DENIED BEFORE ASKED

TOO LATE

CHAPTER 4

The woman in red stepped closer, her sharp heels clicking against the hard ground. "Stop playing the hero, Roiday," she snapped, her voice cold and impatient. "Tell her the truth. Tell her about our arranged marriage."

Roiday closed his eyes for a second, taking a deep, shaky breath. When he looked at Peaches, his eyes were full of pain.

"She is right," he said softly.

"When my father died, my family forced me into an arranged marriage to secure a business deal. It was a trap. The marriage never worked. We haven't lived together for three years. She is taking me to court today. She wants a massive divorce settlement, and she is threatening to take over my father’s company if I don't sign her papers right now."

Peaches stared at him, completely shocked. "But... your company. Your father's legacy..."

"The company is doing perfectly fine," Roiday interrupted gently.

"I have been running it successfully since he passed. I am wealthy, Peaches. I have more money than I could ever spend. But I was suffocating. I left Ashford because I couldn't escape the trap my family built. I thought you were better off without my messy, painful life. I thought Betty when she said you had moved on."

Peaches closed her eyes. The tears she had fought for five long years finally escaped. They rolled down her pale cheeks, hot and fast. The truth was out. He hadn't left because he stopped loving her. He had left because he was trapped. And he was actually successful. He wasn't broken.

When she looked at him again, her cheeks were wet. A faint, incredibly sad smile touched her lips. Her heart felt like it was shattering into a million tiny pieces.

"I've healed..." she whispered, her voice barely audible over the gentle wind. She swallowed hard, trying to push down the massive, painful lump in her throat.

"You should too, Roiday. You need to sign her papers, get your divorce, and find your own peace."

Roiday stared at her, his dark eyes searching her face desperately.

"Have you?" he asked softly, his voice breaking.

"Have you really healed, Peaches?"

She couldn't answer him with words. Her trembling lips and the wet tears shining on her cheeks had already answered the question for her. She loved him. She would probably always love him. But love was not always enough to fix a broken past.

She knew she had to leave right now, before her physical strength completely disappeared. She placed her hands on her heavy shopping bags and slowly stood up. Her legs felt weak. Every step felt like she was walking through thick mud.

"Peaches..." Roiday called out, his voice cracking with pure desperation. He stood up too, reaching a hand out toward her.

But she didn't look back. She kept her eyes fixed on the winding park path.

"It's too late," she said, her voice shaking violently.

"It is so, so late. I wanted this once. I wanted you more than anything in this world. But that girl... the girl who loved you so much... she doesn't exist anymore."

She placed a trembling hand over her heart, pressing it against her chest as if trying to hold her breaking heart together.

"I'm getting married next week. I made a promise to a good man. And I won't break it. I can't go back to the past, no matter how much it hurts."

Roiday nodded slowly. He dropped his hand to his side. Tears fell freely from his eyes now, washing away the last of his hope.

"I know," he whispered. "I just had to try."

For one last, agonizing moment, their eyes met across the small distance. There was still so much love there. It was enough love for a whole lifetime, but tragically, it was too much pain for a shared future.

Then, she turned around and started to run. She ran down the path, her shoes slapping against the hard ground. She wasn't running because she wanted to leave him. She was running because if she stayed for even one more second, she wasn't sure she would ever be able to walk away.

Behind her, Roiday remained standing beneath the old, giant oak tree. He watched quietly as the woman he had loved since high school disappeared into the darkening evening light. He knew, with absolute certainty, that this time... he would not ask her to stay.

Peaches reached her car in the empty, shadowed parking lot. Her hands were shaking so badly she could barely unlock the door. She threw herself into the driver's seat and slammed the door shut. She rested her forehead against the steering wheel, sobbing loudly into the quiet car. She cried until her chest hurt.

Suddenly, she felt something hard poke her hand. She reached into the passenger seat and pulled out a small, velvet box. She gasped. It was the silver locket she had lost three years ago—the one Roiday had given her. She hadn't seen it since the day he left.

Her phone buzzed loudly in the dark car. It was a text from an unknown number.

"He let you go because he loves you. But I never will. Look in your rearview mirror, Peaches."

Peaches slowly lifted her head and looked into the mirror. A black car was parked right behind her. The engine was running. And the driver was slowly getting out, walking toward her window.

Love Quote: "Sometimes the hardest goodbye isn’t to a person. It’s to the version of yourself that loved them."