Three
1342 Words
The room was too quiet.
Aria sat alone in the wheelchair, unmoving, her body restrained by pain and weakness she still didn’t fully understand. The thick bandage around her neck kept her head fixed in a stiff, unnatural angle, forcing her to stare straight ahead at the pale wall across from her.
She hadn’t asked the nurses to leave. They simply had, after the tears, after the explanations, after the apologies that meant nothing.
Six months.
The word echoed endlessly in her mind.
Six months stolen.
Six months erased.
Her wedding dress should have been hanging somewhere by now.
Her vows should have been written.
Her future should have begun.
Instead, she was here.
Broken.
Awake too late.
A sharp knock landed against the door.
Aria flinched.
Her fingers twitched, nails digging weakly into her palms. She didn’t answer. She couldn’t. Her throat tightened as fear crept up her spine.
The door opened anyway.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
And then—
Julius stepped inside.
He looked untouched by time.
Perfectly dressed. Perfectly composed. His suit was tailored to fit him like the world still bent in his favor. Not a trace of grief sat on his face. Not a shadow of guilt lingered in his eyes.
He closed the door behind him.
The sound was soft.
Final.
Aria’s breath hitched.
Her heart pounded so violently she thought it might tear through her ribs. Her lips parted, but no sound came out. Her body refused to respond, trapped in that chair, bound by bandages and betrayal.
Julius’s gaze fell on her.
Lingering.
Aria’s lips trembled.
Then slowly, she smiled.
She lifted her trembling hand and brushed at her cheeks, wiping away the tears as if removing them could erase what she had just seen on the screen downstairs… as if the world hadn’t already broken her.
“Oh… Julius,” she said softly.
Her voice shook, but she forced it steady.
“You’re here my love.”
Her chest rose unevenly. She swallowed, blinking rapidly, fighting back another wave of tears.
“I knew you’d come.”
She let out a weak laugh, almost embarrassed. Almost relieved.
“I mean… the media, they exaggerate everything, right?” Her fingers tightened on the armrest of the wheelchair. “They always twist stories. I told myself you wouldn’t do that to me.” she whispered.
Her eyes searched his face desperately, clinging to it like it was the last solid thing left in the world.
Julius said nothing.
Not a word.
He just stood there.
Watching.
His silence pressed against her chest, heavier than any cruel sentence could have been.
Aria’s smile began to falter.
“What you saw on the news,” he said calmly, voice steady, “is very true.”
The words landed gently.
And still,they shattered her.
“In fact,” he added, almost thoughtfully, “it’s probably the most truthful thing the media has said in a long time.”
Aria stared at him.
For a moment, the world went quiet. No machines. No distant footsteps. Just the sound of her own breathing, suddenly too loud.
His gaze dropped.
Slowly. Deliberately.
From the bandage wrapped around her neck…
to the IV needle taped into her hand….to the wheelchair beneath her.
A dry, humorless scoff left his lips.
“Let me take a good look at you,” he said.
Aria’s smile faltered.
Julius stepped closer, his eyes cold, assessing her the way one would inspect damaged goods.
“So this is what’s left,” he murmured.
Her fingers tightened on the armrest.
“You’re in a wheelchair,” he continued flatly. “You will never even be able to stand on your own anymore.”
The words hit harder than the accident ever had.
Aria swallowed. “Julius… I just woke up. The doctors said—”
He cut her off with a sharp laugh.
“Do you think that changes anything?” he asked. “Look at you.”
His voice lowered, crueler now.
“How can someone like you,” he said, eyes flicking to her legs, “be the daughter in-law of the Bernice family?”
The name landed like a slap.
“We’re a public family,” Julius went on. “Respected. Powerful. Always in the spotlight.”
He leaned slightly closer, his voice dropping to a whisper meant only for her.
“And you?”
“You can’t even walk into a room by yourself, you're not even educated.”
Aria’s lips trembled.
“I loved you,” she whispered desperately, what about our deep love we shared Julius?" “It has to mean something.”
Julius straightened, his expression hardening completely.
“Love doesn’t build an empire,” he replied. “And it certainly doesn’t survive pity.”
Tears spilled freely now, sliding down her cheeks, but he didn’t stop.
“My wife needs to stand beside me,” he said coldly. “At events. At meetings. In public.”
Each word stripped something from her, her dignity, her hope, her breath.
“Elena fits,” Julius added. “You don’t, she's better than you.”
Silence swallowed the room.
Aria felt it then, the final snap of something inside her.
Her lips trembled before the words could even form. She tried to hold herself together, but the tears gathering in her eyes blurred her vision until Julius became nothing more than a cold silhouette before her.
A broken laugh escaped her, soft, disbelieving, wounded.
“So… this is it?” she whispered, her voice cracking at the edges. Her fingers curled tightly against her palms as though she needed the pain to stay standing. “After everything…”
She swallowed hard, her throat burning.
“You humiliate me… and choose my own cousin over me?”
Her chin quivered despite her effort to steady it. A tear slid down her cheek, but she didn’t wipe it away. She wanted him to see it. To see what he had done.
“How could you do this to me, Julius?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper now, hoarse, fractured, as though each word had to fight its way out of her chest.
Her eyes searched his face desperately, looking for regret. For guilt. For anything.
But what hurt the most… was the possibility that she wouldn’t find it.
Julius looked at her one last time. “This is over. We have nothing in common anymore.”
He straightened, already turning away.
“Julius—no!” she cried.
Panic surged through her as she leaned forward, forgetting everything, her injuries, her weakness, her dignity.
She slipped from the wheelchair and grabbed his leg, clutching his trouser with shaking fingers gasping in pain.
“Please,” she sobbed. “Don’t do this to me Julius. I have nowhere else to go.”
Her tears soaked into the fabric as she clung to him desperately.
“Think of us,” she begged. “Think of the memories. The love we shared. Please… please don’t leave me like this.”
For a moment—
Just a moment—
He paused.
Hope flared painfully in her chest.
Then Julius turned back sharply and shoved her hand away.
She lost her balance completely.
Her body hit the floor hard.
“Aah—!”
Pain seized her body, stealing the air from her lungs as she collapsed against the cold floor. The marble beneath her felt merciless, but it was nothing compared to the ache tearing through her chest.
A broken sound escaped her, not quite a scream, not quite a sob.
Tears blurred her vision as she lifted her trembling hand toward him.
“Please… Julius…” she whispered, her voice raw, fragile, barely holding together. “Please…”
For a second, just one fragile second — she thought he might turn around.
He didn’t.
He opened the door.
The hallway light spilled in, cold and distant, outlining his figure in a glow that made him look even further away from her.
He stepped out without looking back.
- Writer
