He wasn't there.Astrid burst into a mild fit of panic after realising that she had woken up to an empty spot right beside her.Discovering that she was still sore from the night before, coupled with the hangover that made her head feel like a tampered minefield, she decided to take care of herself first. After a quick shower, she made her way down the stairs to request for painkillers."Did you sleep well?" She jumped in shock as Darius' voice came from behind her.Not bothering to turn to face him, she nodded. She couldn't afford to let him see how flustered she was."What's wrong? Did I do something?" He held her shoulders and spun her around so she could face him.Managing to look up at him, she saw genuine worry and an underlying softness which she had never seen before in his eyes."I need painkillers. I have a headache, that's all." She answered, looking away shyly.Reading her body language and facial expressions wrongly, Darius frowned. "If you're not happy with something I di

How long it took for people to move on depended on a lot of factors; what they were supposed to move on from, how they handled losses, how emotionally capable they were, how smoothly things were going after the loss.The latter of the list was pushing Astrid to the edge. She had been on the receiving end of the backlash from the press after Darius had publicly announced that he was no longer with her.They said she left him after his mother died, which was something only a horrible woman would do. Nobody bothered with her side of the story.Nothing was going smoothly for her. It wouldn't take half an hour for her to step foot outside before being bombarded by reporters and flashing cameras, just to be accused of being ‘the last partner a person should want’ on TV shows.It had been a whole month since she left Greece, since she kissed Darius goodbye.The last time he had seen her, he made it clear that he wanted her to leave. Of course, she didn't want to leave, but what would she be

“I don’t want you saying things like that to me, Darius.” Astrid drew the line immediately. She was still in the right space of mind at the moment, and hearing him confess his feelings to her would be sure to throw her off balance.“For what it’s worth, I am extremely sorry for everything I put you through, for throwing you out of my life.” He let her know.“Stop it.” She snapped. This time, he gave no reply.After a brief moment of silent, she stood up with a sigh. “I want you to know that if I ever agree to go back with you, it’s for the sake of my child. Nothing’s going to happen between us.”“Our child.” He corrected, earning a frown from her.“I’ll need you to take your leave now,” she told him, opening the door.“You’re not going to let me stay until she wakes up?” He gave her a disappointed look.“It wouldn’t make a difference.” She shrugged, watching him walk towards her.She stiffened as he placed a hand over her head, softly using his thumb to draw patterns on her he

“You can’t leave.” He shook his head, grabbing her hands with a distressed expression. He wasn’t sure how he would live with himself if he let her go a second time. “I want to. I don’t want my daughter growing up to think that it’s normal for men to objectify women.” Astrid avoided his eyes. She knew that taking a look was sure to make her believe he deserved one more chance, even when he didn’t. “I am going to make this work. I talked with Selena before you came.” Now that he had her attention, some of the pressure on his shoulders loosened. “She doesn’t want to be here. She wants to raise the child on her own, but I’ll support her financially. I can confirm it.” Astrid hated it. Every moment of contemplating and going back on her thought, she hated. She was being selfish and she knew it, but she also knew that no matter how much she denied it, she had always and would always be in love with that man. What if he hurt her when their child was there? Would they ever be able to make

Breakfast went by smoothly and Joaquin had left the house for work. For the rest of the morning, Astrid and Darius stayed out of each other’s way, awkwardness brushing through whenever they met.Astrid paced around in her room, wondering how to break the news to Darius. The last thing she wanted was for complications to arise from a conversation she thought to be simple. Things had changed. Darius had changed. She didn’t know what to expect from him as a reaction.After a long while of keeping her thoughts to herself and getting sick of it, she decided to find Darius and have a talk with him. She found him seated in the movie room. She had barely been there, if she had been there at all.He sat, fully concentrated on the show on the television. She was sure he hadn’t heard her enter the room.She sat beside him on the dark sofa which formed a semicircle facing the television. Darius turned to her and gave her a warm smile. “Is Dahlia asleep?”“Yeah.” Astrid nodded.“Do you want