THE REGRET THAT BOUND HER

CHAPTER 3

Emily's POV

My first day of high school did not go as I’d hoped.

The hallways were packed and loud. New faces blurred past me faster than I could track them. I was already three steps behind Stephanie when I walked directly into someone.

“Ouch.” I clutched my head.

“I’m so sorry,” I said quickly, stepping aside without stopping to look.

“Watch your step, newbie.”

I turned.

A girl with a stocky build and a sharp expression stood with her arms crossed, looking at me as though I’d personally offended her family.

“I already apologised,” I said, keeping my voice even.

“Next time, be more careful.” She flicked her hair back and walked away.I watched her go.

“Sorry again,” I said to her retreating figure.

Here we go, Emily.

Classes were long and unremarkable. By the end of the day, Stephanie found me and we walked home together, talking over each other the whole way —boring teachers, confusing timetables, a boy in third period who fell asleep mid-lecture and didn’t wake until the bell rang.

That evening, she told me about a party. It was being thrown by one of the most popular girls in school, a girl named Kate.I didn’t make the connection until later.

The girl who’d snapped at me in the hallway.

I wasn’t sure about going. Parties weren’t really my thing, and I’d barely survived day one. But I’d promised myself to try. To be someone who said yes to things.So I went.

The party was noise and heat and too many bodies in too little space. I stayed close to the walls, nursing a drink I wasn’t touching, scanning the room.

Then my eyes landed on a familiar figure near the back.

Uncle John!

He was embracing a man in a red shirt, laughing at something. I went dry in the mouth. Then, as though he felt my gaze, he turned.His eyes found mine across the room.I moved before I could think. I pressed myself behind a cluster of potted plants near the wall, my heart hammering so hard I could feel it in my ears.

How did he get here? Who told him I’d be here? Does he know?

Uncle John’s POV

I hadn’t come for a party. My business associate had a folder of company documents he’d been holding for me for over a year. His schedule had kept us apart. Tonight, finally, we were in the same room.He gave me the hug of a man who feels guilty for being too busy, and I accepted it. Then, over his shoulder, I saw her.

A girl in a short summer dress. She was looking directly at me. Then she looked away, sharply, and disappeared behind the flower arrangements.I didn’t think about it further. I collected my documents, said my goodbyes, and went home.

But something followed me there. A feeling I couldn’t quite name and didn’t want to examine too closely.

I sat at my desk, opened my laptop, and spent an hour searching for presentation templates I didn’t need. By the time I thought to check the clock, it was past one in the morning.

I heard the front door.Soft footsteps. Careful. Trying not to be heard.I called her name.Emily froze in the middle of the hallway. And in the dim light, I recognised the dress.It was her.I stood and walked toward her slowly. She stiffened.

“Where are you coming from?” I asked.

“A friend’s place.”

“Dressed like that?”

“My clothes got wet. She lent me this. It was the only thing available.”

Her head was bowed. “I’ll change and return it tomorrow.”

She tried to step past me.I caught her arm.I should have let her go upstairs. I know that now. But something had come loose in me that night, and I made the worst choice a man in my position could make. I leaned close and spoke words that should never have left my mouth.

Emily’s POV

His face was too close. His voice was low in a way that made my skin crawl.

“You looked very grown-up at that party, Emily. Spend one night with me and I won’t say a word to Rachael about where you’ve been.”

I stepped back.

“No. You’re my uncle. This is wrong.”“Just one night. No one will know.”

“No.” I yanked my arm from his grip and backed away. “Stay away from me.”

He kept coming.I kept moving until my back hit the wall.It’s over. I’m trapped.I begged him to stop. He didn’t listen.

And in that narrow hallway, in the dark, my uncle took something from me that I would spend years trying to get back.I didn’t fight hard enough. I’ve told myself a thousand times that I should have. But fear has a way of locking the body while the mind screams, and that night, I was locked.

Afterward, I sat on the floor of my room with my back against the door.

I didn’t cry.

I just breathed. In and out. Until morning.