Chapter 307: Replacement
Free.
That word didn’t just slap me... it burned me alive. Like he had taken my heart out, ripped it to shreds, and left me choking on the ashes. My lungs emptied all at once, and when I tried to drag air back in, it scraped, shallow, like the oxygen itself had turned against me.
I’d asked him for this before. Over and over. End it, Kael. Let me go. I’d begged for it out of cowardice, out of fear. But never because I wanted freedom from him. No... I never wanted freedom. I wanted him. Only him.
And now that he was finally giving me what I asked for, it felt like being gutted alive.
Are we really over?
The question screamed inside my skull, but my throat stayed locked, trembling in silence as the seconds ticked by.
He turned, like the conversation was already dead.
Something inside me snapped. Anger surged... misplaced, unjustified, but so sharp it cut through the pain.
"Do you really mean that?" My voice cracked, but it carried across the space between us.
Kael stopped. Shoulders rigid. He didn’t look back when he answered.
"It’s what you’ve always wanted, isn’t it?"
The words landed heavy, merciless.
My chest caved tighter. "That’s not... "
"You’ve made it clear," he cut me off, his voice harder now, like he was forcing the knife deeper. "So many times. You wanted distance. You wanted space. You wanted to be away from me. And I..."
He finally turned, and that faint smile on his lips shredded me worse than any scowl could. His eyes were tired, his stare cold enough to freeze me in place.
"I never granted your wish because I was too proud to let you go first. But now... " His chin lifted slightly. "Now I am. You should be happy, Aria. You’re free to be with whoever you truly want. You don’t have to be tied to your boss anymore."
Each word hurt worse than the last, like he was peeling me apart piece by piece. My nails dug crescent moons into my palms as frustration bloomed hot and bitter in my throat.
He spoke like I hadn’t seen him. Like I hadn’t watched him kiss someone else, his hands cradling another woman’s face like it was the most natural thing in the world.
And as he turned again, as if to leave me gasping in the ruins, the question burst out of me... raw, trembling, furious, desperate:
"Are you sure you’re not saying all that because you’ve already found my replacement?"
For just a heartbeat, his expression faltered... a flash of surprise before it vanished behind the familiar, infuriating mask. He chuckled under his breath, low and dismissive. "We don’t have to continue this conversation, Aria."
My lips parted to throw her back in his face... the girl he let kiss him, the one who wasn’t me... but the door creaked open.
One of the investors from earlier froze mid-step, his eyes flicking between us like he’d walked straight into a storm. "I... I’m sorry, I didn’t realize... "
"You don’t need to apologize," Kael cut smoothly, voice clipped but polite. "I was leaving."
The man still backed out of the room, muttering apologies as though even being here was a crime, until the door clicked shut again.
Kael moved to follow, but my voice... shaky, brittle... cut through the space before he could.
"I should’ve known."
He stopped.
I let out a hollow, mocking scoff, though I wasn’t sure if I was mocking him or myself. "I should’ve known it was easy for you to replace me."
The air thickened. My chest was caving in, but I kept going because maybe... just maybe... he’d finally tell me I was wrong. That it wasn’t true. That I wasn’t disposable.
"It’s easy for someone like you, isn’t it?" My voice wavered, sharp and trembling at once. "To use people, then discard them when they’re no longer convenient. Like they never mattered at all."
He chuckled again, this time with the faintest edge of amusement. "Wasn’t that our agreement? To use each other?" His gaze cut back to me, cold. "Now you’re making it sound like it was something different. Like it was ever more than just sex. Like you once claimed it wasn’t."
The words sliced clean through me. I had to bite back the gasp clawing up my throat. He sounded exactly like he used to... the Kael from the very beginning. Detached. Cold. Distant.
My nails dug into my palms as I forced myself to ask, though the question scraped my throat raw. "So I really never meant anything to you? Nothing at all... other than being your... your fuck buddy?"
For a beat, silence reigned. He just looked at me, that same exhaustion clouding his features, before his lips tugged into the faintest, cruelest curve.
"You weren’t supposed to mean anything Aria . You were just convenient. A game I already got bored of. Don’t make it pathetic by pretending otherwise."
And then he turned, walking out without looking back.
The words hit harder than any slap could have.
For a second, I didn’t even feel my legs under me. My chest... hollow. My stomach twisting but refusing to release anything. It was like my body and my mind decided together that the only way to survive the blow was to shut down completely. Numb. Cold.
I wanted to scream, to claw at him, to demand... no, beg... for him to take it back. But my throat locked up. My lips wouldn’t move. All I could hear was the echo of his voice, cruel and effortless:
"You weren’t supposed to mean anything. You were just convenient. A game I already got bored of. Don’t make it pathetic by pretending otherwise."
Convenient.
Bored.
Pathetic.
The words looped like barbed wire in my chest until I almost felt dizzy. I stared at his retreating back and there was nothing left inside me to fight with. Not anger. Not jealousy. Not even heartbreak. Just... nothing.
He was bored of me.
My heart should’ve been breaking, but it was like it had already stopped beating.
So I stood there, frozen, watching the man I loved walk away from me like I was a stranger, and I let the silence eat me alive.
My legs wobbled the moment he disappeared completely. I gripped the wall, nails digging into the plaster as though I could hold myself together with just pressure, but the trembling wouldn’t stop. My hands shook violently, my throat was so dry I couldn’t even swallow, and the air... the air just wouldn’t go into my lungs.
I forced one foot in front of the other. Pretended my spine was straight. Pretended my face was still whole and not crumbling. Pretended I was fine as I walked back outside the office. The building even. And dragged myself to a nearby cafe instead.
The door clicked shut behind me, and that was it. My body caved as soon as I found a seat tucked in a corner.
I slid into the chair, burying my face in my hands, and the moment I closed my eyes, his words replayed... cutting, cold, sharp as knives. Convenient. A game. Pathetic. Every repetition gutted me deeper until I swore I could feel my insides tearing apart.
It hurt so badly I didn’t want to breathe anymore. Didn’t want to exist. The thought came unbidden, dark, quiet, but so tempting: what if I just disappeared? What if I didn’t have to feel this ever again?
My head hung low, hair falling like a curtain. The cafe around me blurred, fading into nothing but the pounding of my own pulse. I tried to hold the spiral down, tried to anchor myself, but it was too strong, swallowing me whole.
I didn’t know how long I sat there. Im silence.
And then...
A cold hand touched mine.
I flinched, heart stuttering as I jerked my head up, and through the haze I saw her... Ash. Standing there. Her sharp eyes softened just a little as she looked at me.
"Aria..."