Chapter 5 ~ Unwanted Encounters

The Dance of Denial

Elena's POV

If anyone had asked me what heartbreak looked like, I would have told them it looked like a silver necklace resting in the palm of my hand.

I didn't remember walking back to the ballroom.

One moment I was standing beneath the moonlight, staring at the necklace I thought Adrian had discarded years ago. The next, I was surrounded by music, laughter, and smiling faces, as though the conversation in the garden had never happened.

I slipped the necklace into my clutch before anyone noticed. No one needed to know. Especially not Sophia. She was glowing.

Her happiness radiated through the ballroom as she laughed with her fiancé, greeting relatives and thanking guests who had travelled from different cities to celebrate with them.

Seeing her smile reminded me why I had come.

Tonight wasn't about me. It wasn't about Adrian. It certainly wasn't about the ghosts we'd awakened beneath the stars.

"Where have you been?"

Sophia's voice pulled me back to the present.

I forced a smile.

"Outside. I needed some air."

She studied me for a second longer than was comfortable.

"You look pale."

"I'm fine."

"You've always been a terrible liar." I laughed softly.

"I get that from you." She bumped my shoulder playfully.

"I wish." Sophia glanced across the room.

My heart already knew what she was looking at before my eyes followed hers. Adrian. He was speaking to an older gentleman in a charcoal suit, listening more than talking. Every now and then, he nodded politely, but there was a distance in his expression that hadn't been there years ago.

He wasn't really in the conversation. He was watching me, not constantly, not obviously, just enough that whenever I looked up, our eyes met, again and again and again. 

"You two are exhausting. “I blinked.

"What? Sophia folded her arms.

"You've looked at each other at least six times in the last five minutes."

"I have not."

"You just did it again." Heat rushed to my cheeks.

"I wasn't looking at him."

"Oh?" She smiled mischievously.

"Then what colour is his tie?" I opened my mouth, then closed it. 

“Midnight blue.” exactly the shade that made his dark eyes seem almost black.

Sophia burst into laughter.

"I knew it!"

"I hate you."

"No, you don't." She linked her arm through mine.

"You still love him." The words hit harder than I expected. I stopped walking.

"I don't." She looked at me with the kind of gentleness only an older sister could understand.

"I didn't say you trusted him." Silence.

"I said you loved him." I couldn't answer because I didn't know.

Love wasn't supposed to survive abandonment. It wasn't supposed to survive five years of silence. It definitely wasn't supposed to survive seeing the man responsible standing twenty metres away looking as broken as you felt.

Yet, my heart had betrayed me the moment I saw him and that terrified me.

Adrian's POV

She still wore emerald when she was trying to convince the world she was stronger than she felt. Five years!

Five years, and I still remembered her favourite colour. I watched Elena laugh at something Sophia said. The sound reached me even across the crowded ballroom. For a moment, everything disappeared. Not the guests, not the music. Just the years. 

I was twenty-nine again, standing outside her apartment with takeaway food because she'd forgotten to eat while studying, listening to her complain about burnt toast, watching her dance barefoot in the kitchen because our favourite song came on the radio.

God! I'd thrown all of that away.

"You've been staring at the same woman for the last ten minutes." I turned.

My best friend, Damien Brooks, stood beside me with two glasses of champagne. He handed me one. I accepted it but didn't drink.

"You always were terrible at subtlety," Damien continued.

"I'm not trying to be subtle."

"No." He followed my gaze toward Elena.

"I suppose you're not." Damien had been there from the beginning. He'd watched me fall in love, watched me walk away, he'd also watched me regret it every day afterwards.

"Does she know?" I shook my head. "Not yet."

"And you're planning to tell her?"

"When the time is right." Damien sighed.

"You've been saying that for five years."

"I know." He laughed. "There it is again."

"What?"

"'I know.'" Despite myself, I smiled. Elena had said the same thing minutes earlier.

The memory tightened something inside me.

"She's angry." Damien gave me a look that bordered on disbelief.

"Adrian..." "What?" "She has every right to be."

"I know." "There it is again." He rubbed a hand across his face.

"I've never seen you afraid of anything."

"I am now."

"What changed?" I looked across the ballroom. Elena had just smiled at one of her cousins. It was a small smile. Polite.

Nothing like the smile she used to reserve for me.

"I finally have something worth losing." Damien was quiet for a long moment. Then his expression grew serious.

"Did you notice the man in the grey suit?"

My grip tightened around the champagne glass. "I did."

"He arrived twenty minutes ago."

"I know."

"He isn't here for the wedding."

"I know." Damien leaned closer.

"Then why is he here?" Before I could answer, the man looked directly at me. No smile, no greeting, just… recognition. Then he disappeared into the crowd. A chill crawled down my spine. He'd found us, which meant time was running out and Elena had no idea that the greatest threat to her wasn't the pain I'd caused five years ago. It was the danger that had finally caught up with us.

The master of ceremonies stepped onto the stage.

"Ladies and gentlemen..." The room slowly quieted. "As part of tonight's celebration..." Guests turned their attention toward him.

"...we have a little tradition." A murmur of excitement spread through the ballroom.

Sophia smiled knowingly. Oh no...

"The bride and groom have selected several couples to open tonight's dance floor."

My stomach dropped. Please… Not me. The MC unfolded a card.

"Our first couple..." He smiled broadly.

"Miss Elena Hart..." The room erupted in applause. I froze.

 "...and Mr Adrian Kane." Silence filled my ears. The applause faded into the background. My eyes found Adrian's. He looked just as surprised as I felt.

Sophia. I turned sharply toward my sister.

She refused to meet my gaze. Instead, she smiled. The little traitor. Adrian slowly crossed the ballroom. Not hurried. Not hesitant. When he reached me, he stopped just close enough for only me to hear.

"You don't have to." I looked around. Hundreds of guests, phones already recording, whispers beginning.

If I refused, tonight would become about us, not Sophia. I couldn't do that to her. Taking a slow breath, I lifted my eyes to his.

"One dance." His expression softened.

"One dance." He extended his hand.

For a heartbeat, I stared at it.

Against every promise I had made to myself, I placed my hand in his and the moment our fingers touched… The past came rushing back.