After a long day at work, Drake stepped quietly into the apartment, the faint hum of the city filling the silence. He found Nerissa on the balcony, her gaze lost in the distant lights, shoulders wrapped in a quiet melancholy. For days now, she had been distant, unreachable—as though her thoughts were trapped in another world he couldn't touch.
Drake's chest tightened. He had been patient, giving her space, but tonight he knew he couldn't wait any longer. If George's shadow still lingered in her heart, he would do everything to erase it. Permanently.
Taking a slow breath, he made his decision. Tonight, he would take another step—one that could change everything. He would propose to her. Not just to claim her, but to promise her a life where she would never have to look back again.
Drake stepped out onto the balcony, the evening breeze carrying the scent of the city and the faint rustle of leaves. Nerissa didn't turn at first; her eyes were still lost somewhere beyond the skyline.
"Long day?" he asked softly.
She gave a faint smile without looking at him. "Just… thinking."
Drake moved closer, standing beside her, his hand brushing hers on the railing. "You've been somewhere else lately. Somewhere I can't reach."
Her lips parted, as if she wanted to speak, but no words came. The silence between them felt fragile, like glass that could shatter with the wrong move.
He took a deep breath, his heart pounding in his chest. "Nerissa… I've been thinking too. About us. About what I want for the rest of my life."
Finally, she turned to face him, her brows slightly drawn. "Drake—"
But he was already reaching into his pocket, pulling out a small velvet box. He opened it slowly, revealing a simple but elegant ring that caught the soft glow of the city lights.
"I know you've been through so much," he said, his voice low and steady. "And I know there's a part of you that's still haunted by your past. But I'm not asking you to forget it… I'm asking you to let me be your future."
Her eyes glistened, tears threatening to fall.
"I love you, Nerissa. And I don't want to spend another day wondering if you'll ever be mine completely. Will you marry me?"
The world around them seemed to fade, leaving only the two of them under the night sky, standing at the edge of a moment that could change everything.
Nerissa's gaze dropped to the ring, but instead of the warmth Drake expected, a sharp ache spread through her chest. Her vision blurred as tears filled her eyes—not from joy, but from the sting of truth she could no longer ignore.
She knew.
Deep down, she had always sensed the undercurrent. The way Isabelle lingered in her life even from a distance. The calculated moments, the subtle pushes… the way Drake had appeared in the exact cracks of her broken world. It wasn't coincidence. It was orchestrated.
By him.
By them.
Her lips trembled. "Drake… why now?"
He blinked, caught off guard. "Because I love you. Because I want us—"
"No." Her voice cracked, her tears spilling freely now. "You want me to say yes so George and I can never find our way back to each other. You and Isabelle… you planned this."
The color drained from his face, his hand tightening on the velvet box. "Nerissa—"
"I trusted you," she whispered, her voice shaking but her gaze piercing. "When everything else fell apart, I thought you were the one person who wasn't using me. I thought you were… safe."
The ring between them suddenly felt like a weapon, not a promise. She stepped back, wrapping her arms around herself, as if shielding her heart from him.
"Was I just a… project to you, Drake? Someone you could win over ?"
The night air felt colder now, the distance between them heavier than miles. Drake opened his mouth to explain, but the truth was already written in the silence between them.
Drake's chest tightened as he took a step forward, the ring box still trembling in his hand. "Nerissa, listen to me—yes, Isabelle came to me… but it wasn't the way you think."
She gave a bitter laugh through her tears. "Then tell me, Drake. Tell me how helping her tear me away from George was different from betraying me."
His jaw clenched. "At first… I'll admit it—I was angry at George. I thought he didn't deserve you, not after everything you told me. Isabelle… she used that. She told me you'd be better off without him, and I wanted to believe her because I—" His voice cracked. "Because I already wanted you for myself."
Nerissa's eyes hardened. "So you agreed to her plan."
"I didn't think it through," he confessed, his words tumbling out. "I thought if I could be there for you, you'd see me… not him. But somewhere along the way, Nerissa, I stopped caring about her plan. I only cared about us."
She shook her head slowly, her tears falling onto her trembling hands. "You don't get to say 'us' when it started with a lie, Drake. You made yourself the cure for a wound you helped create."
Drake's shoulders sagged, the weight of her words hitting him harder than he expected. "I know I don't deserve your forgiveness," he whispered. "But I swear to you, Nerissa, every feeling I have for you now… it's real. I'm in love with you. Not because of Isabelle. Not because of George. Because of you."
Nerissa turned from the balcony, her resolve settling like a quiet weight in her chest. She found Drake in the living room, sitting on the edge of the couch with the unopened ring box still in his hand. His eyes lifted when she entered, searching her face for any sign of hope.
"Drake," she began softly, but her voice carried a firmness that made him tense. "I've thought about what you said."
He stood slowly, taking a hesitant step toward her. "And…?"
She took a deep breath. "And I can't do this anymore."
His brow furrowed. "Nerissa—"
"This… us—it started with a lie. You might say your feelings are real now, but the foundation you built them on was already broken." Her voice wavered, but her gaze didn't. "I can't marry you. I can't even stay here knowing how it all began."
Drake's grip on the ring box tightened until his knuckles whitened. "You're walking away? Just like that?"
Tears filled her eyes, but she held her ground. "I'm going home, Drake. Back to where I came from. I need to find myself again… without you, without George, without any of this."
He stepped forward, desperation flickering in his eyes. "Nerissa, please—"
She shook her head, stepping back. "Don't make this harder than it already is. You cared for me, I know that… but you also betrayed me. And I can't pretend that didn't happen."
For a long moment, neither of them spoke. The quiet hum of the city seeped through the walls, but inside, the silence felt suffocating.
Finally, Nerissa turned away, heading toward her room to start packing, each step pulling her further from the life Drake had imagined—and from the lie that had once felt like love.
It was past midnight when Nerissa heard the rattle of the front door. She froze, a half-packed suitcase open on the bed. The door swung open, and Drake stumbled inside, his shirt half untucked, the sour smell of alcohol clinging to him.
"Nerissa…" His voice was rough, almost pleading. He swayed slightly as he kicked the door shut behind him. "Please… don't do this. Don't leave me."
She stepped into the living room, arms crossed, her expression guarded. "Drake, you're drunk. You should sleep it off."
But he ignored her words, his eyes glassy with both liquor and desperation. "I can't lose you. I'll do anything. I'll be better. I'll make you forget everything."
He reached for her, pulling her close, his hands trembling. Before she could push him away, he leaned in, trying to kiss her—forcing his longing into the space between them.
But Nerissa's heart hardened.
Her palm met his cheek with a sharp, echoing crack.
Drake froze, stunned, his head turning from the impact. The room went silent except for his unsteady breathing.
"That," she said coldly, "is all you'll get from me after your so-called proposal."
Her voice broke, but her eyes didn't. "You betrayed me, Drake. You don't get to drink away the truth and hope I'll forget it. You don't get to touch me like nothing happened."
Drake's shoulders slumped, the fight draining out of him. He stood there in the dim light, a man who had already lost, staring at the woman who would no longer be swayed by his promises.
Without another word, Nerissa turned and walked back to her room, leaving him alone in the silence he had made for himself.
Behind the closed door of her bedroom, Nerissa leaned against the wall, her chest rising and falling with unsteady breaths. The sting of the moment still clung to her—the way his lips had almost touched hers, the desperation in his drunken voice—but beneath the anger was something else.
Relief.
Deep down, she was thankful she had learned the truth before it was too late. Because if she hadn't… if she had gone on believing in the man she thought Drake was, she might have hesitated. She might have looked at that ring and imagined a future with him. She might have said yes.
Drake had been her safe place once—or so she believed. The man who cared for her when she was at her lowest, the one who offered her comfort when the world had turned cold. She had thought he was a good man.
But good men didn't build love on lies.
And now she saw him for what he was—a man who might have loved her, yes, but one who had first taken part in tearing her from the person she once loved most.
Her heart ached for the illusion she'd lost, but even more for the time she had wasted believing in it. Wiping her tears, Nerissa turned back to her suitcase and resumed packing, each folded piece of clothing another step toward reclaiming herself.
Tomorrow, she would be gone.