He Never Knew I Was Carrying His Child Chapter 09
Clara had been standing outside the room for who knew how long.
She stepped inside with a tentative smile.
“No.” Clara looked stunned.
“But you always helped me with these things.”
Damian’s expression remained cold. “Then it’s time you learned.”
Clara blinked. The smile slowly disappeared from her face.
She glanced at me.
“Elena, please don’t be upset with Damian because of me.”
I smiled politely. “You don’t have to worry. We’re no longer together.”
For the briefest moment, something flashed across Clara’s face.
Relief. It vanished almost instantly.
“I never wanted the two of you to fight because of me.”
Damian finally looked up from the documents in front of him.
“If you have questions about the seating arrangements, ask the family secretary.‘
Clara stared at him, clearly not expecting that answer.
“I let you depend on me for things you should have learned to handle yourself.”
His voice remained calm, but there was a trace of regret beneath it.
“I told myself it was responsibility. I told myself I was only looking after you because of our families. But somewhere along the way, I stopped knowing where responsibility ended.”
Clara’s fingers tightened around the folder. “You’ve never minded before.”
“I should have.” The answer came quietly.
For the first time, she realized the person who had always stood on her side was no longer going to do everything for her. Without another word, she turned and walked out.
The door closed softly behind her. The room fell silent.
After a long pause, Damian spoke. “I couldn’t stop thinking about what that groom said.”
“I spent years believing I was treating everyone fairly. I gave strangers patience. I gave Clara my time because I thought it was the decent thing to do.”
He looked at me.
“But somehow, I expected the woman I loved to need less.”
His voice cracked. “I kept saving my kindness for everyone except my own girlfriend.”
He closed his eyes briefly. “I’m sorry. I know that isn’t enough. But if there’s any part of you that still, could you give me one more chance?”
I picked up my phone and opened my banking app.
“Send me the total cost for the surgery, the hospital fees, and anything else you arranged. I’ll pay you back.”
For a second, the hope in his eyes disappeared.
He finally understood. This wasn’t anger. It wasn’t a threat.
I was closing every door between us.
The next morning, I flew back to London.
After the wedding, Liam and I somehow became friends.
He turned out to be nothing like the rumors.
Every now and then he’d send me a picture of an unusually beautiful sunset outside the office.
Or a photo of his cat sleeping in increasingly impossible places.
Sometimes I’d receive a message that simply read:
The café downstairs burned the coffee again. A crime against humanity.
Little by little, I found myself sending him pieces of my day too.
A bookstore I’d stumbled across. A terrible sandwich. A funny conversation I’d overheard on the Tube.
No matter how busy he was, he always replied in seconds.
There was something strangely comforting about knowing someone would eventually answer.
Then one afternoon, five minutes passed. Ten. Twenty. Nothing.
I glanced at my phone again and again.
Without thinking, I typed:
Are you ignoring me?
My thumb hovered over the screen. Then I froze. What was I doing? He was my boss.
Not someone who owed me an instant reply.
I deleted the message.
Right then, my phone buzzed.
A voice message.
Background noise filled with conversations and chairs scraping across the floor.
“Sorry. I got pulled into a meeting. I just got out.”
I smiled before I even realized it.
And suddenly, I remembered something from years ago.
Back when Damian and I had first started dating.
One evening he’d texted,
Dinner. Talk later.
Then, nothing.
More than an hour passed.
Finally I asked,
Finished?
His reply came a few minutes later.
Yep.
That was it.
Such a small thing.
Yet somehow, I’d felt strangely disappointed.
