Chapter 224 When Silence Spoke Louder

Chapter 224 When Silence Spoke Louder
MIA

“I don’t think I still love him,” she said.

For a second, I just stared at her. The words didn’t make sense in my head, not because I didn’t hear them clearly, but because I did and they still sounded wrong coming out of her mouth. Elara sat there like she hadn’t just said something heavy, like she hadn’t just dropped a mess between us and expected it to stay quiet.

My grip on her hand loosened without me even thinking about it, and I let go slowly, like holding on suddenly felt pointless.

I leaned back in the chair, my eyes still fixed on her face. She looked tired. Not just physically tired, but that kind of tired people carry when they’ve been fighting themselves for too long and are still losing.

But that didn’t soften what I was feeling, it only made it worse because I knew what she was doing. “I don’t think,” I repeated under my breath, tasting the words like they were a joke I didn’t find funny as my jaw tightened. “What do you mean you don’t think?” My voice came out sharper than I intended, but I didn’t pull it back. I exhaled through my nose and sat forward again, elbows resting on my knees as I looked straight at her.

“Elara,” I said, slower this time, forcing her to meet my eyes. Her gaze flickered for a second before settling somewhere just past me, not fully meeting mine, and that alone irritated me more. I could feel it building inside my chest, hot and restless.

“You’re standing here after everything,” I continued, my voice tightening, “after everything he did to you… and you’re still talking like this?”

My fingers curled into my palm until my nails pressed into my skin. I didn’t even notice when my hand dropped away from her.

I remembered it too clearly now the way Elara used to go quiet whenever his name came up. Not normal quiet. The kind that made a room feel heavier. Like she was holding something inside her teeth just to keep it from spilling out.

And now she was sitting here in front of me, saying she didn’t think she loved him.

Not even a clear yes or no, just… unsure, like he hadn’t carved his way through her life. “I don’t think I love him.” The words landed wrong in my chest, like she had just tried to cover a wound that was still open with her bare hands. I shook my head once, slow, refusing to accept it.

“Don’t you feel anything?” I asked, my voice dropping but sharper now. “Nothing at all? After everything?” Her lashes lowered for a second, and that small movement said more than her silence.

I leaned forward slightly, my elbows resting on my knees, watching her closely now. Watching for something anything that looked like anger. Or disgust. Or even fear.

But there was none of that, just stillness, and it made my chest tighten.

“Don’t you remember what he did to you?” I pushed again, quieter this time but more controlled. “How he looked at you like you didn’t matter… like you were just something he could throw away whenever he wanted?”

My throat tightened as I said it, the memory wasn’t even mine, but it felt like it sat in my head anyway borrowed pain, hers. My voice broke sharper without warning as I snapped, “Elara, why?”

The words came out faster than I meant them to, too fast, too heavy, and for a second the room felt like it went still, even the air. I saw her shoulders shift slightly at my tone, not a big reaction, just enough, and that small reaction only made something in me burn hotter because she wasn’t denying it, she wasn’t defending him either, she was just… there.

Like she was standing in the middle of something she couldn’t step out of.

My hand went through my hair, rough, pulling back as I exhaled through my nose. I tried to slow myself down, but my thoughts were already moving too fast.

This didn’t make sense. It wasn’t supposed to be like this not after everything, not after surviving him.

My eyes stayed on her face, searching for something, anything, but there was still nothing there. No anger. No hate. No relief. Just that same quiet that didn’t give me anything to hold on to, and that silence pressed harder against my chest with every passing second.

Because silence like this wasn’t empty. It was full of something she wasn’t saying, something I couldn’t reach no matter how long I looked at her. I stared at her longer than I should have, waiting for her to break it, waiting for her to say something that would make all of this easier to understand.

But she didn’t.

And the longer it stretched, the more something inside me began to shift. Not pity. Not softness. Something else uneasy, sharp, like I was standing too close to something I didn’t want to see clearly.

“I don’t want anything to do with it,” I said finally, my voice low, almost like I was speaking to myself more than to her.

And for the first time since she woke up, I wasn’t looking at Elara like someone I was trying to protect. I was looking at her like someone I couldn’t understand anymore.