𝐓𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝟏𝟖 +

𝐓 𝐖 𝐄 𝐍 𝐓 𝐘 - 𝐅 𝐈 𝐕 𝐄

Eden

I arrived at the office the next morning with a whirlwind of emotions churning inside me. The memory of last night was still vivid in my mind, playing out in a loop as I replayed every touch, every kiss, every whispered word. I had barely slept, my mind too preoccupied with the possibilities, with what this could mean for Lenore and me. Despite the risks, I had felt an undeniable excitement, a feeling that something had finally clicked into place in my life.

I had expected today to be different, that Lenore and I would be navigating this new territory together, maybe cautiously, but with a mutual understanding that something important had happened between us.

But the moment I stepped into her office and saw Lenore standing behind her desk, my heart sank.

Her posture was rigid, her back turned slightly away from me as if she were trying to shield herself from something, maybe from me. The air in the room felt different, colder somehow, and the warmth I had felt from her last night was nowhere to be found. She was flipping through papers with a mechanical precision, her movements sharp and devoid of the grace I had grown to admire.

"Good morning," I said, hoping to break the ice with my usual smile, but the words came out shaky, betraying my nervousness.

Lenore didn't respond immediately. She continued to shuffle through the papers on her desk, not even glancing up at me. My heart began to race, a cold knot of anxiety forming in my stomach. Something was wrong. I could feel it in the way the atmosphere had shifted.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she looked up at me, but her eyes were different, colder, distant, as if a wall had been erected between us overnight. The warmth that had once been there, the soft glimmer of something more in her gaze, was gone, replaced by something I couldn't quite place. Indifference? Regret?

"We need to talk," she said, her voice void of emotion, and those four words sent a shiver down my spine.

I took a tentative step closer, trying to gauge her mood, trying to understand what had changed between last night and this morning. But Lenore's expression was unreadable, her face a mask of professionalism, and I suddenly felt like an outsider in a place where I had once felt a connection.

"Is everything okay?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper, afraid to hear the answer but needing to know.

Lenore sighed, closing the folder she had been pretending to read and setting it down on her desk. She finally met my gaze, but there was no warmth in her eyes, only a steely resolve that made my heart clench.

"Last night was a mistake," she said bluntly, her words hitting me like a punch to the gut.

I blinked, trying to process what she had just said. A mistake? How could she say that? After everything we had shared last night, the emotions, the connection, how could she reduce it to a mistake?

"A mistake?" I echoed, my voice trembling with disbelief. "Lenore, what are you talking about? Last night was—"

"A lapse in judgment," she cut me off, her tone sharp and unforgiving. "It never should have happened, Eden. It was wrong, and we both know it."

I stared at her, my mind reeling. This couldn't be happening. Last night had felt so right, so real. The way she had held me, kissed me, there was no way that could have been a mistake. There was no way she didn't feel what I felt.

"But... last night..." I stammered, trying to find the right words, trying to make sense of this sudden shift. "We connected, Lenore. You can't just pretend that didn't happen. We can't just go back to how things were."

Her expression hardened, her eyes narrowing as if she were trying to shut me out, to shut out the emotions that had been so apparent just hours ago.

"We have to," she said, her voice cold and final. "What happened last night was a moment of weakness, and it can't happen again. I'm married, Eden. I have responsibilities, a reputation. We both do. We can't afford to jeopardize everything we've worked for because of... this."

I felt a lump form in my throat, the sting of her words piercing through me like ice. She was closing herself off, retreating behind a wall of logic and professionalism, and it felt like she was pushing me away, erasing everything that had transpired between us.

"Lenore, please," I pleaded, taking another step closer, trying to reach out to her, but she immediately took a step back, putting more distance between us. It was as if the air between us had turned toxic, something she couldn't bear to breathe.

"Eden, don't make this harder than it already is," she said, her voice firm, but I could see the conflict in her eyes, the way she was struggling to maintain her composure. "We can't do this. It's not right, and it's not fair to anyone involved."

I felt my heart breaking all over again, the pain of her rejection cutting deeper than I had anticipated. How could she just dismiss what we had shared so easily? How could she act like it meant nothing? I didn't understand why she was doing this, why she was pushing me away after everything we had been through last night.

"Why the change of heart?" I asked, my voice cracking under the weight of my emotions. "Last night, everything was fine. We both knew what we were doing. We... we wanted it. So why now? Why are you suddenly acting like it was a mistake?"

Lenore's expression faltered for just a moment, a flicker of something, guilt, maybe? crossing her features, but it was gone as quickly as it had appeared. She straightened her shoulders, her gaze hardening once more.

"Because it was a mistake, Eden," she repeated, her tone leaving no room for argument. "And it's a mistake that can't happen again. We need to move past this and focus on our work. That's what's important now."

I felt like the ground had been pulled out from under me, like everything I had believed in, everything I had hoped for, was crumbling before my eyes. Lenore was shutting me out, closing the door on something that had felt so real, so right, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

"Lenore..." I whispered, my voice breaking with the weight of my unspoken feelings, but she shook her head, cutting me off before I could say anything more.

"Eden, I'm asking you to keep your distance," she said coldly, her words like a slap to the face. "This can't go any further. I need you to respect that."

And with that, she turned away from me, dismissing me as if I were nothing more than a passing thought, a momentary distraction that she needed to forget.

I stood there, frozen, my heart shattered into a thousand pieces, unable to comprehend how everything had gone so wrong so quickly. Lenore had been my world, my light in the darkness, and now she was telling me to stay away, to pretend like nothing had happened.

It wasn't fair. None of this was fair. But as I stood there, watching her retreat into her own world, I realized that no matter how much it hurt, no matter how much I wanted to fight for what we had, there was nothing I could do. Lenore had made her decision, and I was powerless to change it.

So I turned and walked out of her office, feeling the weight of her rejection bearing down on me with every step, knowing that the person I had fallen for, the person who had shown me a glimpse of something more, was now lost to me forever.

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~ R