Painfully yours

Pain.

Present day

Narrator's P.O.V
_____________

Two years have passed since that fateful day when Arya and Xavier first crossed paths, a collision of worlds that set their lives on a whirlwind course of love, passion, and inevitable destruction. What began as a fierce battle of wills turned into a love so intense, so consuming, that it felt like they were destined to be together, no matter the cost. But destiny, it seemed, had other plans. Cruel plans.

The cracks in their relationship began to show not long after they had surrendered to their feelings. It was as if the universe, having brought them together in a storm of emotion, now conspired to tear them apart. A series of unfortunate events—misunderstandings, betrayals, and the harsh realities of their fates—drove wedges between them, chipping away at the bond they had once believed was unbreakable.

Xavier, who had once been Arya's fierce protector and passionate lover, began to change. The love in his eyes grew cold, replaced by a darkness that Arya couldn't understand. His touch, once tender and possessive, turned punishing, as if he were trying to exorcise the demons that plagued him through her pain. He became relentless in his torment, driven by a conflict he couldn't resolve: whether to forgive her for the wrongs he believed she had done or to forget her entirely. But forgetting Arya was impossible. His obsession with her only grew, an addiction he couldn't shake, no matter how much he tried to bury it beneath layers of cruelty.

For Arya, the transformation was just as harrowing. The man she had fallen madly in love with had become her tormentor, and yet, she couldn't bring herself to hate him as much as she wanted to. Instead, she hated herself. She channeled all her pain, or atleast tried to, into her work, becoming a diligent, almost robotic junior under Xavier's watchful eye. Her father's gift of the hotel, once a symbol of their shared dreams, now felt like a burden, a constant reminder of the life she had lost. With her father in Europe, absorbed in expanding his empire, Arya was left alone to navigate the treacherous waters of Xavier's world.

The once-loving bond she had shared with her father had frayed, just like everything else in her life. His visits were infrequent, and when he did come, they were strained, their conversations filled with unspoken tension.

Xavier, however, couldn't bring himself to let her go. He kept her close, tethering her to him with chains of obsession and control. Arya was the center of his universe, the one thing he couldn't give up, even as he despised her for the power she still held over him. Every time he tried to push her away, to erase her from his life, he found himself drawn back, intoxicated by her scent, her presence, her very being. It was a twisted, toxic love—a love that had turned into hate, but hate that could never truly sever the ties between them.

Now, Arya works under Xavier's watchful eye, her every move supervised by Aron. The office that once felt like a place of power, ambition and secret love making now feels like a prison, every task a reminder of how far she has fallen. She no longer works for herself or her dreams, but for Xavier—his projects, his properties, his legacy, his control.

Despite everything, Arya performs her duties mechanically, hiding her emotions behind a mask of professionalism. She knows Xavier watches her, feels his eyes on her every time they cross paths. He's still obsessed, still haunted by what they once had, and what they could never be again. His anger, his frustration, they all manifest in the way he punishes her—small, cutting remarks, extra tasks, house chores, late-night meetings that seem to serve no purpose other than to keep her close, to remind her that she belongs to him, no matter how much they both wish otherwise.

But even as Xavier tries to break her, he can't stay away. Every time he thinks he's finally rid of her obsession , that he's finally purged her from his heart, something pulls him back. It's her scent that drives him mad, the way it lingers in the air long after she's gone, a reminder of what he's lost, of what he can never have again. And so, he keeps her close, trapped in a cycle of love and hate that neither of them can escape.