Chapter 2

The words were out, sharp and desperate, but instead of relief, a wave of nausea washed over me. My hands started shaking again, this time uncontrollably, and I had to grip the edge of the bed to steady myself. My body felt like it was shutting down. My head throbbed, a dull drumbeat keeping pace with my racing heart. This couldn't be happening. This couldn't be my life.

A new message popped up from Kelsie. My eyes, still blurry from tears, focused on the screen. "Meet me at the Rinkside Café in an hour. We need to talk." A meeting. A face-to-face confrontation. My stomach churned, but a cold, steely resolve began to form in my chest. I wasn't going to hide. I deserved answers.

I scrambled out of bed, ignoring the fresh surge of pain in my injured ankle. Every step was a struggle, a stark reminder of the career Elliott had supposedly been dedicated to. Now, he was dedicated to her. The thought sent a fresh wave of ice through my veins. I threw on the first clothes I could find-a pair of sweatpants and an old hoodie-my appearance the last thing on my mind. My hair was a tangled mess, my eyes red and swollen. I looked as broken as I felt.

The short drive felt endless. Each turn of the wheel brought me closer to the inevitable, closer to shattering what little illusion of a normal life I had left. My palms were sweating, my heart hammering against my ribs. What would I say? What would she say? Would Elliott be there? The thought of seeing him with her, together, in public, made my breath catch. A part of me wanted to turn back, to hide, to pretend none of this was real. But the bigger part, the part that had always fought for every victory on the ice, pushed me forward. I needed to know. I needed to understand.

When I pulled into the parking lot, my gaze immediately locked onto them. There they were, sitting at a table by the window, bathed in the sickly yellow glow of the café's interior. Elliott, with his handsome, familiar face, and Kelsie, her blonde hair gleaming under the lights. She was younger than me, taller, with a lean, athletic build that screamed "skater." Her eyes, even from a distance, seemed to sparkle with a malicious triumph. She was everything I used to be, everything I was losing.

They were laughing. His hand was resting on her arm, a gesture so casual, so intimate, it ripped a fresh hole in my chest. He looked at her with an adoration that used to be reserved only for me. The sight was like a thousand tiny needles pricking my skin, each one delivering a jolt of agonizing pain. My vision blurred. The world seemed to shrink, focusing only on them, their betrayal.

I pushed open the door to the café, the bell above announcing my arrival with a jarring clang. Their laughter died. Elliott' s head snapped up, his eyes widening in shock when he saw me. Kelsie, however, just smirked, a slow, knowing smile spreading across her face. My voice, when I spoke, was a shaky whisper. "Elliott?"

He quickly withdrew his hand from Kelsie' s arm. His face, usually so composed, contorted into a mask of annoyance. "Aria? What are you doing here?" He sounded angry, disgusted even. Kelsie leaned back in her chair, a picture of smug satisfaction. Her eyes, cold and calculating, met mine, challenging me.

Elliott stood up then, placing himself between Kelsie and me. A protective gesture. For her. Not for me. It was a clear line drawn in the sand. "Why are you here?" he repeated, his voice sharper this time, laced with an impatience that sliced through me.

"Why am I here?" My voice was trembling, but the anger was bubbling up, hot and uncontrollable. "What do you mean, why am I here? Who is this, Elliott? What is going on?" I pointed a trembling finger at Kelsie.

"Get out, Aria," he said, pushing me away with a hand to my shoulder. It wasn't a gentle push. It was dismissive, forceful. "You're making a scene. You're being dramatic. You look terrible." His words were like rocks, each one bruising my already fragile heart.

"Dramatic?" I shrieked, the word tearing from my throat. My voice was hoarse, raw. "You disappear for days, ignore my calls, and I find you here with... with her! And I'm dramatic? What happened to us, Elliott? What did I do?"

He scoffed, a dark, humorless sound. "What did you do? You got injured, Aria. You fell apart. You stopped being the person I fell in love with." His eyes, once full of warmth, were now cold, accusing. "You're a mess. This is pathetic."

The words hit me harder than any physical blow. You got injured. As if it was a choice, a deliberate act on my part. As if my pain, my broken body, somehow made me unworthy of his love. My vision blurred again, but this time, it wasn't just tears. It was a suffocating rage.

"Pathetic?" I spat, finding a sudden surge of strength. "You call me pathetic? After everything I gave you? Everything we built? You're the pathetic one, Elliott! Hiding your affair, abandoning your wife, while I lay at home, sick and injured, wondering if you were even alive!" My scream echoed in the suddenly silent café. Every eye was on us. I didn't care.

"Shut up, Aria!" he hissed, his face reddening. "Just shut up. I'm done with this. I'm done with you." He grabbed Kelsie's hand. "Let's go." He didn't even look back. He just pulled her towards the exit, his back a rigid line of rejection.

He led her out, opening the car door for her, a gentleman, the way he used to be with me. He didn't spare me a single glance. Not one last look. Just a blank, cold dismissal. The car sped away, leaving me standing alone in the café, the scent of stale coffee and betrayal hanging heavy in the air.

My body felt numb, hollowed out. The pain in my chest was so intense, I couldn't breathe. My legs felt like jelly. I looked at my reflection in the café' window. A gaunt, pale woman with haunted eyes stared back. My hair was disheveled, my clothes wrinkled. I looked like a ghost. The contrast to the vibrant, confident skater I once was, the woman Elliott had supposedly loved, was stark and cruel.

I stumbled out of the café and somehow found my way home, the short walk now an agonizing marathon. The house was dark, silent, just as I had left it. Elliott wasn't here. He wasn't coming home. I collapsed onto the sofa, curling into a tight ball, the chills returning with a vengeance. My gaze landed on a potted orchid on the coffee table, its once vibrant blooms now wilted and brown. I hadn' t watered it in days. Just like our marriage, it had withered from neglect.

A desperate, childlike need for comfort welled up inside me. My mother. She would know what to do. She would make it better. I fumbled for my phone, my fingers clumsy. "Mom," I texted, the single word a plea. "I need you."

Her reply was almost immediate. "Aria? What's wrong, honey? Is it Elliott? Did you have a fight?" My initial flicker of hope died a swift, brutal death. It wasn't comfort she offered, but judgment.

"Aria, you need to be reasonable," her next text read. "Elliott is a good man. He's provided for you, given you everything. You two are meant to be. Don't throw it all away over a silly argument."

Silly argument? He was having an affair! "He's with another woman, Mom," I typed, my voice hoarse, though she couldn't hear it.

"Oh, Aria, men are like that sometimes. You just need to be more understanding. He's under a lot of pressure with your injury. You need to forgive him. You need to fight for your marriage." Her words were a bitter pill, dissolving any remaining warmth in me. She didn't care about my pain, only about the facade. Only about what others would think. The façade of my perfect life, my perfect marriage, was more important than my crumbling reality.