"D-Doctor?"
"Let me just clean myself up, and then I'll take care of you." Konstantin's voice was horribly polite, and the way he continued to avoid her gaze made Eve's eyes prick with tears.
He thinks it's a mistake.
He thinks...
I'm a mistake.A DULL SENSE OF PAIN gripped Konstantin's chest when he returned to his clinic and found it empty.
Eve was gone, and he should've fucking expected it, with the way he had acted. After taking her virginity, he had completely shut her out like she was nothing more than a paid tramp. What else was she supposed to do but leave? What else was she to feel but anger and hatred?
After this, she would never want to see him again. After this, he would never feel her soft gray eyes following him wherever he went...
After this, he would cease to exist for her.
And that was just how it should be, Konstantin told himself forcefully.
His whole life, he had always been in control, and he had never made any careless mistakes. Never.
But Eve...
Before this, she had meant nothing to him, dammit.
Nothing.
So why the hell had he suddenly found himself breaking all of his rules and actually cumming inside of her like he wanted her belly round with his child?
He had his whole fucking life planned, dammit, and it did not include him sharing his life with a girl who had stars in her eyes and wore her heart on her sleeves.
She was nothing to him before, and one fucking night wouldn't change that.
It shouldn't.
It musn't.
Eve was nothing to him, and she would remain nothing to him.EVE WOKE UP THE NEXT day knowing exactly what she wanted to do. Quit her job, forget about him, and move on. It was her only choice, if she wanted the emptiness in her chest to disappear, and she could start feeling right again.
But when she stepped out of her apartment, pale and listless, the first thing she saw—-
No!
Eve immediately tried getting back into her apartment, but he was too fast for her. His fingers curled around her arms in an instant, and Eve's chest nearly exploded with pain as Konstantin spun her around and she found herself staring straight into his eyes.
"I'm sorry," Konstantin said hoarsely.
His dark gaze was no longer enigmatic and shuttered. It was now raw with pain, but she told herself she was just imagining it.
"Forgiven," she said tonelessly. "Now, can you please go?"
The emptiness in her voice made Konstantin desperate, and the way she was staring at him - it was as if she was looking at him without letting herself really see him...
Desperation clawed at his soul, and Konstantin's fingers tightened around her arms, a part of him terrified that once he let her slip, he would never get her back.
"I'm sorry," he said doggedly.
"And I already said it's okay—-"
"I'm sorry I panicked."
He saw the way her lip started to tremble, and Konstantin's chest tightened.
"I wasn't ready—-"
"What about me?" she asked brokenly. "Did you think I was ready—-" He didn't answer, but the look in his eyes...it was telling her he actually did think that, and a painful laugh escaped her. "I used to think I was crazy—-"
"And I used to think you were a coward little mouse."
Eve didn't even know what to think with that. A coward little mouse?
"But the joke was on me," Konstantin continued tightly, "because in the end, I realized you were the one who was brave, and I...I was the one..." His jaw clenched. "I was the one who was terrified—-"
Eve shook her head. Did he really think she'd buy that?
"I'm not lying. I was terrified," he repeated doggedly.
"Can we please just stop this—-"
"Then give me a chance to explain—-"
"There's nothing to explain," Eve cried out. "I wanted you, I was an idiot for wanting you, and you—-"
"Wanted you back," Konstantin gritted out. "We had sex just once, Eve. Once. But it was more than enough, and I found myself wanting everything. That was what terrified me that night, and that was why I let you go."
"Please just stop this—-" Eve tried shaking free of his hold so she could walk away and stop listening, but this only made Konstantin's grip on her tighten.
"I thought I could make myself forget you," he said hollowly. "I thought I could make myself forget what happened. But I was wrong. I tried imagining life without you, and I couldn't."
Eve could no longer speak. She could only stare at him, his words echoing in her brain—-
I tried imagining life without you, and I couldn't.
And when she looked into his eyes and only saw the same desperation she had once felt—-
It was true, Eve realized.
Everything he said...was true.
Konstantin saw tears slowly trailing down Eve's cheeks, and his throat tightened.
"I know I've hurt you," he said rawly, "but if you could just trust me one last time..."