Chapter 26 Ella

Chapter 26 Ella
I was not expecting the loud banging on the door. My heart jumped so violently I nearly dropped the mug I was holding. Sophia had left earlier, so I assumed she’d forgotten her keys and returned.

But when I opened the door, it wasn’t Sophia.

It was Damien.

The shock froze me. I thought he would have been gone by now, on a road somewhere between here and another city, thinking of anything but me. But instead, he stood in front of me, breathless, eyes burning like he had just sprinted here from miles away.

Before I could speak, before I could even think, he grabbed me by the waist, pulled me into him, and crashed his lips onto mine.

My mind stalled.

Everything else vanished.

At first, I was just stunned, caught between needing oxygen and trying to understand what was happening. His kiss came with so much intensity and hunger that I could feel his desperation seep into my skin. My body reacted instinctively, desire unfolding like flames catching dry leaves.

Damien kissed like someone starved. Like he’d been holding back every emotion, every feeling, every thought until this very moment. My knees weakened, and my fingers threaded into his hair, grounding myself in the sudden storm he brought.

As the kiss deepened, I felt dizzy. Drunk. If longing were a virus, his lips were the cure… my only Vaccine. I clung to him, wanting nothing more than to drown in this moment forever.

We finally broke apart, both of us gasping for air. His forehead fell against mine, breath warm against my lips, arms still wrapped around me.

“I want you so bad,” he whispered into my ear, voice low and rough.

Heat shot through my body, settling deep in my stomach. I blushed as I felt his person harden against my thigh. My face burned harder than ever.

“What happened to your trip?” I managed to whisper, snatching my hands up to cover my face in embarrassment.

He removed my hands gently and leaned down so his lips nearly brushed my ear.

“You look really cute when you’re as red as a tomato,” he murmured.

My stomach flipped… no, backflipped. I was sure he felt my heart beating like it was about to escape my rib cage.

Before I could gather my scattered thoughts, a car horn honked outside. A cab had stopped in front of the house.

I blinked, confused.
“When did you—?”

I didn’t get to finish.

Damien’s hand slid into mine, firm and warm.

“Come with me,” he said softly.

That was it.

No explanation.

Just those three words and that quiet confidence of his I was already addicted to.

The evening air outside was cool, carrying a faint smell of wet leaves and city dust. The streetlights cast long shadows along the pavement as we slid into the cab together. Damien never released my hand. His thumb traced slow, deliberate circles on my palm, tiny movements that sent electricity up my arm.

The silence wasn’t awkward. It felt… safe. Like we were sitting inside a bubble only we could breathe in. The cab seats vibrated beneath us, the city outside blurry with passing lights.

When the car stopped, I looked up and froze.

The ice cream shop.

The one where I cried in his arms.

Just seeing it made my chest tighten with memories. My cheeks warmed instantly, and my fingers twitched nervously in his hold.

He noticed. Of course he noticed, Damien noticed everything.

“You remember this place,” he said.

I forced a smile. “It's kind of hard to forget where you cry your eyes out on a stranger’s shirt.”

“And I’d let you cry on it again.”

My heart skipped.

Not metaphorically, it literally skipped.

Before I could respond, he let go of my hand and jogged inside the shop. The neon sign above the entrance washed him in pink light, outlining his shoulders, his messy hair. I blushed knowing I did that to him. He pointed at me through the glass and mimed a question, eyebrows raised in a goofy expression.

I mouthed, “Strawberry.”

He grinned, bright enough to make the cashier visibly swoon.

A strange pinch of jealousy stabbed me. A ridiculous urge to walk inside and wrap my arms around him in front of her. Claim him.

He came back balancing two cones. Strawberry for me and mint for himself.
“Your majesty,” he teased, bowing playfully as he handed me mine.

I rolled my eyes, but my lips betrayed me, they curved into an uncontrollable smile. Damien never made a show of being sweet. He just did things. Effortlessly. Naturally. The only flaw he had was his love of toothpaste and going further to enjoy it as an ice cream flavor.

We walked side by side toward the nearby park, our shoes crunching against the scattered gravel. The park was nearly empty, just rusty swings, dim lighting, and the faint humming of streetlights.

I brushed the dust off one of the swings and sat. Damien took the one next to me, stretching his legs forward as he started swinging lazily. We licked our ice creams in comfortable silence, our movements syncing like we had been doing this forever.

When I finished mine, biting off the final bit of cone, Damien wiped his mouth with his thumb and leaned back. He watched me, not casually, not playfully, but intensely.

“What?” I whispered, heart racing.

“You look happy and peaceful,” he said. “I like it.”

Something fluttered inside me.

The wind lifted a loose strand of hair from my face. Damien’s eyes followed the movement, tracing every detail of me as if he were memorizing a moment he didn’t want to forget.

His swing slowed, becoming still. Mine followed.

“Ella,” he said, voice deeper than before.

My breath stopped.
He turned his swing toward me, pushing off lightly until he was right in front of me. Our knees brushed. My pulse sprinted.

“I need to tell you something.”

My throat tightened.

He didn’t hesitate.
He didn’t waver.

“I’ve fallen in love with you,” he said.

The world stilled.
Every sound, every breeze, every heartbeat paused.

“You’re… beautiful, Ella,” he continued. “Not just the way you look. The way you care. The way you smile. Your cute reactions to things I say.”

His jaw clenched, emotion tightening his voice.

“You make me feel emotions I can’t describe in words.” He said, still staring intensely at me.

His knuckles brushed along my cheek, moving slowly to my lips.

“And every time you smile at any man I get angry and jealous. I want you all to myself. “I'm greedy with you.” He said and laughed softly.

My breath hitched.

He wasn’t confessing like in a teenage movie.
He was unraveling. Vulnerable. Raw.

“Damien…” I whispered.

He inhaled deeply, like bracing for impact.

“Will you be my girlfriend?”

I froze, not because I was unsure, but because I had never been looked at with that kind of devotion. Cedric, my ex fiancé never looked at me with love. Not once. He loved control, not me.

But Damien?

Damien cherished me.

“Yes,” I breathed. My lips trembled into a smile. “Yes.”

Relief washed over his entire body like a wave. I could’ve sworn he almost smiled at the ground.

Did he actually think I would reject him?

He stood, closing the short distance between us, and pulled me up into him. His hand slid to my waist and he kissed me, slow, deep and intentional. I felt every emotion he had tried to hold back crash through the kiss.

The swing squeaked beneath us, forgotten.

We only pulled away when our breathing became urgent. Foreheads pressed together, noses touching.

“You don’t know what you do to me,” he whispered, smiling.

I smiled. “Maybe I do.”

He took me home afterward. In the car, he held my hand as if letting go meant losing me.

At my doorstep, he kissed me again, this time softer, like sealing a promise.

“I love you too,” I said as we pulled away.

His grin looked like someone who just won a lottery. We said our goodbyes and he left reluctantly.

When I closed the door behind me, I didn’t walk.

I floated.

I screamed, actually squealed and spun around like a lovesick teenager… only to hear a thud.

Sophia was on the floor, staring up at me from where she’d apparently rolled off the couch in shock.

“You scared me,” she groaned, rubbing her back. “Where did you go out to?”

She squinted at me.
“What happened to your lips? Don’t tell me—”

She didn’t finish.
She burst into laughter, fully awake now.

I hid my face behind my hands, but the memory of Damien’s words made me blush even harder.

“Spill the tea!” Sophia demanded.

“He asked me to be his girlfriend and I said yes,” I blurted out, unable to contain my excitement.

She gasped and screamed excitedly.
“I knew you guys would end up together!”

“Let’s order pizza, my treat!”

We ordered. We ate. She squealed through every detail of the story. She rambled about double dates with Alex or Edward, and I laughed, Edward was so obviously in love with her. I think she might actually like him too but she hasn't realized it yet. I felt sorry for Alex.

My phone buzzed.

Unknown number:
Enjoy it while it lasts.

The message vanished a second later.

Weird. Maybe a glitch I reassured myself.

Another message popped up, this one from Damien.

Damien: Goodnight Princess.

I smiled to myself when I read the text.

Me : Goodnight love.

We got ready for bed. I slipped into my room, heart still pounding with the echo of Damien’s confession.

“Tomorrow will be a good day,” I whispered into the darkness.

And for once… I believed it.