Semua Bab The Sin Between US : Bab 71 - Bab 80

As I sat at my desk, staring blankly at the stack of papers in front of me, the hum of the office air conditioning and the soft murmur of people voice in the background outside my office created a sense of calm, a temporary reprieve from the turmoil brewing inside me. The fluorescent lights overhead cast an artificial glow, illuminating the sleek, modern decor of my office, but my mind was elsewhere, lost in thoughts that refused to coalesce into anything resembling clarity. The sound of my phone brought me back to reality. It's a message. I picked the phone up from beside me. At first my heart skipped a bit as I saw Lucas name but I brace up and clicked on the message.Lucas:"I’ll leave you alone after today. I just need to see you one last time."The message hit like a quiet storm. I stared at it on my phone screen, heart thudding. Five minutes. That’s all he was asking for. Just five minutes. Just one last conversation, one last look, one last temptation I knew I had no business e

I should’ve told him no. I should’ve walked away the moment Lucas stepped into my office. But here I was again, standing too close, breathing too hard, forgetting everything I had promised myself."You need to go," I whispered, but I didn’t move.Lucas took a small step forward, careful like he was trying not to spook me. "Just tell me to walk away.''I met his eyes, willing the words to come. But I couldn’t lie. Not now. Not when he could already read the truth written all over my face. I didn’t want him here. But a part of me didn’t want him gone either. He reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, the gesture maddeningly gentle. "Say it, Ava. Tell me to leave, and I’ll go.''I opened my mouth. Nothing came out. Lucas stepped closer, his fingers brushing the side of my jaw. His touch was warm, familiar in a way it never should’ve been. I hated how my body betrayed me, how something inside me still responded to him like it was coded into my skin."I love Ethan," I whispe

ETHAN'S POVI hadn’t planned to go to her office. The meeting I was supposed to be stuck in all afternoon got cancelled last minute, and the first thing that came to mind wasn’t work. It was Ava. She’d been pulling away from me for weeks now, answering late, dodging my eyes, avoiding me, forcing smiles. I didn’t know what had shifted between us, but I knew one thing: I missed her. Badly. So I thought, Maybe I’ll surprise her.Lunch, something sweet. Something to remind her that we’re still okay. I called her. No answer, it went straight to voicemail. I tried again, still nothing. I frowned. It wasn’t new, but it still didn’t sit right. I didn’t let it stop me. I grabbed my keys, stopped by the flower shop on the corner. Got her favorites, those soft purple lilies she loved because her grandmother used to grow them.I remembered the way her face lit up the first time I brought them to her apartment. She’d kissed me, hard, right in front of her roommates, whispering that no one had ever

I couldn’t reach him anymore. The first two days, I told myself he just needed space. That he was trying to cool off. That eventually, the love we shared would override the pain. I clung to that hope like it could steady me. I replayed our last conversation over and over again, trying to hear something different in his voice, some hint that he hadn’t meant what he said. Some flicker of the Ethan I knew. But by the third day, the hope began to crack. Panic bled in like ink in water.His phone kept going straight to voicemail. His messages stayed unread. Every "please" I sent felt like shouting into a void. And that silence? It was louder than any fight we’d ever had. It was a wall I couldn’t climb. By the fifth day, I couldn’t take it anymore. I drove to his office. I sat in my car for almost ten minutes staring at the building before me. The air inside the vehicle was stuffy and still, as if even time had paused in anticipation.My hands were clenched in my lap, the same letter I’d tr

It started with a blank notebook. Gift had placed it on my bed that morning, soft blue cover, unlined pages, a pen clipped to the front. No lecture. No pressure. Just a quiet gesture that said: "Try." So, I give it a try. I didn’t write anything profound at first, just a list.Things I miss:- My routine- Sleep- Laughing without guilt- Ethan’s stupid coffee order- Feeling like I was enough- Most of all I miss EthanThe words came easier than I had expected. And when the tears followed, i didn’t run from them. I let myself cry in the quiet of my room until my shoulders relaxed and the ache in my chest dulled just enough to breathe through. I didn’t tell anyone I was journaling. I didn’t have to. My friends noticed the difference, even if they didn’t say anything. The way I started getting out of bed a little earlier. How I ate a full breakfast two mornings in a row. How I sat through one of Gift’s rants about a client without zoning out completely. It was slow. Messy. But it was s