Aleena
“Jesus!Mom!”
The word left my mouth with more surprise and fear than I intended.
For a second I just stood there in the entryway, my heart still racing from the sudden light and the sight of her waiting near the living room.
Meredith’s expression softened almost immediately.
She stepped closer and held up one hand slightly, as if to calm me before I could fully react.
“It’s just me, why are you scared?” she said.
“I’ve been waiting for you to get back, come take a seat we need to talk.”
I tried avoiding the conversation and made a move to go up the stairs.
“About what?”
She stopped me with her body.
“”About the shopping mall, that day.
You know it’s rude walking off on me, right?”
I gave her a look, “Do you expect me to believe that you waited up just to talk about that?”
“Or did you finally realize that you were wrong?” I added without giving her a chance to reply to my earlier question.
My mother scrunched her face as if being told she was wrong was a phrase that did sit well with her.
“Well….
If you’d sit we could have this discussion like adults which I expect you are.”
I didn’t sit.
I stayed standing by the stairs , with my arms loosely crossed, still half-ready to end the conversation before it fully started.
Meridith sighed quietly and remained standing as well, clearly deciding not to push the seating issue.
“I was just saying what I thought about Luke….’
I rolled my eyes
“It’s Liam, Mom.
Not Luke.” I corrected cut in.
She paused, clearly not pleased I had interrupted her.
“Liam.
I didn’t expect you to react to my honest opinion that way though, but since you decided you were going to be immature then I’m hoping you’ve realized by now that it’s not that big of a deal,” she said.
“I was being immature?!
Can you hear yourself?” I snapped, barely able to contain my anger.
“I was just looking out for you, but apparently you don’t seem to see that.”
“Looking out for me??
How’s that looking out for me even after I told you what he did!”
“Yes.
I know you left him because of cheating, Aleena.
But did you even confirm it with him?
Did you actually ask him directly?”
I stared at her.
“Are you being serious right now?”
“I’m just asking.
You don’t have to get defensive about it”
“What exactly did you expect me to do?
Stay with him after that?” Follow the newest chapters on g.com.
“I’m saying you didn’t even give him the chance to explain.”
“And what do you think he would have said?” My voice stayed controlled, but the edge underneath it was clear.
“That it was a misunderstanding?
That it didn’t mean anything?
That I was overreacting?
Men who cheat always have an excuse ready.
They always find a way to make it sound smaller than it is.”
Meredith’s expression tightened slightly.
“You’re being very absolute about it.”
“Because it is absolute.
He cheated.
That should be enough.”
She was quiet for a moment,her eyes studying my face.
Then she exhaled and nodded once, the resistance in her posture easing a little.
“You’re right.
I overstepped.
I’m sorry.”
I didn’t answer right away.
The apology sat between us, better than nothing, but it still didn’t fully settle the irritation under my skin.
The conversation at the mall had stayed with me longer than I wanted to admit, and hearing her revisit it now only brought the frustration back to the surface but then I felt a sort of relief after she apologizd and just had no choice but to let it go.
“I’m going to need your help a lot with the wedding preparations,” she said after a pause.
“There’s still so much to finalize.
I can’t do all of it alone, especially with everything else going on.”
“Okay.”
“Thank you.”
I picked up my bag again.
“I’m going upstairs.
I’m tired.”
She didn’t stop me, she just gave room for me to pass.
I climbed the stairs, closed my bedroom door behind me, and sat on the edge of the bed still fully dressed.
The day pressed down all at once as I started rethinking everything beginning from the confrontation with Liam, Sophia’s excitement over the bracelet, the quiet threat he had thrown at me, and now this conversation with my mother.
I lay back against the pillows and stared at the ceiling, letting the weight of everything settle until exhaustion finally pulled me under.
The next morning I came downstairs to find breakfast already set.
Meredith was seated with her coffee, scrolling through her phone.
Ethan sat across from her, dressed for the day, expression composed as always.
I took the empty chair and reached for the toast without saying much.
It was an ordinary morning and we all sat quietly on the table for a few minutes with cutlery against plates, the soft sound of coffee being poured just before Ethan set his cup down and looked at both of us.
“There’s something we need to discuss,” he said.
Meredith glanced up, already attentive.
I waited, a piece of toast still in my hand.
“The wedding date is changing.
We’re moving it up.
It’ll be in three weeks.”
The words landed with a dull, heavy impact.
Three weeks. You are reading on g.com, the official source.
Not the original timeline I had been quietly counting on.
Not the comfortable stretch of time that had allowed me to avoid thinking too hard about the finish line.
Three weeks until my mother married him.
Three weeks until the line between everything became even harder to ignore.
A rush of thoughts flooded in at once, the shortened distance, the permanent shift, the fact that the man sitting across from me would soon be legally tied to her in a way that made everything between us more dangerous.
I kept my face still.
Inside, shock mixed with dread and a sick, quiet realization of how little time that actually left.
I didn’t speak.
I didn’t trust what might come out if I opened my mouth too quickly.
Ethan looked directly at me.
His expression remained straight, composed, almost formal.
“I’ll need your help with the preparations,” he said.
“Alongside your mother.
There’s a lot to finalize in a short time, and it will go more smoothly if you’re involved.”
I met his eyes.
The request was calm.
Reasonable on the surface.
Underneath it, the weight of everything we weren’t saying pressed hard between us.
Meredith glanced between us but said nothing.
Ethan held my gaze for another second.
Something unreadable passed through his expression more like the recognition, tension, the shared knowledge of the secret sitting under the polite breakfast conversation.
I looked away first, focusing on the edge of my napkin.
The rest of the meal passed with only the most necessary words.
Short replies.
Small comments about nothing important.
When it was over, Meredith stood first, already mentioning calls she needed to make.
Ethan rose as well.
I followed a moment later, still turning the three-week timeline over in my mind.
Near the door, as I was collecting my bag, Ethan spoke again.
“I can give you a ride to the office.”
The offer was casual on the surface, practical even but I felt the pull of it for half a second thinking of the enclosed space of the car, the proximity, the chance for something unspoken to surface, before I shut it down.
“I’ll take my own, thank you.” I replied in a cold voice.
He studied me for a brief moment, then nodded without pushing it.
Meredith called something from further down the hall about dinner later.
I answered without fully registering the words and stepped out of the penthouse.
The car arrived quickly.
I sat in the back and stared out the window as the city began to move past.
Three weeks.
Three weeks until the wedding.
Three weeks until the formal line was drawn.
Three weeks until whatever existed between Ethan and me would have to live entirely in the shadows of that new reality.
I tried to push the thoughts aside, and by the time the car pulled up near the office, I had forced the worst of the spiral down far enough that I could at least walk inside with a neutral expression.