TROUBLE IN PARADISE 

The door of Lucas’s apartment building closed behind me with a soft, final click. I took a deep breath I didn't even know I was holding all along.

I didn't stay long before I started walking. I had no destination in mind, I just didn’t want to be anywhere around anything that reminded me of Lucas. I didn't know how long I had walked, but I was so sure I was far from Lucas. 

I sat on the vacant chair beside the sidewalk in the same black dress I had worn the night before, thinking of everything. Before now, there had been no real plan. I worked at the café for scraps, just enough to keep myself from looking like a complete burden. Even while I was with Lucas, I paid for my own things. I wanted to prove to him that I was not among those desperate girls after his money. 

Hmn…. Then, I needed that small, stubborn pride, even if it was pathetic. But now that pride meant nothing. 

My phone vibrated and pulled me off my thoughts. At some point, I wish it was Lucas, calling to tell me all this was a fucking joke. I pulled it out of my pocket to check the caller.

Jax.

“Jax,” I called lightly, trying to sound firm.

“Mia?” Jax’s voice came out sharp. “Why do you sound like that?”

“Like how?” I asked nonchalantly, like she wasn't close to the truth.

“Like you are crying.”

“I’m not.” I wiped my face with the back of my palm like it would change the way my voice came out.

Judith’s softer voice joined in the background. “Is she okay? Put her on speaker.”

I pressed my back against the chair, placed my hands on my temples, and closed my eyes. “I’m okay,” I said finally between breaths. “I really am, I just had a long night.”

Jax didn’t buy it. “Come over, Mia, we are home. You can talk it off.”

The offer sat in my chest like a stone. ‘Go and talk it off’ I might even end up spending the night there, maybe two…or even more than. I know Jax and Judith would never complain about it. But right now, I was too broken to be seen.

And secondly, they were a couple, like a real couple. Those girls would touch each other without thinking, they wouldn't even mind me sitting and watching them. I wasn't mentally ready for that.

“I can’t,” I whispered.

“Mia…”

“I said I’m fine, Jax… I will call you later, or I will see you at work tomorrow.”

I didn't give her time to argue or object before I ended the call.

The sun was already setting somewhere in the east when I finally found my feet. No matter how much I didn't want to admit it, I had just one place to go.

My father's house 

The taxi ride felt endless. When the familiar street appeared, my stomach twisted. The building looked the same—peeling paint, rust gate that announces your presence the moment you open it. I paid the driver with the last of the cash Lucas had once given me before I stepped into the building. 

Was I comfortable coming here? No. Do I have a choice? No. I dragged my legs up the stairs before I could change my mind. The door opened before I knocked. 

Speaking of the devil, Lila. She must have heard the gate. Lila stood there in a silk robe, hair perfect, skin flawless, and a smile already sharp enough to cut.

“Well, well.” Her eyes dragged over my wrinkled dress and ruined makeup as she wrapped her hands across her chest. “Look what the cat dragged back. Trouble in paradise already?”

I didn’t answer her. I moved past her, heading towards the sitting room.

“Ooppss.” She stepped aside with a mocking gesture. “Come in, big sister, make yourself at home.” She laughed as she followed behind me. “Oh wait… You never had one.”

The living room smelled of cigarettes and the expensive perfume Lila’s mother always wore. And yes, Lila’s mother is my father's wife. Was I supposed to call her mum, right? After all, my father married her six months after my delivery, so she practically took care of me.

Or better still, call her stepmother. But I will never do such a thing. I think that is the only thing I decided, and it was approved in this house. 

To me, the word “mother” belonged to the woman who had died giving birth to me. Calling Lila’s mother by that title felt like betraying her. Then “Stepmother” felt too soft, too ordinary for what she was… let's not dive into her traits right now.

She remains Lila’s mother in my head—clinical, distant, and true.

She sat on the couch with a glass of wine, legs crossed, while she watched me like I was some dirt who just littered her house.

“Mia,” she called with her usual smooth voice. If you have never seen her act, you would think she was about to offer me dinner. “I didn’t expect to see you so soon. Did Lucas finally get tired of his charity case?”

I kept my eyes down. “I need a place to stay…. Just for a while.”

Lila laughed, short and mean. “For a while? That’s cute.”

Lila’s mother took a slow sip of wine like my presence was already boring her. “Your old room is still empty, just as you left it. No one else wanted it.”

My father's footsteps interrupted her. She glanced up briefly and focused on her wine again. My father walked into the living room with his shirt half-buttoned, eyes bloodshot. He stopped the moment he saw me, something strange passed over his face…Surprise, I don't really care, but I know that his second stare made my skin crawl. 

He didn’t say a word to me, he just looked at me the way he used to look at me when the debts got bad. But I was a full-grown adult now, he can't force me into something like that.

I forced myself past him and headed to my room.

My old room was exactly as I had left it. Narrow bed, cracked mirror, and of course a window that never locked properly. I quickly closed the door and leaned against it, breathing hard, then I slid down to the floor and sat down with my back pressed to the door.

Then the memory hit without warning.

Dion.

I thought of the way he had kissed me at the ball, like he was starving. Something I had craved for all my life… almost like someone who couldn't live without me. The car scene came rushing in, the way he had lifted me onto his lap in the car and pushed his fingers inside me while I moaned his name. He didn't even stop there, he licked those same fingers clean like it was the best food he had tasted.

"Tch…”My body still remembers. 

Heat flickered low in my stomach, down between my legs, then I pressed my thighs together. Was he really different? Would he have helped me? Does he even still remember I existed? He was so beautiful I was so sure he was fucking the hell out of someone else right now.

I shook my head, trying not to think about him because this was not the best place to do that. This house felt dangerous.

I stood and walked to the cracked mirror. I still looked pale and small, just the way I left my father's house two years ago.

“I would live like a ghost in this house,” I said to my reflection. “ Leave early and come back late. I would stay in this room as much as possible, eat only when they weren’t around, and keep my head down until I could figure out something.”

I nodded back to my reflection before I finally went to my wardrobe. As I opened it, one of the doors fell.

“Ouch…” I pulled back, then gently held the broken door up. “ How on earth do you expect me to see money to fix you?” I placed it gently by the side of the wall and picked out something simple to wear.

Downstairs, I heard Lila’s laughter, then Lila’s mother’s smoother tone.

“…she’s back already. I told you the rich boy wouldn’t keep her long.”

My father’s voice, rough and slurry. “She shouldn't have come back.”

Lila’s mother spoke again, colder this time. “I told you nothing good comes out of her, just like she killed her mother…”

Not again… I pulled my knees to my chest and pressed my forehead against them, because right now, I had walked straight back into a cage I wasn’t sure I would find another way out.