Chapter Fifty #2
“That’s exactly the point.” The tears fell. “If my mother could leave, then who are you not to? You’re a man who took a desperate girl off the street. You have no real reason to stay.”
“I do,” he said. I shook my head and wiped at my tears. My head was already throbbing behind my eyes. “How would I live without my heart?”
I stared at him, and he was serious. There was no amusement in his face, no sarcasm, no attempt to corner me into agreeing with him. He looked completely open, as if he were standing there with nothing left to hide.
“You stole not only my money but also my heart. And you expect me to let you leave?” He moved closer until I could feel the warmth coming off him. “You expect me to stay away from you?”
“Dmitri.”
“I have every intention of going wherever my heart is.” His voice dropped lower. “I’ll follow you to the ends of the earth just to stay where my heart is,” he murmured. “Just to breathe.”
A sob rose in my throat, and I forced it down before it could break loose. He reached out and lifted my chin, making me look at him when I tried to turn away. His eyes held mine for a long moment before dropping briefly to my lips and returning to my face.
“We can move to the apartment tomorrow,” he said. “I’ll help you pack.”
He held my gaze for another second, as if waiting for something unspoken to surface, then stepped back and headed toward the bathroom.
I stood there wanting to say something, wanting to call him back so we could finish this properly.
I could tell him all the reasons this still felt like stepping into something I didn’t know how to survive.
But the bathroom door closed, and a few seconds later the shower came on.
My hand moved to my mouth as if I could hold everything in place. I cried while I crossed to my side of the bed and lowered myself onto it, my body going weak as if it had finally stopped pretending to hold itself together.
Why did he say that? Why did it sound like every word came from somewhere he didn’t let anyone near? Why did he look at me like I was the answer to a question he had stopped pretending he wasn’t asking?
Would he really never leave?
The shower ran on the other side of the wall, and I sat on the bed crying until my chest hurt.
I couldn’t stop thinking about my mother, who left without looking back.
I wondered why leaving was easier for her, but when I tried to do the same thing, it felt like tearing myself apart from the inside.
I shifted and lay under the duvet, staring at nothing while Dmitri’s words replayed in my head.
Was that a confession dressed up as something safer?
Because if I had stolen his heart, then that meant he loved me.
Somewhere between the fake marriage and reality, Dmitri fell in love with me.
Did he even know what love was, or was he just naming it without fully understanding it?
I bit my lower lip and pressed my face into the pillow.
Yes. I fell in love with him too, but loving someone who would eventually leave was the kind of pain I have been trying to avoid my entire life. Leaving first felt like protection. It was choosing the exit before he chose it first.
The shower stopped, and I buried myself deeper into the bed.
Dmitri moved around the room for a few more minutes before he dimmed the lights the way he always did and came to his side of the bed.
I was already facing the wall, my eyes dry now, but I kept still, pretending to be asleep the way I had been for days, as if stillness could pass for peace.
He stayed on his side, and I stayed on mine.
I thought about my father. It was Dmitri who brought him back to me.
That alone should have meant something, but it wasn’t just that.
He found my mother too, and I met her again after years of silence that hollowed me out in ways I never fully admitted.
He was also the reason I saw Roman again, someone who was once close to me, to my family, to the version of my life that still made sense.
This man brought every person I lost. I was fighting someone who kept rebuilding my life with his own hands while I convinced myself I should run from him.
Dmitri shifted closer, and I held my breath. His hand settled against my stomach, and my whole body reacted with a small, involuntary tremor. I lay still, pretending I was unbothered.
He pulled himself closer until my back pressed against his chest, his breath warming the back of my neck, sending a shiver down my spine.
I missed him holding me like this. I loved this man so much, it scared me.
“Marry me,” he whispered against my ear. “Marry me, Inna.”
I shut my eyes and bit down on my lip, tears coming out again. Why was he doing this to me? Why did he know exactly how to reach inside whatever wall I built and dismantle it from the inside?
His hand moved under the blanket until his fingers found my left hand. He held my ring finger between his.
“Say yes.” His lips brushed my ear. “Say yes, baby. Marry me. Please.”
That broke something open inside me. “You will leave.”
“I need you.”
A sob caught in my throat. “I don’t want commitment. I want to live the years I lost.”
“Let’s live together,” he whispered, kissing my cheek.
I shook my head. Why couldn’t he just understand? “I don’t want children, and I know you’ll want that eventually.”
“I will have you.”
“Dmitri.”
“Let me be your man.” He began sliding the ring onto my finger slowly, giving me every opportunity to pull away.
“But—”
“I love you.” The words landed against my ear as the ring reached where he wanted it to be.
Everything in my head went quiet. Every argument, every fear, every carefully constructed reason I kept holding on to went silent at once, like someone had turned the volume off.
He bought another ring because he wanted to propose. Did that mean he really wanted me? Did it mean he wouldn’t let me go even when I tried? He was serious about it.
He turned me slowly towards him, and I moved voluntarily. This was where I risked my heart. I told myself I would try him, I would choose this love and stay. If he were to give up on me one day and leave, it would be on me.
His arms pulled me in. He said I had his heart, then he could have mine too. It was his to break.
“If you ever want to leave, please tell me. Don’t just disappear.” I whispered.
His lips found mine, and he kissed me. “Where can I possibly go?” He asked and kissed me again. “I’m completely nothing without you, baby.” He took my hand and raised it to the left side of his chest.
This time, I was the one who reached out and kissed him. He received me again, his lips taking the last breath in me, moving slowly, making me feel it.
“Yes,” I murmured between kisses.
“Yes?” he asked.
“I will marry you.”