She Chose Herself This Time Novels & Stories

She remembered the confusion, the longing, the ache of wanting to be chosen. And now? She chose herself. She chose this. This heartbeat. This body. This life. Celina turned back toward the apartment, her shoulders squaring for the first time in weeks. She didn’t need his last name. She didn’t need his guilt. She only needed the truth. And that truth was growing inside her—small, yes, but powerful. Just like her.

Because I wasn’t the same woman who once begged him to choose me. I had already chosen myself. And no one—not even the devil I once loved—could take that from me again.

But the truth remained that she'd chosen my Dad. So I had to choose myself.

Let them make me into whatever story they wanted. I knew the truth. I'd chosen myself. The kind of person I wanted to be wasn't someone who defined herself by who loved her. It was someone who loved herself enough to choose growth over comfort. My phone buzzed with texts, from Quinn, from Isabella, from other friends checking in. But I silenced it. Tonight, I just wanted to be alone with my choice. To feel the weight of it. To grieve what I'd given up while celebrating what I'd gained. Freedom. Clarity. Agency.

She was twenty-four years old and she was just beginning. She was chosen. Not by fate, not by prophecy, not by the Goddess's plan or the Seer's vision or anyone else's arrangement. By herself. She had chosen herself — her own nature, her own name, her own worth — and in doing so had become exactly and completely and irreversibly what she had always been. The wind moved across the high tower. The stars burned in the clear sky. The Citadel breathed beneath them, ancient and ongoing. Lena stood at the edge of what came next and was not afraid of it.

Brows knitted, I asked. Her tears streamed down continuously. "They made me choose between y-you and... a-and myself," she paused, her lips were trembling. "They used me so they could get you. B-But you know me too well, don't you? You know I'll always be on your side, I'll always choose you over anything or anyone else because you're my only best friend. I'm even willing to choose you over myself and do it all over again b-but... this time, it's different. I had to choose myself... and the little one inside me." She revealed. My hands flew to my mouth as I gasped, eyes slowly widening. "You..." Holy shit! So my hunch was right!

Then she stood, grabbed her coat, and slipped the burner phone into her pocket. The threads were fraying fast. But maybe—just maybe—there was still a way to choose a side. And this time, she’d choose herself. ---

She stood still. Strong. Choosing herself.

It was short but I could feel the weight of how she felt when she wrote it. "I don't want the time to come that you'll choose. I don't want to be slapped with the truth that you choose her over me. So, I am choosing myself."

She laughed. “Yeah..i think about it sometimes.”I laughed too.“ I know….it's funny.” She then shrugged.“ oh well….he chose you." I held my breath, knowing full well where this was heading. It didn't look like linnet had let go at all. She continued.“ Well…I'm happy for you. With time,I understood that not everybody will choose you . Sometimes you have to choose yourself until the right man does.” Then she smiled. I stared at her dumbfounded. I was kind of expecting her to curse at me and fight me.