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Chapter 5

STEFAN'S POV

"You own this place?" I can still hear her mistrustful voice inside of my head. As if my achievements are the most unbelievable things she has ever witnessed. She doesn't think I have enough strength or talent or ambition, and I don't think she ever has.

Not that I can blame her. When I was a child, I never knew how to stand up for myself, mostly because I had an older brother who would always do it for me. I was mild, while Damon was forceful. He liked to push things, and people, to their breaking point to see if they're strong enough to handle him in their life. I guess that, over time, he rubbed off on me, little by little. I learned how to take control over my life, at least when it came to most people. Not with Elena, though, never with Elena. She was an exception. I wasn't aware of it when I was 8, or 12 or, hell, even 16, but my life has always been dictated by her. Her dreams became my goals, and what was enough for her would always be enough for me as well. I would always let her choose which movie we should watch, steal french fries off of my plate, take my last piece of gum without asking. It took me embarrassingly long time to realize that I'm not spineless, but helplessly in love with the most beautiful living thing in the whole universe.

And from the moment I fully comprehended the reality of my situation I knew that I could repeat this lousy life million times in million different ways and never be truly deserving of her.

I guess that's where I went wrong - I tailored my life by what I thought is enough for her, and not by what is enough for me.

She was the only thing I had that was worth having, so when she took off, I was left with nothing. I spent the first month of her departure the same way I spent the last six months she was still in the house - immersed in liquor. But I was young and foolish enough to think she would come back, not because I didn't believe she can do it, but because Elena was always better off living with dreams inside of her head, rather than outside of it. I wanted her to have something to come back to, I wanted her to know that things will be different from now on, that I got the message, that I've finally heard her loud and clear.

When Duke's Palace went under I bought the place for a measly amount of money and turned it into a children's restaurant. I've named it Will's Playground, and it became popular in a matter of days, mostly because the only kid friendly place around here, at the time, was Burger King. Managing that place soon became my life and turned into something more than a mean to provide my wife with a sense of safety. It was Caroline who told me that all loyal customers of Duke's Palace went to Rick's, which is a bit more classy, scaring away all of the other customers. So I thought why not open a place friendly to every person in town, from kids to old people? Family in the front, party in the back. And that's how the Empire was born.

It became clear that Elena won't be coming back, and I've realized that it was so foolish of me to ever think that she would. The next time she stepped foot into this town was after six years, to serve me our divorce papers.

The moment I saw her talking to Caroline, standing inside of a place that was built to lure her back home, I knew that I have three choices. I could act like an emotional wreck she had turned me into the first time I've bumped into her, few days ago. My second choice was to play cool, say something along the lines of of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine. And my last choice, the one I decided to take, was to act indifferent towards her. As if time is the sea that washed her away from my shore, even the tinniest pieces that could easily get lost in the sand.

Which is why, when she handed me our divorce papers, I had to act as if it's not a big deal. Sure, I'll sign them. No problem. I'll get them back to you by tomorrow.
I saw the horrified expression on Caroline's face, but I acted as if everything was fine. Just dandy.