Miss O'Connell | B.E

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"Billie?"

The sound of his voice hit her like ice-cold water in the winter weather, freezing her in place. her heart stopped beating. She didn't have to turn around to know it was him. That voice.

She swallowed hard, her eyes wide as her fingers on the paper cup tightening. Slowly, she turned to face Damian. When she looked at him, she nearly fell apart. He stood there, hands shoved into the pockets of his expensive coat, a thin smile on his lips. His dark eyes locked onto hers, and all over again, she felt like she was back in the house, back at the time, one she had escaped years ago.

He looked scruffier, dirtier than when she had first met him. There was no denying he was a handsome man, but he lost all his charm, covered in an outgrown beard and chapped skin.

His mouth curled into a half-smile, but his eyes... they didn't smile along. Still cold. "Didn't expect to see you here."

"I didn't expect to see you either," she replied, a hint of her attitude. The nerves in her chest didn't help, and she tried to keep her breathing steady, to remind herself that she wasn't that person anymore. He didn't have that hold over her. Not anymore. 

But standing there, with him just feet away, though it had been years since; It was hard to remember that.

Damian raised an eyebrow, as if her response amused him. "Still got that fire in you, huh?" He glanced around at the festive scene, then back at her. "You look good. Life treating you well?"

Billie immediately thought back to Divine, her hands clamped around the cup so tight the hot chocolate was ready to spill out. "yep." She looked up at him through the top lids of her eyes, biting down on the urge to tell him off, to ask why he was even here, why he thought he could just stroll back into her life like this. But that's what Damian was good at: acting like nothing had ever been wrong.

"I've been looking for you, you know?" His voice was uneasily calm, a smirk spread on his wicked lips. Billie's breath hitched, and she instinctively took a step back. "You left so... abruptly." He finished with a pretentious smile.

She saw it in his eyes—anger. Burning. If it weren't for the public space around them, he might have killed her with his bare hands.

Her heart pounded faster and faster, ready to break free from her chest. She felt the urge to cry, panic rising in her throat. Just him standing before her was suffocating, a cage she thought she had escaped. Seeing him here, before her, brought back too many memories.

"What are you doing here?" she finally asked, her voice shaky as she tried not to provoke him.

"I came to visit my mother," he replied quickly, glancing around, his eyes looking around for anyone who might be watching. Billie took another cautious step back, unsettled by his odd aura.

"Let's cut the bullshit, okay?" He hissed, grabbing her arm.

Her heart plummeted the second his fingers grasped her wrists, and she jerked her hand away, retreating further with a yelp. But he followed, closing the distance, his hand reaching out again.

"You fucking left me... just like that?!" His voice rose, venom creeping into his tone as he grabbed her arm once more, his face getting far too close to hers. She winced, trying desperately to escape. "Why?" His voice broke with his anger.

She whimpered, struggling to pry herself from his grasp, but he was too strong—he had always been too strong.

"Let go of me!" she yelled, hating how helpless she sounded.