Two days later, Susan was staring at a woman she had never seen before. The stranger's expression was sharp, almost venomous, and Susan instantly knew she wasn't here for pleasantries.
"Can I help you?" Susan asked, stepping out of her apartment. Her voice was calm, but her frown deepened when the woman's eyes swept over her with open disgust.
"Chris Lopez," the woman began, spitting the name like it was bitter on her tongue.
Susan froze, lips parting but no words forming.
"He doesn't need someone like you," the woman hissed. "The last thing he needs is a cheap, gold-digging whore who'll drag him down. He's more than you, and clearly…."
"Choose your next words carefully, Aunt."
The voice made her pulse spike. She turned to find Chris a few feet away, his tall frame casting a shadow over them both. His aunt stiffened; her eyes wide as if she'd seen a ghost.
"Chris…."
"I swore you knew your boundaries," Chris cut in coldly, his tone lethal in its calmness.
"I..." she tried, but Chris stepped closer, placing himself firmly between Susan and his aunt. His stance was protective, dangerous.
"Can you give us a minute?" he asked Susan, his tone softer when it reached her.
Susan held his gaze for a beat, upset simmering inside her, then gave a tight nod. "Yes. And leave when you're done." She brushed his hand off her arm and shut her door with more force than necessary, locking it.
On the other side, Chris faced his aunt. The smile he wore was one Susan had already learned to fear, calm, but with a sharpness that promised destruction.
"I thought I made it clear what happens when you interfere in my life again," he said, voice low and cutting.
"She's going to drag you down," his aunt whispered, her certainty faltering.
"Don't make me shove you below the level you just insulted her with," Chris snapped, his composure cracking. His voice rose, fury dripping from every word. "Do you understand what you just did?!"
Susan, on the other side of the door, frowned at his anger.
"I'm sorry, okay!" his aunt snapped, defensive.
"This is your last warning. Go." His command was final. His aunt left without another word, and Chris exhaled slowly before turning back to Susan's door.
He knocked once. "Open the door, or I'll break it down."
Susan rolled her eyes and yanked it open, stepping aside as he walked in like he owned the place.
"She's right, you know," Susan muttered.
"I'm not here to discuss her," Chris cut her off, tone clipped.
"Then what are you here to discuss?"
He patted the seat beside him. She hesitated, then sat, her curiosity betraying her stubbornness. His jaw clenched as though he was fighting himself.
For two days, the confession had burned inside him, but fear of rejection, of vulnerability kept him silent.
"Chris?" she prodded gently.
"Before you…" he paused, his voice lower now, almost rough. "No, actually I swore off women."
Her brows knit.
"I got my heart broken once. Badly." He paused and Susan moved closer to her.
"What happened?" She asked softly.
"I thought she loved me, turns out she didn't, was just in it to get back at me for rejecting her after my aunt introduced her to me first, I proposed and she said no, then told me she had aborted our baby" his voice was low and Susan grabbed his hand, he looked at her, he was opening up to her and he was scared she'll turn on him, but the look she had for him, made him rethink, he sighed.
"After that, I wanted nothing to do with love. Or whatever it is I want to have with you now."
Susan's chest tightened. She knew exactly what he was trying saying, she also doesn't want to be in a relationship after Derek and because she had been thinking of him too. For two days, he'd been in her head, in her veins.
Before he could say more, she leaned forward and kissed him into silence.