Chapter 6: Running Back to the Fire

Ariana’s POV

Going home felt like defeat.

I didn’t want to admit that, not even to myself, but the feeling sat heavy in my chest as I walked through the familiar crowded bus station. 

Every step made me feel more like a child running back to safety after scraping her knee. 

I had wanted to be strong, independent, unbothered. 

But instead, I was returning home because I didn’t know where else to go—not with my heart spiraling and the weight of Alex’s coldness still pressing on me.

By the time I reached my street, the early evening breeze couldn’t wash off the heat from my embarrassment. 

My house came into view, its faded yellow walls, the narrow balcony with clothes hanging over it, the sound of Maya’s loud voice echoing from inside. 

Nothing had changed. Well, nothing ever really changed here.

I paused outside the gate and let out a long breath.

“This is temporary, I whispered to myself. Just until I figure out what I’m doing tomorrow.” I encourage myself. 

I pushed the gate open.

The moment I stepped inside, my mom’s voice hit me like a slap.

“Ariana! Where have you been? Come and carry these things!”

I wasn’t even through the living room when she shoved two heavy shopping bags into my arms. The weight caught me off guard and I stumbled.

“Mummy, I……”

“Don’t ‘mummy’ me,” she snapped. “You know your sister cannot be lifting things. Her nails just got done. And you, you are doing what? Walking around with empty hands?”

I bit my tongue, carrying the bags to the kitchen. Maya sat on the couch scrolling on her phone, her newly done acrylic nails tapping loudly on the screen. 

She didn’t look up.

“Make sure you put the drinks in the fridge,” she said, flipping her hair back. “I want them cold before my friends come.”

My jaw clenched. “You can do that yourself.”

She laughed, like actually laughed.

“Do I look like a housemaid to you?”

“But I guess I do,” I thought bitterly.

My mother turned sharply. “Ariana, don’t start. If you were busy in your own house with your own husband, would you be here? No. So help your sister. At least she has prospects.”

The words stung more than they should have.

I swallowed hard. “I’m tired. I just got back from work…..”

“You didn’t keep any job,” Maya said without looking up, her voice dripping with the kind of fake sweetness that always made me want to scream. 

“You haven’t even stayed at one place for up to a month. Please.”

My cheeks burned. I set the bags down a little too loudly.

“I have a job now,” I said firmly.

Maya snorted. “For how long this time? Till next week? Next month? Don’t stress us, please.”

My mother chimed in before I could respond. “In this house, you must be useful. You are almost thirty, what do you have? No savings, no husband, no car. Look at Maya—she is twenty-four and look how sharp she is. A successful model and influencer.”

I closed my eyes.

Comparison……my mother’s favorite weapon.

I turned toward the kitchen, because arguing would only make things worse. I put the drinks away, cleaned the counter even though it was already clean, then washed the dishes Maya conveniently ‘forgot’ to rinse. 

My feet ached, my back hurt and my head felt heavy.

This house always swallowed me whole.

I moved like a ghost, doing task after task while the two of them lounged in the living room laughing about something online.

At one point, Maya called out, 

“Arianaaaaa! Help me bring my bag from the room!”

I ignored her.

“Ari…….”

“Maya, leave her!” my mom snapped from behind me. “She should go and do it. What is she doing now?”

I grit my teeth and went.

Because if I didn’t, I would never hear the end of it.

Her bag was on her bed. I picked it up and walked back to the living room. She didn’t even say “thank you.” She just took it and resumed scrolling on her phone.

That was when I felt it—that familiar sense of worthlessness creeping up my spine.

I had run home to find comfort.

Instead, I walked into a place that reminded me why I wanted to leave in the first place.

When I finally escaped to my room, I sank onto my bed and buried my face in my pillow. The room was small and crowded with old boxes and clothes I couldn’t throw away. The fan squeaked with each rotation.

This wasn’t home.

It was a halfway house for disappointment.

My phone buzzed beside me.

I reached for it, assuming it was my mom asking for something else, or Maya demanding water like I was her personal slave.

But it wasn’t.

It was an email.

From: HR Department, Sterling Enterprises

My stomach dropped.

I sat up, suddenly alert, and opened it.

Dear Miss Ariana Cross,

This is a reminder that you are required to resume officially tomorrow morning at 8:00 AM. Failure to return will be interpreted as forfeiture of your position, and the role will be reassigned.

Warm regards,

HR Team

I let out a shaky breath.

So it was now—or never.

If I didn’t go back tomorrow, someone else would take the job and returning home would become permanent.

I leaned back on the bed, staring at the ceiling.

My mother’s voice echoed from outside:

“Make sure Ariana wakes up early tomorrow to clean this place! She is home doing nothing!”

Nothing.

That was how they saw me.

That was all they thought I was worth.

But the job… it was my chance to escape. My path to something—anything—better.

And then, of course… there was Alex.

The memory of him today, his hands on my waist, the coldness in his eyes, the way he refused to even look back—hit me all over again.

He didn’t want me there.

He made that painfully clear.

He wanted professionalism and distance. We were strangers.

But if I quit because of him, then what would that say about me?

That I was too weak to be around a man who didn’t want me anymore? That I had no control over my own life?

No.

If he could pretend nothing happened, then so could I.

And a tiny part of me wanted to see him again. To know if what I felt at the resort was real.

To see if maybe, just maybe, he had felt even a fraction of what I did.

I pressed my palm against my chest.

“Coward,” I whispered to myself. “You want to run back just to see him.”

Maybe I was a coward. Maybe I was pathetic. Maybe I was still hung up on a man who clearly moved on.

But at least going back gave me something my home never did—hope.

Hope for a better life, for independence and for closure.

I checked the time: 8:46 PM. I had less than 12 hours to decide.

Maya banged on my door. “Ariana! The remote fell under the couch. Come and help me!”

I closed my eyes.

That did it.

I stood up, walked to my small mirror, and stared at myself.

Tired eyes and rough day.

But a spark was still there “I’m going back,” I whispered to my reflection. “For me. And if I see him again… fine. But I’m going back.”

My phone dinged with another message. It was Maya again, complaining.

I turned it off.

I laid back on my messy bed and stared at the ceiling until my heartbeat slowed.

Tomorrow would be hell.

Seeing Alex again would be worse.

But staying here? Living like this? Feeling small every damn second?

That was something I couldn’t survive anymore.

I exhaled.

Tomorrow, I will walk back into Sterling Enterprises and God help me… I hoped I ran into Alex.

Even if it burned.

Even if it destroyed me a second time.

Because part of me still wasn’t ready to let go of the man who looked at me like I was the only woman in the world…..

And then pretended he’d never touched me at all.

Tomorrow, everything will change.

One way or another.