Regina.

Regina is back, he signed again, repeating it as if one version of the truth wasn’t enough to shatter me.

I stayed frozen, unable to move, unable to react. My thoughts went blank even as my heart thundered wildly in my chest. Memories flooded in all at once, cruel and uninvited.

Regina. That reckless and Cruel.. . Twisting things just to make Seth beg. Not caring what might happen to him, not caring who got hurt. Leaving without looking back.

And now, after all these years… she was back.

For what?

Seth’s expression hardened further, seriousness settling into his features like a final verdict.

“Regina and I are getting back together” , he signed.

My chest constricted painfully.

“She’s coming back to launch her career here. We decided to work things out and get back together.”

The words didn’t feel real. They floated somewhere above me, disconnected from my body.

He opened the folder.

“I want us to get a divorce so it doesn’t complicate things. No one except our family knows about us. Not even Regina. So it won’t be hard on you.”

He signed quickly, urgently, like speed could soften the damage.

A divorce?

The word echoed inside me, hollow and violent.

Everything collapsed at once. Thoughts crashing into each other, emotions tangling, my chest aching so deeply it felt physical.

I couldn’t understand it. I couldn’t understand him. After everything she had done. After everything we had survived.

No. No. I couldn’t.

“What?” I signed, forcing the word out while tears burned behind my eyes.

Aurelia, he mouthed softly, reaching for my hands.

This is for the best….

Before he could continue, I pulled my hands back and signed.

“What would grandfather say? Have you thought of that? Seth, she left you. She didn’t care if you died that day. Why now?”

My hands moved faster than my heart could keep up with. Pain poured out clumsily, insufficiently. I couldn’t express how much this hurt, how deeply it cut.

“Don’t you love me anymore?”

 I signed, desperate, raw, trying to force something to change. Trying to make him remember us. What we built. What we promised.

“I love you, Aurelia. Always have and always will, he signed.”

Hope sparked briefly in my chest, fragile and trembling.

“But you are my sister. This arrangement was because grandfather insisted. I love you as my sister.”

The hope shattered instantly.

My heart sank, something inside me breaking quietly.

A tear finally slipped free.