Chapter 180: Chapter 180
ADONIS
The room felt freezing the second he walked in.
He dropped his heavy bag on the floor, sank onto the edge of the bed, and stared at the empty wall.
He could not get Mica out of his mind. He kept telling himself to forget her, to stop thinking about seeing her, but his heart refused to listen.
God, she was even more beautiful than he remembered.
Then he thought about the little boy. Small, loud, running across the lobby floor with his coat hanging off him and his bag bouncing.
Adonis hadn't gotten a good look at him because Mica had quickly hidden the boy behind her back.
Adonis sat there on the cold bed, feeling a heavy, sharp pain in his chest.
She had a child with another man.
She had moved on completely. It was like their past meant nothing to her. She had married someone else, had his baby, and built a whole life without him.
She had no idea that he still dreamed of her every night. She didn't know that he still missed her, that he never got over her. And now, after all these years, she was standing behind a front desk in a uniform, looking at him like he was a total stranger.
Like he was nothing to her. Like their past had never happened.
He bit his lip hard, stood up, changed his clothes, and went to ice hockey practice. He played with wild anger, like he was running away from something terrible. But the ghost of Mica was chasing him, and no matter how hard he pushed himself, he could not escape the pain.
The coach watched him from the side and said nothing. He could see Adonis was hurting, but he was playing hard.
After practice, the team went back to the hotel. They were loud and ready to party. They booked a private room on the third floor. Adonis went with them because he was terrified of going back to his quiet, lonely bedroom.
The room was warm and dark. Music played softly, drinks were poured, and some girls were sitting on the couch.
Adonis sat down, and two girls immediately sat on either side of him.
He did not tell them to go away.
He let them stay because their loud voices distracted him from his broken heart.
He picked up a glass and drank it fast. He wanted to feel the burn in his throat.
One girl whispered something in his ear, but he didn't hear a word.
He set his glass down and remembered how Mica had pulled the boy behind her. She was protecting her son from him. That small moment hurt him deeply, but he tried to push the pain away and grabbed another drink.
Then he picked up the phone and called.
Without thinking, he asked the hotel supervisor to bring more drinks to their room. He specifically asked for Mica.
He heard her pause on the phone, and a dark, angry satisfaction washed over him before he hung up.
He didn't know why he did it. He didn't care anymore.
Twenty painful minutes passed.
The room grew louder. The girls pulled closer to him. He let them, driven by the bitter hurt in his heart. He wanted to hurt her back. If she could move on, why couldn't he?
He pulled one girl close and kissed her. She kissed him back right away, but Adonis felt completely numb inside. No spark, no feeling—just a lonely effort to block out the memory of Mica.
The door opened.
He did not look up right away.
He heard footsteps stop. He heard the tray clink on the table. Then, the room went completely quiet. The silence was so heavy that he pulled away from the kiss and turned his head.
Mica was standing in the middle of the room with the tray in her hands. Her face was pale, and her eyes were fixed on him.
She looked at the girl kissing him, then at the girl on his other side.
Adonis looked into her eyes. Was that real heartbreak he saw in her face?
She stood frozen, looking at him with deep, tearful sadness. He thought to himself, No, this can't be real. She never truly loved me, right?
The girl beside him spoke, but Adonis couldn't hear her. He was completely trapped in Mica's gaze.
The music kept playing, but time stopped for the two of them.
Someone bumped into Mica by accident, making her snap out of it. She quickly set the tray down and stood up straight.
She looked at him one last time with pure agony in her eyes.
Adonis swallowed hard and watched her hurry out the door.
He had wanted her to see him with other girls, but now that he saw her pain, his own chest felt like it was breaking. Why did he care so much about her reaction?
The girl next to him called his name, but he ignored her.
A thick, painful lump formed in his throat as he kept replaying her hurt face in his head.
Suddenly, the loud party felt completely empty to him.
He roughly pushed the girl's arms off his shoulders. He sat there alone, staring at his full glass, feeling like a terrible person.
He grabbed the glass, drank it all, and slammed it back down.
When the girls tried to touch him again, he snapped and yelled at them to leave. Scared, they quickly ran out. The room was still full of noise and people, but Adonis sat in the middle of it, feeling completely alone and heartbroken.