CHAPTER 50 — SILENCE, TEARS, AND DESPERATION
Auri's POV — Morning
The first rays of sunlight crept through the blinds, painting thin stripes across the hardwood floor. Auri barely noticed. Her body felt heavy, her mind numb, and her heart was a storm of confusion and heartbreak. The world outside continued as if nothing had happened, but inside her apartment, time seemed suspended, trapped in a loop of despair.
She woke with puffy eyes and a throbbing headache, the remnants of tears from the previous night still damp on her cheeks. Her apartment, usually her sanctuary, now felt suffocating, small, and empty. The silence pressed on her chest like a weight she couldn't lift.
Her phone buzzed insistently on the bedside table. She knew who it was.
Dante…
Her hand hovered over the phone but didn't reach it. She couldn't. She refused.
She rolled out of bed with a groan, tangled hair falling in front of her face. Her reflection in the mirror startled her — pale, messy, tired, eyes red from crying. She barely recognized the reflection staring back at her.
"I can't…" she whispered to herself, her voice shaking. "Not today. Not him. Not now."
She moved mechanically through the apartment, starting with the dishes in the sink. They weren't dirty, but she scrubbed them anyway, using the repetitive motion to drown out her thoughts. Water splashed onto the countertop as her hands shook uncontrollably.
After the dishes, she turned to laundry, folding shirts she had folded countless times, her movements precise but hollow. Each chore was a distraction, a small attempt to regain some sense of control over the chaos inside her.
She paused to wipe down the counters, staring blankly at her reflection in the polished surface. Tears pricked her eyes again, but she forced them back, telling herself she couldn't give in. She couldn't let him see her like this. She couldn't face him.
Dante's POV — Morning Outside Auri's Apartment
Dante's day had started hours earlier, but not at the office. He had driven straight to Auri's apartment first thing in the morning, unable to focus on anything else. His mind replayed the cafeteria scene over and over.
Olivia. Her arms around him. The almost-kiss. The giddy gasps of the employees around them.
He hadn't realized how much it had hurt to see her there, ignored, invisible. How easily she could be erased from his world if he let it happen.
He knocked on her door, expecting nothing but needing to try anyway.
"Auri…" he called softly. "Please… I need to talk to you."
Silence.
"Auri! I'm outside! Please, just a minute!"
Still nothing.
He pressed his palm against the door, trying to feel her presence through the wood. Nothing. His fingers ached, his knuckles white from gripping so tightly.
"I'm not giving up," he muttered under his breath. "I can't. I won't."
He walked around the building, pacing, muttering curses under his breath. Every few minutes, he tried calling, sending texts, leaving voicemails.
DANTE:Auri, please answer me.
DANTE:Please… just hear me.
DANTE:I can explain everything.
Nothing. She wasn't answering.
Dante's chest tightened. His heart was a wild thing inside him, each beat a painful reminder that she was shutting him out. That she was isolating herself. That she was hurting. And he couldn't fix it—at least, not yet.
Auri's POV — Afternoon
Hours had passed since morning. She hadn't eaten. She hadn't rested. Her body ached from exhaustion, but she forced herself to keep moving.
Work was the only thing that kept her somewhat sane. She opened her laptop and started typing emails, replying to messages, reviewing documents. Her fingers shook, but she pressed on. Each click of the mouse, each keystroke, was a desperate attempt to drown out the thoughts racing through her mind.
But no matter how much she focused, the images kept coming back.
Dante and Olivia.
Their faces so close.
The laughter of the employees.
The sound of the cafeteria clapping for them.
The almost-kiss that should never have happened.
Auri buried her face in her hands, sobbing quietly into the cushion of the couch.
Her phone buzzed again. She ignored it. She couldn't. She wouldn't.
The knocks started next. Light at first. Then more insistent.
"Auri… please… open the door."
Her hands shook. She pressed herself further into the couch, hugging a pillow tightly.
"I can't… I can't…" she whispered, trembling. "Not now. Not you. Not anyone…"
Dante's POV — Afternoon Outside Auri's Apartment
The hallway had grown quiet, almost painfully so. Dante's patience was thinning. He could hear faint sobs from inside. He pressed his ear to the door, listening to her, and his chest ached.
Every second she refused to answer was a second of torture. He wanted to burst in, to break the door down, to sweep her into his arms and never let go. But he didn't. Not yet.
Instead, he tried reasoning through the door.
"Auri… it's me. Please, don't push me away. I need you to hear me. Just a few words. Please."
Silence.
He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and tried again. "You think I don't understand what happened? You think I don't know how it looks? But it's not what you think. You have to trust me."
Her sobs were faint but unmistakable.
"Please…" he whispered. "Just let me in. I'm losing my mind here, Auri. I can't… I can't lose you."
Auri's POV — Evening
Evening came, and the apartment was dark except for the pale glow of her laptop screen. She had moved from the couch to the kitchen table, trying to focus on work, but the words blurred. Her mind replayed every moment she had tried to escape from Dante.
She wanted to run to him. She wanted to throw herself into his arms and scream. She wanted to cry on his chest until the hurt drained out of her body.
But she couldn't.
She couldn't face the cafeteria.
She couldn't face Olivia.
She couldn't face him, not while the embarrassment, confusion, and heartbreak still burned like fire in her chest.
Her phone vibrated again. Another call. Another message.
DANTE:Please… Auri. I can't… I can't do this without you.
Her tears fell freely now, staining the work documents she had left open. She sobbed into her hands, shivering, heart pounding, fingers trembling.
She whispered to herself, voice raw:
"I can't… I can't face him… I love him too much…"
She buried herself in blankets, hiding from the world, hiding from him, hiding from the feelings that threatened to drown her completely.
The door rattled slightly from another knock, but she didn't respond. She couldn't.
Dante was outside. He was trying. He was desperate. He was losing control.
But inside, Auri was a storm of tears, heartbreak, and lonely frustration.
And for now, she refused to let him in.