I Was Never the Woman in Focus Chapter 06

I Was Never the Woman in Focus Chapter 06

His phone slipped from his grasp and clattered 

loudly against the wooden floor. 

Zion sank onto the sofa. The silence in the 

apartment was suffocating. 

He closed his eyes, replaying Letitia’s words over and over. Appendicitis. A solo trip to the emergency room. The images haunted him. 

He’d always thought Kelly was tough, that she never needed looking after. Every time he brushed her off, she’d quietly handle everything on her own. 

He’d mistaken that for thoughtfulness. Now he 

knew it was despair. 

He jumped to his feet and tore through the apartment, searching frantically for any clue she might have left behind. Nothing. Drawers and 

bookshelves stood empty. 

He rushed to the TV cabinet and pulled open the 

bottom drawer. Inside sat a large black trash bag. 

He grabbed it like a lifeline and ripped it open with 

his bare hands. 

Trinkets spilled across the floor: the wooden 

carving he’d brought back from overseas, its wing broken; their matching couple mugs, shattered 

into ceramic shards; the handmade scarf she’d 

knitted for him, the one he’d mocked for its 

old–fashioned style and never worn. 

Beneath everything was a plastic bag. His hands. 

shook as he opened it. Inside was the used film 

camera he’d given her years ago, next to a 

dust–covered photo album. 

Zion flipped the album open. The first page held a 

blurry figure. A faded sticky note in Kelly’s 

handwriting was stuck beneath it: Happy eighth 

anniversary. I’m giving back all the blurry moments 

you left me with. 

His eyes burned and stung as he stared at the 

words. He’d hidden his laziness behind the excuse. 

of “artistic ambiance“. He knew the truth–he’d 

never bothered adjusting his camera settings for 

her. 

For Selena’s aurora portraits, he’d lain on the 

frozen tundra for three hours in subzero 

temperatures, waiting for the perfect split second 

of light. For Kelly, he’d always just snapped photos 

carelessly. He’d assumed she never minded. But 

she’d kept every slight locked away in her heart. 

Tucked inside the last page of the album was a 

receipt–proof of the deposit refund for their 

wedding apartment. The date matched the opening day of his photography exhibition. 

A sharp pain slammed into his chest, stealing his 

breath. He finally understood why Kelly had 

walked out of the gallery without a word that day. 

She’d seen the aurora series. She’d seen every 

ounce of his favoritism and every lie he’d told. 

“Kelly…” 

He crumpled to his knees amid the mess on the floor, and tears finally streamed down his face. 

Just then, the phone on the sofa rang. He 

scrambled to grab it, hope flaring, only to see the 

contact name: Buddy Selena. For the first time, the 

name felt glaringly offensive. 

He answered, his voice hoarse. “Hello?” 

“Zion, are you home yet?” Selena’s voice was 

sweet and coquettish. 

“What is it?” 

“My friends made a huge mess at my place after 

the party. I can’t clean it all alone.” She whined 

without a trace of embarrassment. “Could your 

come over and help? Your girlfriend’s gone 

anyway, so you’ve got nothing better to do.” 

Nothing better to do. 

Zion’s knuckles whitened around the phone. Once, 

he’d thought requests like this were a sign of trust 

between friends. Now her words turned his 

stomach. 

While Kelly burned with a high fever and sat alone 

in the hospital, he’d been tending to this woman’s sick dog. 

“Selena White.” He spoke her full name sharply. 

There was a pause on the line. “Zion? Why are you 

calling me by my full name?” 

“Are your hands and feet broken?” Zion’s voice 

turned icy cold. “Can’t you hire a cleaner when. 

your place is messy? Who do you think you are, 

asking me to clean your house in the middle of the 

night?” 

Selena was stunned. “What’s gotten into you? 

We’re buddies!” 

“Buddies?” Zion laughed bitterly. “What kind of 

buddy asks another man to clean her home late at 

night? What kind of buddy pesters a taken man for 

favors nonstop, knowing he has a fiancée?” 

“Stop hiding behind the word ‘buddy‘. Everyone 

sees right through your little schemes.” 

Silence hung on the other end of the line. 

Moments later, Selena shrieked angrily. “Zion 

Xavier, have you lost your mind? You offered to 

help me in the first place! Don’t act so high and 

mighty now!” 

“Is it just because that dramatic girlfriend of yours. 

ran away? Taking your frustration out on me?” 

“She’s nothing but a housewife who can only do 

chores! I wouldn’t even ask for your help if you 

weren’t so easy to manipulate…” 

Zion cut the call dead and blocked her number. 

He leaned back against the sofa, head tilted 

upward, tears rolling down his cheeks. 

He finally saw the truth. The woman he’d thought 

was pure and genuine, just a close friend, was 

nothing more than a leech who fed on his favors. 

and free labor. 

And the woman who had loved him with her whole 

world, who’d endured every grievance in silence- 

he’d driven her away with his own hands. 

“I’m a terrible man,” he muttered into the quiet 

room, and slapped himself hard across the face.