DARIUS<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
I rubbed my temples, trying to push away the headache building behind my eyes. Sera\u2019s face kept flashing in my mind\u2014those hurt, angry tears she tried to hide from everyone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Why did she always have to make things so hard?\u00a0<\/p>\n
I loosened my tie and walked toward the toy room where Luna\u2019s laughter echoed down the hall. At least someone was happy today. My daughter\u2019s giggles mixed with Vivienne\u2019s soft voice, and for a moment, it sounded like music.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDaddy!\u201d Luna ran to me the second I stepped into the room, her little arms wrapping around my legs. \u201cLook what Vivienne taught me!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She showed me how to make the music box play different songs by turning tiny keys. Her face glowed with excitement, and my chest tightened. When was the last time Sera had looked at our daughter like this\u2014with pure joy instead of worry and exhaustion?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s wonderful, sweetheart.\u201d I kissed the top of her head, breathing in that sweet smell of children\u2019s shampoo. \u201cWhy don\u2019t you keep practicing while I talk to Vivienne for a moment?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOkay!\u201d Luna bounced back to her toys, already forgotten about us adults and our complicated lives.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Vivienne smiled at me\u2014that same gentle smile that used to make my heart race when we were young. Now it just made my chest feel heavy. She followed me into the small closet room next to the toy area where we kept Luna\u2019s extra clothes and shoes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The space felt too small suddenly. Her perfume filled the air, something light and expensive that reminded me of spring flowers. My hands found my pockets, a habit I\u2019d picked up whenever I felt nervous.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s beautiful, Darius.\u201d Vivienne\u2019s voice was barely above a whisper. \u201cShe has your eyes but\u2026\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBut she looks like her mother.\u201d I finished the sentence, watching how Vivienne\u2019s face changed at the mention of Sera.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Before I could step back, Vivienne closed the distance between us. Her arms went around my neck, her body pressing against mine like it had a thousand times before. Her lips aimed for mine, desperate and hungry.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve missed you,\u201d she breathed against my ear, her voice breaking. \u201cFive years, Darius. Five years of thinking about you every single day.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
My hands came up to her shoulders, but gently. So gently. Because she felt fragile under my touch, like she might break if I pushed too hard. Her skin was cooler than I remembered, and thinner. The sickness was taking pieces of her away bit by bit.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cVivienne.\u201d I moved my face away from hers, creating space between our lips even as my heart pounded incessantly. \u201cI can\u2019t. You know I can\u2019t.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy not?\u201d Tears spilled down her cheeks, and I had to fight every instinct not to wipe them away. \u201cBecause of her? Because of Sera?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I took a deep breath, my hands sliding down her arms before stepping back completely. The loss of her warmth felt like losing something precious all over again.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I have a family now.\u201d The words came out rougher than I meant them to. \u201cI have a daughter who needs stability. I have responsibilities.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have a wife who trapped you.\u201d Her voice turned sharp, angry. \u201cSera went to your grandfather, didn\u2019t she? She told him I wasn\u2019t good enough for the family name.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
My jaw clenched so tight it hurt. Even now, even after all these years, the memory of that day made my blood boil. Grandfather George pulling me into his office, telling me about the marriage he\u2019d decided. How did she manage to convince my grandfather, the coldest man I\u2019ve ever known, to get me married to her?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Somehow she\u2019d convinced him that Vivienne would never be the kind of wife a man in my position needed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But she\u2019d been right, hadn\u2019t she? Vivienne had left me for her music career. She\u2019d chosen fame over love, even if grandfather had pushed her toward that choice.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s done is done.\u201d I ran a hand through my hair, messing up the style Sera had helped me fix this morning. \u201cI won\u2019t destroy Luna\u2019s life because of mistakes made years ago.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMistakes?\u201d Vivienne\u2019s voice cracked. \u201cIs that what we were? A mistake?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The pain in her eyes cut through me like glass. How could I explain that loving her had never been the mistake? The mistake was believing we could have had forever when forever wasn\u2019t something she\u2019d ever wanted to give me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou left me, Vivienne.\u201d The words tasted bitter. \u201cWhen grandfather offered you money to walk away, you took it. You chose your career over us.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI was young and scared!\u201d She grabbed my shirt, her fingers twisting in the fabric. \u201cI thought I had time. I thought you\u2019d wait for me to come back successful, proud of what I\u2019d become.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd now?\u201d I gently pried her fingers loose, but I didn\u2019t let go of her hands completely. They felt cold and small in mine. \u201cNow you\u2019re sick, and you want me to what? Abandon my family? Leave my daughter?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI want you to remember what we had.\u201d Her voice dropped to a whisper. \u201cBefore the sickness takes everything away. Before I can\u2019t remember your face or the way you used to say my name.\u201d Her fingers trembled in my grasp, her lips quivered with emotion and her eyes glistened with tears I knew would fall if I didn\u2019t end this now, tears I knew would be my weakness the longer it continued.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My throat felt tight. The thought of her forgetting me, forgetting us, made something twist painfully in my chest. But Luna\u2019s laugh drifted through the door, reminding me why I couldn\u2019t give in to the selfish part of me that still loved this woman.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember everything.\u201d I lifted one of her hands to my lips, pressing a soft kiss to her knuckles. \u201cBut I can\u2019t give you what you\u2019re asking for. I won\u2019t hurt Luna that way. And despite everything, I won\u2019t hurt Sera like that either.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Vivienne\u2019s face crumpled. \u201cYou still love me. I can see it in your eyes.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t deny it. Couldn\u2019t deny it. \u201cLove isn\u2019t always enough, Vivienne. Sometimes duty has to come first.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She stared at me for a long moment, and I saw the exact second when something hardened in her expression. The soft, vulnerable woman disappeared, replaced by someone I didn\u2019t quite recognize.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThen I guess I\u2019ll have to find another way,\u201d she said quietly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Before I could ask what she meant, Luna\u2019s voice called out from the other room.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDaddy! Vivienne! Come see my castle!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I stepped away from Vivienne completely, straightening my shirt and trying to look like a father instead of a man torn between his past and present.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe should go,\u201d I said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But the look in Vivienne\u2019s eyes as she followed me out made my stomach feel heavy. I\u2019d let her down gently, just like I\u2019d promised myself I would. For her sake, because she was dying. For my family\u2019s sake, because they came first.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I just hoped it would be enough to keep everyone safe.<\/p>\n
Souls Remember What Matters \u2014 Corey Gibson 2 002 \u2013 Duty And Desire DARIUS \u00a0 I rubbed my temples, trying […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-day-i-signed-the-papers-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23448\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}