My Ex-Fiancé Uncle's Obsession

The Morning After

When I woke up, it was still dark outside. For a second, I didn’t move. I was warm. Comfortable. Half asleep enough that nothing felt real yet. Then I opened my eyes.

The unfamiliar room came into focus slowly—the dark sheets, the floor-to-ceiling windows, the city beyond them still covered in shadows.

And him. He was lying beside me. One arm stretched across the bed, his face turned slightly toward me, the hard lines of him softened by sleep.

For the first time since I had met him, he looked human. Less controlled. Less dangerous. That somehow made it worse.

Everything came back at once. Ethan. The apartment. The bar. The kiss.

What I had done.

I sat up too quickly, the sheet slipping from my skin as panic rushed in hard and fast.

What the hell was wrong with me? I pressed a hand to my mouth and looked away from him, trying to breathe.

This wasn’t me. I didn’t do things like this. I didn’t go home with strangers. I didn’t wake up in their bed with my clothes scattered across the floor and no idea what came next.

But maybe that was the problem. Because the woman I had been yesterday no longer existed.

She had disappeared the second she opened that apartment door and saw her fiancé with someone else.

I forced myself out of bed carefully, trying not to make any noise.

He didn’t move. Good. I found my dress near the couch and pulled it back on quickly. My heels were near the door. My bag was on the kitchen counter.

I grabbed it, already heading for the entrance, when something caught my eye.

The ring. Still on my finger. I froze. The diamond caught the faint light from the windows, small and familiar and suddenly unbearable.

For the past year, I had looked at that ring and seen a future. A wedding. A home. A man who loved me. Now all I saw was a lie.

My throat tightened.

I remembered Ethan slipping it onto my finger with a smile, asking me to spend the rest of my life with him. I remembered how happy I had been.

How stupid. The ring felt heavier than it ever had before. Like it no longer belonged to me.

Slowly, I slipped it off. For a second, I held it in my palm, staring down at it. Then I crossed back toward the bed. He was still asleep.

The city lights painted shadows across his face, and for one dangerous second, I almost stopped.

Almost climbed back into bed. Almost let myself forget everything for a little longer. Almost let myself disappear again. Instead, I set the ring on the bedside table and walked out.

—————

By the time I got home, the sun was barely rising. I had never been more grateful that Ethan wasn’t there. His side of the closet was open. Half his clothes were gone.

Good.

I showered until my skin was red, trying to wash the entire night off me. It didn’t work. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw him.

The stranger. The way he looked at me. The way I forgot everything when he touched me.

By ten in the morning, Chloe was pounding on my apartment door.

“You better be alive,” she yelled. I opened it wearing sweatpants and regret.

“Oh my God,” Chloe said, pushing past me. “You actually did it.”

“I hate you.”

“You’re welcome.” Mia walked in behind her, carrying coffee and looking significantly less amused.

“You left with a stranger,” she said flatly.

“I’m aware.” I couldn’t shake the smile on my face. Chloe dropped dramatically onto my couch. “Start from the beginning.”

“No.”

“Ava.”

“I said no.”

“You disappeared with a hot stranger after your fiancé turned out to be trash. I deserve details.”

“I do not owe you details.”

“You owe me at least a rating.” I buried my face in my hands.

“Oh my God.”

“That good?” Chloe guessed.

“Chloe!,” Mia snapped.

“What? I’m trying to help.” Her eagerness was embarrassing

“You are not helping.” I leaned back against the couch and stared at the ceiling.

“I don’t even know his name,” I muttered.

Chloe sat up instantly. “You didn’t ask his name?”

“No.”

“You slept with a mystery man?”

“I was having a crisis!”

“Honestly?” Chloe said. “Iconic.” Mia gave her a horrified look.

“Ava,” Mia said more gently, “you don’t have to do anything today. Stay home. Ignore Ethan.”

At the sound of his name, I glanced at my phone on the table.

Forty-three missed calls and thirty-one texts. All from Ethan.

“Please answer” “It’s not what you think” “I can explain”

“Ava, please” I turned the phone face down.

“No,” I said quietly. “I’m not talking to him.”

And I didn’t, not that day, nor the next one either.

Ethan came to my apartment three times. Obviously not wanting to cause a scene at the office.

The first time, I didn’t answer the door. The second time, Chloe answered it for me.

“You have exactly ten seconds to leave,” she had told him.

“Ava, please—” he tried to say

“Nine.” Chloe wasn’t having it and it took all my begging that he left intact.

The third time, he caught me outside my building.

“Ava.” He grabbed my wrist gently before I could walk away. “Please just let me explain.”

I ripped my arm away.

“There is nothing to explain.” I didn’t want to hear what he had to say nor was I interested in his explanations

“It didn’t mean anything.” I laughed then, actually laughed.

“Wow. That’s your defense?”

“You know I love you.”

“No,” I said. “I know you love the version of me that would do anything to keep you.” His face tightened.

“Ava—”

“We’re done Ethan.” Then I walked away. By the time I got back to my apartment, my hands were shaking.

Not because I missed him. Because I didn’t. That was the worst part.

I unlocked the door, stepped inside, and leaned against it, staring at the empty room.

For a year, Ethan had been part of every plan I made. Every apartment listing I saved. Every conversation about the future. Every stupid little daydream about a wedding, children, a house somewhere quiet.

Now all I could think about was a pair of dark eyes and a man whose name I didn’t even know.

I hated myself for that. I hated that Ethan had broken something inside me so badly that for one reckless night, I had let a complete stranger put me back together.

And somehow, that stranger had looked at me like he already knew exactly how damaged I was.