Prapai's POV
"If you see me come within five feet of whiskey again, feel free to slap me." I forced myself to sit up so I could take the proffered water and pastéis.
"Whoever invented shitty drinks deserves to be shot."
His eyes glittered with mirth.
"I've never seen you so hungover or disheveled. I should take a picture. Otherwise, no one will believe me."
"Funny. Rub it in, why don't you?" I brought the water to my lips, but I was so disoriented I spilled some of it over my shirt. I bit out a colorful curse.
Sky's entire body shook. "Priceless," he gasped through bouts of laughter. He lifted his phone and snapped a photo, his cheeks creased with a wide grin.
"I swear to God, ky, if I see that photo online, I'll post the one of you sleeping with your mouth open on the train," I threatened, but a reluctant hint of amusement tugged at my mouth. It was hard to stay upset when he was smiling, even if it was at my expense.
"It might be worth it." he wiped the corners of his eyes, his giggles smoothing the last edges of my annoyance.
"You look happy," I said. "I don't remember the last time I made you this happy."
Maybe it was a temporary happiness, but it was happiness all the same.
I'd made him cry enough that seeing him laugh was worth the bruises to my ego.
Sky's humor faded, disappearing into the tension that sparked, sudden and electric, around us.
"I guess that was part of the problem." his sad smile seeped into the cracks of my heart. "There was no clear defining point between the before and after of our marriage. Somewhere along the way, the lines between happiness and resentment got blurred, and here we are."
A lump blocked my throat. "And here we are."
I wished we didn't have to take this road, but part of me was glad we did. As much as sky leaving destroyed me, I would rather suffer through our separation than have his live in silent misery for the rest of our lives. Our divorce had been the shock I desperately needed to get my head out of my ass and realize what was truly important in my life.
I set my food aside and stood. Nerves slowed my pace, but soon I was in front of him, my chest tight and my mouth dry. The jackhammers in my head retreated beneath the ache sweeping through me. Forget the hangover;
nothing hurt more than knowing I'd hurt him. It was knowledge I'd have to live with for the rest of my life, but I hoped our future could overpower the wrongs of our past.
No more hiding. No more running away. It was now or nothing.
"I could tell you didn't believe me because I've spent the better part of the decade living out of my office, but I wasn't there all the time because I loved it. I was there because I was terrified that if I left, it would all crumble down." The admission scraped past the thundering of my pulse. It was a truth I'd avoided facing for too long. I thought money and power could erase my insecurities, but while they'd solved my problems, they also gave rise to new ones.
"Everything I'd worked for, everything I'd achieved. I looked out the window at the city people say I conquered, and I only saw a million more ways I could fail. I thought that if I accumulated enough, I would finally be safe. But here's the thing." I swallowed the emotion scalding my throat.
"I left my office for weeks when I went to phuket and I hardly missed it. But when I came home and found you gone... that night, and every night since, has felt like an eternity. " I miss you. In the deepest, truest sense.
Sky dropped his gaze as I continued. "Maybe I overstepped by waiting for you after your date, but I was drunk and miserable and..." The teeth of agony ate at me. "I needed to see you."
I'd braced myself for the possibility he'd be with his date. I'd convinced myself I could handle it when in reality I probably would've smashed the fucker's face in and ruined everything. Luck had been on my side in that regard, but I didn't feel particularly lucky as I stood there, heart in my hand, waiting for him to do with it as he pleased. After all, it belonged to him. It always had.
"I didn't have a date last night," sky said in a small voice.
Twin arrows of surprise fell somewhere north of confusion.
"Then why..." He looked up again, his eyes glittering with emotion. "Because I was afraid of getting too attached again. At the penthouse, you asked me to stay, and I almost did. I didn't want...I don't..." he inhaled a shuddering breath.
"I'm scared I'll go back and lose myself again. I'm scared you'll get comfortable and erase the progress we've made. I can't go through this a second time, P'pai. I can't." his sentence broke into a sob, and just like that, my heart slid out of my palm and shattered all over again.
Sky's POV
Prapai's arms engulfed me. "You won't," he said fiercely. "We've come too far. I won't let us go back to that place."
He'd always been good at saying the right thing. Doing the right thing was a lot harder, and every time I took a step toward believing him, some unidentifiable creature inside me yanked me back into the shadows of fear.
"You can't promise that." I pulled back from him and swiped at my tears. God, how many times had I cried over the past few months? I was turning into one of those weepy, dramatic characters I hated in TV shows, but there was nothing I could do about it. If I could control my emotions, we wouldn't be where we were.
"What's the difference between then and now, phi? When we got married, you stood next to me and promised I'd never face the world alone." Shards of glass embedded in my chest. "But I did."
Emotion churned through the room like a summer storm, sudden and violent, sweeping away the pretty words and pulls of attraction to reveal the crux of it. The reason why, despite all the things P'pai had done and the true remorse he'd shown, I hadn't allowed myself to truly let go. He was sorry now because it was easy to be sorry. He had a team who could handle things while he took time off from the office, and he was lucky there'd been no emergencies while he was gone. But what happened the next time he had to choose between another billion dollars and me? When there was a conflict between a VIP client meeting and a regular Friday night date?
Pain ravaged his face, but his response was quiet and steady.
"The difference is, back then, I thought I had nothing to lose. Now, I realize I have everything to lose." Sadness reflected in his smile. "You."
You. I never thought one word could hurt so much.
The war between believing him and retreating to safety raged through me. Another small sob shook my shoulders as prapai pressed his forehead to me.
"Give us another chance," he begged. "One last chance. I swear I won't fuck it up. I know my word doesn't mean much to you anymore, but tell me what you want me to do, and I'll do it." His tears dripped into my own.
"Anything. Please."
There was nothing he could do on his own that he hadn't already done. I could wait for a sign from the universe, some incontrovertible proof that prapai had changed and wouldn't regress back to the uncaring workaholic I'd lived with for far too long, but signs were open to interpretation. I'm curious about him building his own empire and not taking his father's name forward, what was that he was talking about.
At the end of the day, I had to do what was best for me and go with my gut, and my gut told me that no matter how many people I dated or how far I tried to run, I couldn't outrun my heart.
"One last chance." prapai's body sagged with relief at my response.
"Please don't break my heart," I whispered. That was the only request I had.
"I won't." His ragged breaths matched my own. He kissed me again, his embrace so sweet and desperate and searching it seeped into every molecule of my body. "I lost you once, and I never want to lose you again."
I had nothing except faith tethering me to his promises, but wasn't that the foundation of any relationship? Trust, communication, and faith that the other person loved us and that we could weather any storm together.
Prapai and I didn't work the first time, but sometimes, the strongest things were those that had been broken and healed.
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This story is now coming to an end just few more chapters.
Let me know about this chapter.
Should we take some more test of Prapai. I think we should.