Chasing The One I Pushed Away

Threats and shadows

The knock on the door was soft but mila didn’t move. She lay on her side on the bed, facing the window, pretending to be asleep. Her heart thudded harder than she wanted it to. She knew it was him.

“Mila,” Liam’s voice came gently, almost like he was afraid of breaking her again. “Can I come in?”

She didn’t answer but after a few seconds, she heard the doorknob turn slowly then he stepped inside.

The silence between them was heavier than the walls of the room. Mila didn't turn around.

“I just… I didn’t want to leave you like that,” he said, his voice close now. She felt the bed shift slightly as he sat on the edge. “I told you I’d fix things.”

She slowly turned to look at him, her eyes tired but clear. “Did you?” she asked quietly.

Liam looked down at his hands. “She texted again.”

Mila scoffed and sat up, brushing her hair back. “Of course she did.”

“I didn’t reply,” he added quickly, almost defensively. “I was about to come here when the message came in. I swear, I didn’t reply.”

“Then block her,” Mila said, voice sharp but hurting. “If you really mean it. If you want me to believe you.”

“I will,” he said, looking at her. “I’m going to talk to her tonight. End things properly for good.”

Her eyes softened just a little, but the wall she had built in the past few hours was still standing.

“Fix it,” she whispered. “Because I’m not doing this again.”

He nodded, reached for her hand, but she gently pulled it away.

“I’ll be outside for a while,” she murmured, standing and walking past him.

She needed air, she needed space. She didn’t want to break in front of him again.

Outside the villa, the night had settled in with a strange tension. The laughter of others could still be heard from the main area, but Mila took a different path—toward the quiet garden behind the girls' quarters.

She wasn’t alone for long.

Keisha, fresh from wherever she'd disappeared to earlier, strutted toward the second room assigned to the girls on the trip. She was still dressed sharply, hair curled perfectly, phone in hand.

As she opened the door to the room and didn’t find Mila, her brows pinched. Something was off. She had felt it from the moment she returned. Liam hadn’t texted her back—and Mila had disappeared.

She turned to leave, heading back through the corridor that led to the garden when she stopped in her tracks.

Mila and Liam, together.

Talking, no, smiling. Standing a little too close.

Keisha’s rage ignited like fuel on fire.

“You lying snake!” she screamed.

Before Mila could react, Keisha’s hand flew across her face with a loud slap that echoed into the night air.

Mila stumbled back slightly, her hand flying to her cheek, shocked.

“What the hell is wrong with you?!” Liam barked, stepping between them instantly. His voice was thunder.

Keisha looked at him, stunned. “You’re defending her?”

Liam’s face hardened. “Touch her again, Keisha, and I swear—don’t ever come near her.”

“She’s a nobody!” Keisha spat. “You’re mine, Liam! You’ve always been mine!”

“Not anymore,” Liam said, firm and low.

Keisha’s expression crumbled. But pride wouldn’t let her show it. She turned sharply and stormed off, her heels clicking violently into the floor like angry punctuation.

Mila stood there, stunned, her cheek still burning.

Liam turned to her. “I’m sorry—Mila, I didn’t know she’d even come back tonight. I didn’t—”

“It’s not your fault,” she said, swallowing her pain. “She’s just… dangerous.”

“She won’t touch you again. I promise.”

But promises had already started to feel like thin glass in her hands.

The next day, they were all set to go back home.

The house felt too quiet when Mila got home. Her mother had asked her how the trip went, but she barely responded with more than a nod and a tired smile. All she wanted was to curl into her bed, disappear under her blanket, and pretend none of it had happened. Not the slap, not Keisha, not the ache she carried in her chest like a stone.

Her phone buzzed and it was a text from Liam:

“I’m coming over. Please don’t shut me out, I need to talk to you.”

She turned the phone over on her bed without replying.

About thirty minutes later, there was a soft knock on her window — three taps, their little code from the early days. She opened it, reluctantly, and found Liam standing outside, eyes dim, his hands stuffed into his hoodie pockets.

“I’m sorry,” he said before she even let him in.

She didn’t say anything, but stepped aside.

“I swear I didn’t want any of this to happen and I tried talking to her after she slapped you—”

Mila winced at the memory, but still said nothing.

Mila finally looked up. “And what did you tell her?”

“That I didn’t want anything to do with her. That she’s lost her mind and that she should leave you out of this.”

“And she listened?”

He hesitated. “She left. But then she said something… disturbing.”

Mila folded her arms, watching him closely.

“She said… if I didn’t come back to her, she’d do something crazy. She said I’ve ruined her life.”

Just then, Liam’s phone buzzed.

His face paled as he read the message aloud:

“You chose her, now watch me bleed. I’m at your house.”

“Sh*t,” he whispered.

He didn’t even wait. He grabbed Mila’s hand and dragged her out through the backyard gate. The night was cold, but neither of them noticed — they were already in Liam’s compound in less than ten minutes.

And there she was - Keisha.

Sitting on the hood of her car, barefoot, hair disheveled, clutching something in her palm. It wasn’t blood… yet. But it was a razor blade. Shining beneath the moonlight.

Liam rushed toward her, “Keisha! Don’t do anything stupid!”

She looked up, her mascara smudged, her expression wild. “You said you loved me. That you'd stay! I gave you everything, Liam! and you left me for her?”

Mila kept her distance, heart thudding.

“This isn’t the way,” Liam said gently. “You’re not well. Please, give me that—”

But Keisha pulled back, shaking. “You think I’m crazy. All of you think I’m crazy!”

Then her gaze shifted and landed on Mila. “And you… you little thief. You ruined everything!”

She lunged toward Mila before Liam could stop her, blade still in hand.

But someone else stopped her.

Mrs. Adesua — Liam’s mother, had come out of the house, alerted by the yelling. “Enough!” she shouted, grabbing Keisha’s wrist with surprising strength. “Drop it, Keisha! Are you trying to kill someone in my compound?!”

Keisha froze. The blade clattered to the floor.

Tears streamed down her face, but she didn’t resist as Liam’s mother pulled her into the house to calm her down.

Liam stood still, breathing hard. “I’m so sorry, Mila.”

Mila just stared at the place where Keisha had stood, the threat still lingering in the night air.

This wasn’t over, not even close.