Regret Came Too Late Novels & Stories

“..until you actually left.” And this time there was regret in his eyes. A man sitting there, realizing too late what he had lost.

Regret. It always comes too late, right? In my case, my regret was something I felt immensely guilty about, but I also felt shame. I’ve made so many mistakes over the years. The road I’ve walked hasn’t been an easy one. Some days I wondered if this was it. Was this how I would finally come to meet the gods?

And it ends up being worse because the tears are filled with regret and the feeling of being too late. Because is. It's too late. Generally, those who decide to move forward without looking back are because they have rethought many times before. He's tried, he's already had a dialogue, he's already demonstrated it once, twice, hundreds of times and had no response. You've had your pillow wet several times.

{isla’s POV} I don’t regret saying a damn word to his ugly face. Okay, his face isn’t ugly. It’s quite the opposite. But I just wish it was ugly so I could appropriately use this line; I don’t regret saying a damn word to his ugly face! Anyways, I don’t regret a word I said about Cayden ‘cause it was all the truth! And it was better he joined at the end to hear it for himself! But as much as talking about how I dissed Cayden is such an interesting topic, it’s not the topic of interest right now.

My chest tightened. That voice again. So convincing. So real. “I came here for you,” he continued. “Because I made a mistake.” My breath caught. A mistake…? “I shouldn’t have rejected you,” he said. My heart skipped. The words I never thought I would hear. The words I had wanted. Begged for. Cried for. But now… Now they felt wrong. Like they came too late. Or worse— From the wrong person. “I regret it,” he continued softly.

As if betrayal could be undone with apologies and gifts. I didn’t care anymore. I didn’t care if he still loved me, or thought he did. It was too late for that. His regret meant nothing now. “It’s not easy without you in my life, Aria,” he continued, his tone softer, almost pleading. “I swear I regret everything. Please… give me another chance. Let me prove myself to you.” A smirk tugged at my lips, cold and detached. “It’s too late. I really need you to stop this...” I say coldly, attaching the phone to my ear.

“You’re such a terrible liar. How many people in this city have a hundred million in cash? Who do you think you’re fooling?” I held back my anger. “Give me ten minutes. If the money doesn’t arrive by then, do whatever you want to me.” “Fine. Ten minutes it is.” Leo started the timer on his phone and raised his voice to the crowd, “Everyone heard that! If he doesn’t get a hundred million dollars here in ten minutes, I’ll strip him down in front of everyone as punishment.” People erupted in cheers and jeers. When I finally got my phone back, I quickly called my mom.

Some truths required time. This was one of them. Finally Adrian stood. Slowly. Thoughtfully. Whitmore watched him carefully. Perhaps expecting anger. Perhaps expecting condemnation. Instead Adrian asked a single question. One final question. “Do you regret it?” Interesting. Very interesting. The answer arrived immediately. Without hesitation. Without calculation. Without defense. “Every day.” Silence followed. Because everyone believed him. Completely. The regret felt genuine. Painfully genuine. Years too late. Yet genuine.

Like a song played without melody, technically complete, but utterly forgettable. What he’d shared with Ruby, although accidental, imperfect, and never sanctioned by fate, had been vivid. It had burned and laughed and hurt in equal measure. But it had lingered, this didn't. Regret crept in, cold and undeniable. Not just for crossing the line, but for realizing, too late, that crossing it had changed nothing. If anything, it had taken something away.

He was depressed that she had regretted it, and even more depressed that she and Greg were entangled. It was all his fault. It was he who pushed her into the arms of that romantic lawyer. There was an indescribable regret that eroded his heart. Sitting in the office, Alpha clutched his aching heart, and his mind was filled with the words of his grandma when he left in the morning: "No one is perfect, and there is no pure gold. If you make mistakes, correct them. There is no such thing as good. If you regret the divorce, it’s still too late.”