Chapter 141: Is This How It Ends?
Theo gave Aurora one final glance. "I am sure this person behind all of this holds such power, to keep both of you hidden from me... and I will—"
"What with you actually?" Daisy cut him off, her voice sharp, almost trembling with emotion. She stepped closer, forcing him to look at her. "This is my wish. I didn’t want to meet you. So Aurora asked her friend to help keep me hidden. And what’s wrong with that? Why is it anybody’s fault? Why would you go after someone who was only trying to help me?"
Theo’s lips parted, but no words came at first. The anger in his eyes flickered, replaced with something far more vulnerable. He looked at her like she’d just stabbed him in the chest.
"Because," he said finally, his voice hoarse, "I would rather you hate me than disappear. I can live with your anger. I can’t live with your absence."
Daisy’s breath caught, her fists tightening at her sides. "Maybe your head forgot something... the thing is... I didn’t run away. You never looked for me."
"No..." Theo snapped back, his voice sharp, desperate. "I always looked for you. When you suddenly disappeared, I searched—"
"Ahhh..." She nodded mockingly, her eyes narrowing. "From afar, right? Safe and comfortable where you were, while I was left to figure out everything on my own?"
Theo flinched, the words striking deeper than she realized. His jaw tightened, but he didn’t back down. He gazed at her for a long moment, his expression raw.
"And if you didn’t run away from me," he asked quietly, each word weighted, "then why did you need to hide yourself from me?"
Daisy opened her mouth, but nothing came out. The question hung between them like a blade, sharp and merciless, cutting into the space she’d carefully built to keep him out.
Aurora shifted nervously, clutching the edge of the counter. "Okay, maybe this isn’t the best place—" she began, but neither of them looked her way.
For Daisy, the silence was louder than her heartbeat. She hated that his words still carried weight, hated that she couldn’t throw an answer back at him as easily as before.
"Should I close the shop for the day—" Aurora continued nervously.
"It’s because..." Daisy cut in, her voice low but trembling with fury. Her glare locked straight on Theo. "Knowing how pathetic you are, you’d come looking for me only after abandoning me like I was some useless thing."
Theo’s jaw tightened, his whole frame going rigid. "Abandoning you?" he repeated, his voice rough, almost breaking. "Daisy... I couldn’t even breathe after what you did. After you..." His words faltered, his throat tightening on the memory.
Her fists clenched at her sides. "Don’t you dare—"
"No, let me finish!" Theo snapped, his pain spilling through. "For months, I hated myself. Every day I told myself this shouldn’t happen if I’ve done a great job protecting you. But then, my stupid brain kept messing up with my emotions, thinking that you don’t want me, you don’t want us." His voice cracked on the last word.
Daisy’s face crumpled for a moment, then hardened again. "Aaaa yes, your damn emotions what’s far more important than mine. You didn’t even give me a chance to even say, ’nope, I didn’t do it.’ You were so sure I was a monster that you never even looked me in the eyes."
His breath caught. "NO... you’ve got me wrong."
"Where? Where is the wrong part?" Daisy whispered bitterly, her chest rising and falling, "Because you know what... after all this while, I still wake up in the middle of the night with that burning in my tummy?"
The silence that followed wasn’t empty, it was suffocating, filled with the ghosts of what they’d both lost.
Aurora shifted uncomfortably, muttering under her breath, "Okay... definitely should’ve closed the shop." She rushed to flip the ’closed’ sign and walked out from the shop, deciding to leave them to talk.
Theo’s hands shook, his nails digging into his palms. "Daisy...I’m sorry..." His voice dropped, hoarse. "I was drowning, and instead of reaching for you, I let myself sink. That was my mistake."
Her eyes glistened, but her anger burned brighter than her tears. "Your mistake? Theo, it wasn’t just your mistake... your decision caused us! And while I was fighting through that hell, you disappeared. You left me to carry it alone."
He flinched, every word landing like a strike. "Because I thought you didn’t want me there—"
"That’s the problem!" Daisy snapped, cutting him off. "You thought. You decided everything in your own head and acted like that was the truth. You never gave me a voice. You never gave me a chance."
Theo’s chest heaved, his gaze locking onto her with desperation. "And if I had... would you have stayed? Would you have forgiven me then?"
Her lips trembled, but she forced her chin up, eyes blazing. "Maybe I would’ve had a choice. But you never gave me one, Theo. You chose for both of us. That’s why we’re standing here like damn strangers."
The silence pressed down between them, heavy and suffocating. The hum of the shop’s aircond was the only sound, far too ordinary for a moment that felt like the world had cracked open.
Theo’s throat worked, but no words came. His eyes shimmered, as though he was fighting a war inside himself, between pride, guilt, and the desperate urge to just fall to his knees.
Daisy crossed her arms, hugging herself, like she had to physically hold her heart in place before it shattered again. "You know what hurts the most? It’s not even what George did. It’s that when I needed you to believe in me the most, you... didn’t."
Theo winced, his jaw tightening. "I believed, Daisy. God, I wanted to. But every time I looked at you, I saw the baby we couldn’t even hold, and all I could hear was that lie in my head telling me it was you who chose it." His voice cracked. "And instead of asking... instead of trusting you, I ran. That’s on me. Only me."
Her breath caught, a fresh wave of tears threatening, but she blinked them back. "And do you think sorry can fix that? Do you think words can give me back the nights I screamed into my pillow, wondering why the man I loved turned his back on me?"
Theo stepped forward instinctively, but she recoiled a half step, her glare warning him not to close the distance.
He stopped, hands fisting helplessly at his sides. "No... sorry won’t fix it. I know that. But if you’d just... let me, I’d spend the rest of my life proving I won’t make the same mistake again."
Her lips parted at his plea, but no sound came out at first. When she finally spoke, her voice was soft, trembling but resolute. "I’m sorry... but after meeting you again... I don’t think I can."
The words tore through the air, final and merciless.
Theo’s chest caved in as if she had physically struck him, but he didn’t move, didn’t chase her. He could only watch as Daisy turned, her steps steady despite the tears glistening in her eyes, and pushed open the shop door.
The bell above it chimed lightly, mockingly cheerful as she walked out, leaving him alone with nothing but silence.