Chapter 5 : Reunion

“Why are you with my phone?”

I didn’t know what irritated me more—the fact that Henrietta was holding my phone or the way she quickly tried to mask her guilt. My eyes narrowed as I stepped forward, crossing the space between us in long, measured strides.  

“Why are you with my phone?” My voice was sharp, leaving no room for excuses.  

Henrietta’s fingers twitched before she quickly placed the phone back on the nightstand. She turned to face me, her lips parting slightly before she spoke.  

“I was just… checking the time,” she said, a little too fast. “I needed to know how much time I had left to arrange your clothes and then rush down to serve your dinner.”  

I raised a brow, unconvinced. She avoided my eyes, instead reaching for one of the suits I had draped over the chair.  

“Next time, use the clock,” I said flatly, picking up my phone. My screen was still on, the notification banner glowing softly. My grip tightened the second I saw the sender’s name.  

Kristine.  

For a moment, I just stared.  

I must be hallucinating.  

She left.She was the one who left. The one who vanished without a trace. And now she had the audacity to send me a message?  

The urge to open it clawed at me, tempting me to type out the words I never got to say when she walked out of my life. I wanted to tell her how much I missed her. How I spent months drowning in alcohol, trying to erase the pain of her absence.  

But then I remembered.  

The breakup text.  

A simple message, cold and emotionless, cutting me out of her life as if I meant nothing.   

I clenched my jaw and locked my phone without replying.  

Henrietta’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts.  

“Look, you don’t have to remind me,” she said, her tone neutral. “I know this marriage is fake. I know the contract. Nothing is going to change that.”  

My gaze flickered to her.  

She wasn’t wrong.  

Whatever this was—whatever forced arrangement we had—it was never going to be real.  

I let out a low scoff. “Good. Keep it that way.”  

She nodded stiffly before stepping away, her expression unreadable. Without another word, she left the room, leaving me alone with nothing but my tangled thoughts and the unopened message that still lingered on my screen.  

---

I was barely a few feet from my car when I saw her.

A familiar figure stood just outside my gate, her silhouette outlined by the golden hue of the streetlights.  

I froze.  

No.  

It couldn’t be.  

My breath caught as I stepped forward, my heart hammering against my ribs.  

The moment I reached the gate, the figure turned, and for the first time in years, I was face-to-face with Kristine.

My chest tightened. She looked exactly the same, yet different. Her eyes still held that sharp intensity, but there was something else—a softness, an uncertainty that never used to be there.  

I opened my mouth, but before I could say anything, she ran straight into my arms.

I stiffened.  

The scent of her shampoo filled my senses as she pressed herself against me, her fingers gripping my back like she was afraid I would disappear. I felt the warmth of her body against mine, the ghost of a feeling I once knew so well.  

The memories came rushing back.  

Nights spent tangled together, whispering promises we never thought would break. Mornings where she would curl into me, tracing lazy patterns on my skin. The way she used to smile—like I was the only thing in the world that mattered.  

And then the memories of her leaving.

Her silence.  

The cold, cruel text that shattered everything.  

I jerked back,breaking the embrace.  

“What the hell are you doing here?” My voice was harsher than I intended, but I didn’t care.  

Kristine’s lips parted, but before she could answer, a sharp voice cut through the air.  

“Well, that explains a lot.”  

I turned sharply.  

Henrietta.  

She stood a few feet away, her eyes dark and unreadable. I hadn’t even noticed her come out of the house.  

Damn it.  

Her gaze flickered between me and Kristine, and then she let out a dry laugh.  

“So that must be your real wife, right?” she said, her arms crossed.  

Something about the way she said it made my irritation spike.  

“You’re overstepping,” I said coolly.  

“Oh, am I?” she shot back. “Forgive me for thinking I deserved to know why my so-called husband has another woman throwing herself at him in the middle of the street.”  

Kristine’s head snapped towards me, her brows pulling together.  

“Husband?” Her voice was barely a whisper, but I heard the betrayal in it. “You’re… married?”  

The way she said it, like she couldn’t believe it, made something bitter coil in my chest.  

“How could you move on so easily?” Kristine asked, her voice unsteady.  

I laughed.

A sharp, humorless sound.  

“Move on?” I repeated. “You’re really asking me that?”  

Kristine flinched.  

Henrietta took a step forward. “What exactly are you talking about?”  

Kristine’s gaze shifted to her, and for a split second, I saw something flicker in her expression. Something uncertain. But then she pressed her lips together.  

“It doesn’t matter.”  

“The hell it doesn’t,” I snapped.  

She looked at me then. Looked at me like she was holding onto a secret she didn’t know how to say. 

“You should go inside,” I told Henrietta, my voice cold.  

For a second, I thought she would argue. Her lips parted, her brows drawn together, but then—without a word—she turned and walked back into the house.  

Once she was gone, I exhaled sharply, turning back to Kristine.  

“There’s nothing left between us,” I said, my voice void of emotion. “The day you left, that was the day I stopped giving a damn.”  

Kristine’s jaw clenched. “Raphael—”  

“No,” I cut her off. “I don’t care why you’re here, I don’t care what excuse you have. You don’t get to waltz back in and act like—”  

“I was pregnant.”  

Silence.  

Everything inside me stilled.

The words slammed into me,knocking the breath out of my lungs.  

Kristine’s eyes were glossy, but her voice was steady. “I was pregnant, Raphael. That’s why I left.”  

No.  

She was lying.

She had to be.  

Kristine swallowed hard. “I had our baby.”  

The world tilted.

My fingers twitched, my heart hammering so violently it hurt.  

No.  

This isn’t happening.  

I opened my mouth, but no words came out.

“I didn’t come back for me,” Kristine whispered, her voice breaking slightly. “I came back because…” She took a shaky breath. “Because our child needs a father.”  

The air rushed out of my lungs.

Every thought I had shattered.

She wasn’t lying.

  

I could see it in her eyes.

This wasn’t some cruel joke. This wasn’t some manipulative trick.  

She was telling the truth.  

I had a child.  

**A baby.**

And I never knew.