Chapter 29 up
Clark sat on the living room sofa, a half-empty bottle of whiskey in his hand, staring blankly at the floor bathed in dim lamplight. The sound of rain against the window was a monotonous rhythm, echoing the heavy beat of his heart. No phone rang, no messages arrived, no one watched—except the shadow of himself, silently mocking him.
He set the bottle down on the table and took a long sip, the burn in his chest barely soothing the emptiness inside. He closed his eyes, trying to forget Nyla—but her face kept coming back. Her gaze when she left him, her determined steps, her calm smile… all of it hit Clark harder than the whiskey he had just swallowed.
“You’re broken because of yourself,” he murmured, his voice almost inaudible. “Not because of her, not because of Vincent… but because I was too stupid to see her first.”
Silence filled the room, punctuated only by the steady drip of rain. Clark lifted the bottle again, taking another slow sip. It tasted bitter—like the guilt seeping down his throat. He felt hollow—no drive, no hope, just the void accumulating day by day.
Suddenly, the door slammed open. Selena entered, her steps quick, her face flushed with anger and jealousy. Her eyes immediately caught sight of the whiskey bottle in Clark’s hand.
“Clark! What are you doing?” she shouted, breaking the room’s heavy silence.
Clark turned to her, eyes red and swollen, but empty. “Drinking,” he replied curtly. No guilt, no other regret, just the wound he felt within himself.
Selena stepped closer, pointing at the bottle, grumbling. “You can’t keep doing this! Drinking will only destroy you more!”
Clark looked at her, exhaustion weighing down his gaze. “Destroy me? I’m already destroyed, Selena. And you only just noticed?” His voice cracked, bitter, a mixture of anger and sorrow. “I don’t even have the strength to live this life anymore.”
Selena frowned, furious and disappointed at once. “You’re letting yourself drown in alcohol just because Nyla rejected you? Because of Vincent… because of me?” She stepped closer, eyes piercing his. “Is that your reason? Do you want to ruin yourself?”
Clark set the bottle down, staring blankly at the floor. “I don’t care anymore,” he said quietly. “Everything I do feels meaningless. Everything I once wanted… is gone. And I was too stupid to appreciate what I had—or to realize what I was losing.”
Selena slammed her hand on the table. “Listen to me, Clark! You can’t keep torturing yourself like this!” Her voice broke, a mix of anger and frustration. “You’re destroying yourself, and you make me angry because I can’t stop you! You have to stop, now!”
Clark stared at her with empty eyes, almost defiant. “Why should I care about you now?” he murmured, voice barely a whisper. “Everything I do is meaningless. No one cares about me.”
Selena froze, eyes wide. “What do you mean, ‘no one cares about you’? I’m here! I’m waiting for you! I want to help you, but you reject me and… and torture yourself!” Her voice trembled, as if all the emotions she had restrained for so long erupted at once. “Don’t you realize that you’re destroying yourself right in front of me?”
Clark turned his body toward the window. The heavy rain pelted the glass, droplets hitting the floor in a stifling rhythm. His chest felt heavy, constricted, and his hands trembled slightly. “I just want to forget… want to forget everything that went wrong. I want to forget Nyla, but I can’t. And you… you only make me feel guilty for not being able to stop missing her.”
Selena exhaled, then gazed at Clark for a long moment. “This won’t solve anything,” she said softly, though her voice still carried anger. “Drinking will only destroy you more. You have to face your pain… not drown it.”
Clark looked at her for a moment, tears welling in his eyes. “I’m too late,” he whispered. “I was too late to realize what Nyla did for me. Too late to appreciate the woman who waited patiently for me… and now I’ve lost her forever.”
Selena sat down in the chair across from him, still looking at him with a mix of anger and concern. “Clark… you can’t keep blaming yourself endlessly. You still have me, you still have a chance… we can fix this.”
Clark closed his eyes, clutching his head with both hands. “No, Selena. You don’t understand. I lost something that can never be replaced. And you… you’re not Nyla. You never will be. I can feel comfortable with you, but I can’t love you the same way. I just can’t.”
Selena fell silent, her face paling. Her eyes were a mixture of anger, disappointment, jealousy, and sorrow. She hadn’t expected Clark to speak the truth so plainly, right in front of her. All her manipulation, all her tears… none of it could stop Clark’s heart from belonging to Nyla.
The rain outside fell harder, the wind blowing fiercely. Clark stared blankly at the window, letting the tears flow freely. His body trembled with unbearable emotion, with regret too heavy to express. He regretted being too late to appreciate Nyla, too late to stop Selena before she hurt him, and too late to realize that love cannot be forced with anger or alcohol.
Selena lowered her head, sitting on the floor and hugging her knees. All her manipulation, all her fake tears, all her schemes to make Clark depend on her—now meaningless. She realized that no matter what she did, Clark’s heart had already been claimed by Nyla, and that left her powerless.