🔥 Chapter 13 - "No Way out, No Way back.."
1966 Words
For a moment they just stared at each other—two people drowning in the same ocean but too far apart to touch.
His voice was raw, breaking:
“Ella… why?”
She swallowed hard.
“You didn’t want to see me,” she whispered.
“You didn’t want to hear me. You didn’t believe me. I thought… it was time to stop trying.”
He looked down and saw the key on the floor between them.
His face crumpled.
“Ella,” he breathed, stepping forward, “don’t—don’t leave.”
But she took a step back, tears spilling.
“You already left me,” she said softly.
Michael’s throat tightened.
And for the first time since everything fell apart—
he realized he wasn’t the only one hurting.
He wasn’t just heartbroken.
He was breaking her too.
Ella spun away, ready to disappear. Michael’s hand shot out, grabbing her wrist, pulling her back.
“Ella!” His voice thundered.
She struggled, her tears blinding her. “Let me go, Michael! I can’t do this anymore! You don’t trust me!”
“I do trust you!” he shouted, but his voice broke under the weight of weeks of pain.
“You don’t!” she cried. “Every time I try to talk, you shut me out. Every time I reach for you, you run. I can’t—”
His grip softened, and he pressed his forehead against hers. “You think I don’t love you?”
“I don’t know anymore,” she whispered, trembling.
He pulled back, desperate, gripping her shoulders. “I love you more than air. More than my own life."
They moved inside, the apartment feeling impossibly small and heavy around them.
Michael didn’t let go of her wrist. Ella’s hands trembled, brushing against the fabric of his shirt as if holding on to both him and herself.
They sat on the couch, side by side, but not touching more than necessary. The air between them was thick, charged, unbearable. Neither spoke. Words felt too dangerous. Too fragile. Too likely to shatter the fragile remnant of trust that still existed.
Minutes passed like hours.
Then, silently, a single tear slid down her cheek. Another followed. And then, a small, silent sob escaped her lips.
Michael couldn’t hold it any longer. His hand shot out, cupping her face gently. He turned her toward him, eyes searching hers.
“It’s okay,” he whispered, voice cracking. “It’s okay. I’m here. I’m not letting you go.”
He pulled her into his arms fully, pressing her tightly against his chest.
She cried silently into him, shuddering, clinging to the only person she had ever truly trusted.
And for a long, quiet moment, there were no words. No explanations. No accusations. Just the steady beat of their hearts pressed together, the shared warmth, and the unspoken promise that, at least for now, they weren’t letting go.
Michael held her tightly at first, but the silence stretched unbearably. His chest heaved, but his eyes were storm clouds, dark and furious.
“You could have told me,” he burst out suddenly, voice cracking with anger. “At home! That morning! At work! Why didn’t you say anything when I saw him first? Why… why didn’t you trust me enough to tell me?!”
Ella pulled back, hands trembling, eyes blazing. “Because you wouldn’t have believed me! You believed her! Alina! Someone who doesn’t care about me at all! You believed a lie over my truth!”
His jaw tightened. “I saw him with you, Ella! I saw him touch you! And you—” he stopped, fists clenching. “You didn’t push him away right away! You didn’t scream! You didn’t call for me! You just… let it happen!”
Her hands flew to her hair, twisting it, trembling. “And I watched you believe her over me! Over the person who loves you! Over the person who has never lied to you, never hurt you—except by hiding this out of fear for you!”
He slammed his hand on the table, making the glass jump. “I saw her! I saw Alina whisper it to me! I saw everything you tried to hide, and you expect me to just… accept your word without proof?!”
Ella’s lips quivered, her voice cutting. “Because you were supposed to trust me! Not some gossip! Not some spy! Not someone who wanted to hurt us! I gave you my heart, Michael! And you believed her instead of me!”
Tears streaked down her face, hot and furious. “I helped you! I did everything I could! And you… you let her lie poison us! You didn’t even hear my words! You didn’t even look at me! How can you think that’s fair?”
Michael’s eyes softened for a second—just a second—but the anger still burned. “I… I can’t just switch off what I saw in my head. I saw him. I saw the fear in your eyes. I… I didn’t know what to think.”
Ella’s fists clenched, her chest shaking. “And I’m the one who’s been living in fear? Who’s been breaking because of you not trusting me? Who’s been dying inside because every time I reach for you, you step away?”
He ran his hands through his hair, chest heaving. “I trusted you, Ella. I trusted you more than anything! But I’m human! I’m not… I’m not unshakable. I didn’t know what to do!”
She shook her head, tears spilling. “Human or not, you believed someone else’s words before mine. That’s not trust. That’s betrayal. That’s letting someone else tell your heart what to feel about me.”
Silence.
Michael’s chest rose and fell rapidly. He wanted to scream, to grab her, to shake her, to pull her close—but he stopped. He couldn’t. The storm between them was too raw.
Ella’s chest heaved too, sobs threatening to break out again. “I can’t… I can’t live like this, Michael. Not if every time something happens, you’ll believe someone else before me. Not if my truth isn’t enough.”
He stepped forward, voice low but burning. “It is enough! It always should have been enough! But you… you left me nothing but doubts and fear. You didn’t give me a chance to see the truth with my own eyes!”
Her hands fell to her sides, shaking. “Then maybe… maybe I shouldn’t be here for you to doubt me. Maybe I should disappear, like I almost did that night. Maybe that’s the only way for you to finally trust me—or for you to stop hurting me.”
Michael’s chest tightened. He wanted to reach for her. Beg her to stay. To fight with him. To forgive him. But the words stuck. The room was heavy with anger, heartbreak, and longing.
For the first time in weeks, neither of them moved. They stood facing each other, fire and pain in their hearts, both unwilling to step back, both too afraid to step forward.
Michael’s breath came out ragged, his chest rising and falling with the weight of everything unsaid.
Ella wiped her cheeks with the back of her trembling hand. “If you can’t believe me…”
Her voice cracked.
“…then I will go from your life. Forever.”
Michael’s eyes flared—pure fury, pure fear.
“Of course,” he snapped, stepping closer, “of course that’s what you want. To run. To leave. To break up with me and pretend it’s my fault.”
Ella stared at him in disbelief. “You think this is what I WANT?!”
Her voice thundered through the room.
“You think I WANT to cry every night? To beg you to look at me? To fight for you while you push me away?!”
He clenched his teeth, fists shaking.
“You didn’t fight! You hid everything! You left me drowning in what I saw and what she told me!”
“And you believed her!” Ella threw back.
“You believed ALINA over ME!”
Michael’s face darkened. He opened his mouth—then shut it again, jaw tight, fury vibrating through him.
Ella couldn’t breathe. Her heart felt like it was tearing itself apart in her chest.
“No,” she whispered. “I’m done. I won’t stay here and let you punish me for something I didn’t do.”
She walked toward the door.
Michael’s pulse exploded.
“Ella.”
She didn’t stop.
“Ella!”
She reached for the handle.
He moved faster.
Michael slammed his palm against the door and shut it, twisting the lock with a sharp, metallic click.
Then he pulled the key from the lock and shoved it into his pocket.
Ella spun around, shocked.
“What are you doing?!”
His voice was low, furious, shaking:
“You stay here.”
“You stay with me.”
“We’re not running from this anymore.”
Ella’s breath hitched. “Michael—”
“No.”
He stepped closer, chest heaving, eyes burning.
“No more running from me. No more disappearing. No more shutting doors in my face. We fix this—now. We talk. We scream. We break if we have to. But you’re not leaving.”
She stared at him like he was shattering in front of her.
“You want the truth?” she said, voice trembling but sharp.
“Fine. Here it is.”
She stepped closer—just inches apart, eyes locked.
“At work, Axel came to me. I told him to leave me alone. I told him I have a boyfriend. That I love him. More than anything.”
Her voice cracked, but she kept going.
“He left. That’s all.”
Michael swallowed hard, but said nothing.
“And later, at night,” she continued, shaking, “when he tried to kiss me—before I could push him away—you came.”
Her eyes filled again.
“You saw only the worst moment. And you believed Alina’s lie over my truth.”
Her words hit him like a blade.
He stepped back as if the air had been punched out of him.
But she wasn’t finished.
“Let it be,” she whispered.
“If that’s how little faith you have in me… let it be.”
Michael’s hands curled into fists. His voice erupted raw, wounded, furious:
“Don’t you dare say that! Don’t you dare act like I didn’t fight for you every second I was breaking inside!”
His voice rose.
“And YOU—how could you not tell me?! How could you think I wouldn’t protect you?!”
“You didn’t protect me,” she said softly.
“You believed someone else and destroyed me instead.”
The words hit him harder than any punch he had ever taken.
Silence crackled—tense, painful, electrified.
Ella turned away, chest shaking, and walked toward the bedroom.
Michael took a step forward. “Ella—”
She didn’t stop.
She entered the bedroom, slammed the door, and locked it.
Inside, she collapsed on the bed, curling into herself as sobs tore from her throat—quiet, broken, relentless.
Michael stood frozen outside the door, breathing hard.
Then he heard it.
Her crying.
God.
Each sound stabbed him.
He closed his eyes, forehead pressing against the doorframe.
“Ella…” he whispered, voice shattered.
“Please… open the door.”
But the only answer was the sound of her crying—soft, muffled, hopeless.
And for the first time, Michael felt what she had felt for weeks.
He was on the outside.
- Writer
