Aurora's POV
I told Ria not to disturb me today right at the entrance. Sharp. Cold. Not my usual self.
I had never done that before.
But what Henry did today... it cracked open something inside me I thought had long healed. A betrayal that felt all too familiar. One that dragged my soul right back to the past, to a wound that never really closed.
Everyone knows Sebastian betrayed me. My friends saw me fall apart, piece myself together, and rise stronger. They admired how I fought through it... how I moved forward. But there are parts of my story no one knows. No one. Things I buried deep down in the hollows of my soul. Unspoken. Unseen.
That day, five years ago...
I was rushing through the corridors of Aetos Multi-Speciality Hospital, my phone dying in my palm. The battery warning blinked red, and I needed the charger desperately. Ayla was inside the ICU, barely breathing, fighting for her life at just a few months old. I couldn't even call anyone. So I went searching.
In a corner hallway, near the staff lounge, I spotted an empty charging station. I hurried toward it...and that's when I saw them.
Sebastian... my husband.
Holding Sophia Aetos.
His arms around her like he belonged there.
I stopped.
Paralyzed.
He was whispering something in her ear while hugging her and reassuring her. She looked straight at me.
And then she smirked.
That smirk…
It shattered me.
Ayla was fighting for her life, and the man who vowed to protect us was embracing another woman... his mistress... his savior from responsibility.
My legs buckled. The world blurred and collapsed into black.
When I came to, everything was quiet except for the muted beeping of machines and hushed whispers.
Mom… Dad… Theodore… all around me. Worry clouded their faces like storm clouds refusing to break.
"Aurora!"
"Roro!"
"Baby!"
Voices tumbled over one another...relief, panic, desperation all mixed into one painful harmony.
Mom's eyes were bloodshot. She grabbed my hands like she'd never let go again. "You scared me, dear… God, you scared me," she sobbed, brushing hair off my face.
I tried to sit up. "A...yla… Ayla… where's my baby?"
The moment I moved, pain shot up my spine and legs like fire. I gasped.
"Easy, Roro," Theodore stepped in, catching me. "She's okay now. Out of danger. Breathing on her own. She'll be moved into this room soon."
Relief flooded me like a dam breaking open...but my body had no strength left to handle the emotion. Everything began to fade again.
When I next opened my eyes, I felt like I'd returned from the dead.
"Roro… you finally opened your eyes!" Theodore's scream echoed down the hall, "Aunty Lucy, Roro's awake!"
I gave a faint smile. My throat was dry, voice hoarse. "How long?"
"Two days," he replied.
I jolted. "Ayla?"
"She's fine, sweetheart. She'll be in this room today. Completely stable."
"Thank God…" I whispered.
And then... he came in.
Sebastian.
With my mother.
Rushing. Pretending.
"Aurora… baby, you scared me. If anything had happened to you, I… I would've never forgiven myself," my mother sobbed, holding my face.
"Why did you leave like that, huh? Just because we didn't approve your marriage, did you really have to take everything on yourself? A newborn, a full-time job that too when you gave birth just six months ago, managing your own health...did you even think of us?"
I broke. I held her hands, tears falling unchecked. "I'm sorry, Mom... I was so sure I was doing the right thing."
Then I heard a loud thud. I turned my head in panic.
Dad.
He had almost stumbled to the ground in his rush.
"Aurora, dear… I thought… I thought I lost you," he gasped and rushed to hug me.
"Daddd… you're suffocating me…" I wheezed softly into his shirt.
He quickly loosened his embrace, brushing my hair aside like I was still his little girl. "Sorry, dear… Papa just got too emotional," he muttered with a sheepish smile, his eyes red.
Then came the voice I never wanted to hear again.
"Roro… how are you?" His tone was low, hesitant.
I stiffened. That name… coming from him felt like poison.
"Don't call me Roro," I said coldly.
"Please… just hear me out."
"STOP."
The word was a blade.
"You lost the right to speak the moment you left your child..our child...when she was fighting for her life. You died to us that day, Sebastian. You're nothing to us anymore."
Shock widened his eyes. Of course it did. In the five years since, I never once said anything hateful to him. I just stayed silent. But silence is not forgiveness. It's survival.
Before he could defend himself, Theodore cut in like a sword through the tension.
"Did this bastard do something again? Roro...what the hell happened?"
I turned to him. My voice trembled as I clutched both my parents' hands.
"I was wrong," I whispered. "I thought I knew what love was. I thought I was choosing the right man… but I didn't see the betrayal coming. I didn't realize my mistake until it was too late."
Sebastian flinched as if my words physically slapped him.
Mom's fingers curled tightly around mine.
Dad's shoulders sagged.
I turned to my mother. "You were right, Mom. You warned me. I didn't listen. But now… I can't let him stay connected to us, not even by blood."
I looked up at Theo, who was burning with rage, waiting for my word.
"Arrange a divorce lawyer. I don't want anything from him. Not money. Not support. Not his name on any of Ayla's papers. I want his paternity rights annulled. I want him gone...legally, emotionally, forever. To Ayla, her father is dead."
I said it.
With no regret.
With fire in my chest and steel in my voice.
"Roro…"
I blinked. The memory shattered like glass.
I was in my office. Present day.
And in front of me stood Theodore, Ethan, and Hazel. The three constants of my life.
The three people who never left...even when I was broken, ugly, and too tired to pretend anymore.
Theodore stepped forward and squeezed my shoulder. "You're not alone. You never were."
Hazel passed me a tissue silently, her eyes gleaming.
And Ethan… he simply stood there, his presence solid and unwavering. A shield I never asked for, but always had.
I smiled faintly. The kind of smile that says: I've been through hell, and I'm still standing.
"I Know, right?!!" I whispered.