Ava didn't disappear after I walked away that morning.
If anything, my rejection only ignited something in her —a kind of frantic, spiralling desperation.
The kind people feel when they only realise the value of somethingafter they've already destroyed it.
For the next week, she became a ghost that haunted every corner of my life.
Not a loving ghost.Not a gentle ghost.
A guilty, broken, relentless one.
She Waited
Every morning, she waited outside the apartment I am renting.
Rain or shine.Sometimes with breakfast in her hands.Sometimes with shakily written apology notes.Sometimes with eyes so red it looked like she hadn't slept at all.
"Ethan… please talk to me."
But I walked past her every day.
Not because I didn't hear her.
But because if I even turned my head,if I let myself feel even 1%,
I knew I would break.
And I had nothing left to break.
One day, I returned to our old apartment —the one filled with memories I was trying to bury.
When I opened the door…
It was spotless.
Ava stood inside, holding a mop, wearing the same yellow hoodie she used to wear when she cooked for me.
She froze when she saw me.
"Ethan…"
Her voice was a whisper of hope and heartbreak.
"I just wanted to clean up for you. You always forget to take care of yourself when you're stressed…"
I stayed at the doorway.
Her lips trembled when she realised I wasn't stepping inside.
"Please," she whispered, "tell me what to do. I'll change, Ethan. I swear I'll change."
I closed my eyes.
"You should go," I said quietly.
Her knees buckled.
"Ethan, I can't lose you…"
"But you already did," I said, voice hollow.
And I walked away again.
Her sobs followed me out like claws dragging across my skin.
But I didn't turn back.
Not anymore.
------------------------------------------------------
On the fifth day, she snapped.
I opened the door in the early morning —and she was sitting on the floor in the hallway, hugging her knees.
She was shaking.
Her cheeks streaked with tears.
She looked up at me like a lost child.
"Ethan… I can't eat. I can't sleep. I can't think. Everything hurts. Please, please come back…"
My chest tightened involuntarily.
This was Ava.The woman I married.The woman I once adored.
Seeing her fall apart like this…
It should have shattered me.
But instead—
I felt nothing.
Just emptiness.
Rock-solid, calm, terrifying emptiness.
"Ava," I said softly,"what you're feeling now is what you made me feel for months."
She froze.
It was the first time she truly understood.
Her face crumpled, and she sobbed harder.
"I know. I KNOW. I was wrong. I was blind. I was stupid. I—I thought helping Leo helped you too. I didn't realise I was slowly losing you. Ethan, I swear, I swear I'll fix it—"
"Ava."
She choked on a sob.
I met her eyes.
"You can't fix something you refused to see breaking."
She covered her mouth with her hands, tears pouring down her face.
"I love you," she whispered."But I didn't know how to choose you. I didn't know how to protect you."
"You didn't have to protect me," I said."Just stand with me. That's all I ever needed."
Her scream tore out of her throat before she could stop it.
"THEN LET ME STAND WITH YOU NOW!"
Her voice echoed down the hallway.
She reached for my hand—
And for the first time in years,
I stepped away from her touch.
Her hand hung mid-air, trembling violently.
And that silence…that moment…was the cruelest answer of all.
She Started Fighting for Me
(But far, far too late.)
Ava began showing up at Clark Group.
She fought with my father.Argued with my mother.Demanded they look at evidence.Begged them to reinstate me.Told them Leo manipulated everything.
She was relentless.
Ferocious.
Desperate.
But she didn't know the truth yet.
She didn't know the extent of Leo's crimes.
Not yet.
Not until the world slapped her even harder than it slapped me.
--------------------------------------------------------------
One afternoon, I got a call.
David answered first.
"It's her," he said quietly, handing me the phone.
I hesitated, then took it.
"Ava?"
All I heard was breathing.
Panicked.Shaky.Broken.
Then—
"Ethan… I think something terrible is happening."
"What?" I asked, voice tightening.
Her voice cracked.
"Leo—He—He told your parents that I forged documents. That I was helping competitors. He said I manipulated the transfer to frame you!"
My blood turned to ice.
"What?"
"He's blaming ME, Ethan!" she sobbed hysterically."He said I was the reason you got suspended! He—He said I did it to help you climb faster!"
What Leo did to me…he was now doing to her.
That's when I realised:
It wasn't just that Ava chose Leo.
It was that she didn't understand the monster he really was.
Not until he sank his teeth into her too.
The Breaking Point
"Ava," I said quietly,"what's the point of telling me this now?"
She cried harder.
"I'm outside Clark Group. They won't let me see your parents. They told me to LEAVE. They said I disgraced the family—Ethan, I swear, I didn't sign anything! I didn't do anything wrong!"
Her voice dropped into a whisper.
"He used me. Just like he used you."
She choked.
"And I didn't see it. I didn't see any of it until it was too late…"
I closed my eyes.
The rain.The betrayal.The hopelessness.
Everything we had suffered because she defended him.
Because she chose the wrong side.
Because she chose him over me.
But now she finally saw.
She finally understood.
Too late.
Far, far too late.
"Ava," I said softly,"I stopped being your husband the moment you stopped being my home."
She broke into sobs so violent I thought she might collapse.
And as her cries filled my ear—
I realised something.
I pitied her.
But pity…isn't love.
Love was long dead.
And nothing could bring it back.