Free Web NovelChapter 35: FIVE MINUTES
KEISHA’S POV
I turned and kept walking, not looking back once.
Fuck him. Did he think he could just walk in here and I would welcome him with open arms?
"Keisha." He said it again, closer this time, and then he was in front of me and I stopped because there was nowhere to go without physically walking through him.
I looked at him with a frown.
"Five minutes." He pleaded. "Please."
I looked at the corridor behind him. It was empty. Everyone else had filtered out already and it was just us. I thought about what to tell him, tell him to go to hell. But it had been months and I deserved closureㅡ five minutes. I can do five minutes.
"Say what you need to say." I said.
He exhaled and something in his shoulders relaxed slightly like he had been holding them up since he walked through the conference room door. "You’re doing well." He muttered. "Better than I thought you would be."
I stared at him.
The anger came before I even finished processing the words.
"Better than you thought?" I repeated.
He caught it immediately. "I didn’t mean it like that—"
"How did you mean it?" I shot back.
"I justㅡ I was worried about you. After everything. I’m glad you’re okay." He said it genuinely and that almost made it worse because I didn’t want genuine from him right now. I didn’t want anything from him.
"I’m fine." I brushed off his words. "Is that all?"
"No." He looked at me. "I need you to know that what happened with Maraㅡ it wasn’t what it looked like. The mating was political. My council pushed for it, the alliance required it, I didn’t have the option to—"
"Riven." I cut him off.
He stopped.
"You had months." I said quietly. "So many months and you never once said any of this to me. So don’t say it now." I looked at him. "Whatever it was, political or not, you made your choice. And I made mine. I’m here. I’m fine." I said it one more time and my voice remained steady and firm. "We’re done talking about this."
Something like panic moved through his face. "Keisha, just listen to me for a second—"
"I’ve been listening." I spat. "The whole meeting I sat there, listened, took notes and did my job and I’m done listening now."
"That’s not what I—" He stopped and tried again. "I’m not trying to make excuses. I know what I did. I know how it looked and I know how it felt and I’m not standing here trying to undo it." He looked at me properly. "I just need you to know that you were never nothing to me. Whatever happened after, whatever decisions I made, that was never the reason."
I looked at him for a long moment.
"Okay." I shrugged.
What the fuck did he expect me to say? That I was utterly in love with him? Wrong. I was disgusted that he had the guts to walk up to me.
He blinked. "Okay?"
"You weren’t nothing to me either." I said. "And you still hurt me. Both things are true and neither of them changes anything." I held his gaze. "I’m not angry at you anymore, Riven. I’m just done."
He was quiet.
"We’re done talking about this." I said again in case he didn’t hear me the first time.
Something else moved through his face and he took one step toward me.
"Don’t." I stepped back.
He stopped, his hand was halfway up, reaching for my arm the way he had done a thousand times when we were together, casual and familiar.
But this time, when I looked at it, I felt nothing except the irritation of someone who had moved on and was being reminded of someone who hadn’t.
"Keishaㅡ"
"Is there a problem here?"
I looked up at the voice.
Callum was coming down the corridor with Dane just behind him, two elders at his side and Mara a few steps back, all of them were mid conversation and now, all of them were looking at us.
Callum’s eyes moved from Riven to me and then back to Riven, his face blank.
"Not at all." Riven said smoothly, stepping back. "Just catching up."
"Hm." Callum looked at him for one more second, then back at me briefly. "Everything alright?"
"Fine." I nodded.
Dane said nothing. His eyes were fixated on me and I looked away first under his intense gaze.
Callum turned back to the elders beside him. "Shall we?" He nodded and steered the group forward, the corridor filled with their voices as they discussed.
I didn’t turn to Riven again, I just turned and walked away.
Away from Riven, away from all of them, back toward the communications wing where I had actual work to do and nobody was going to stop me in a hallway and tell me I was doing better than expectedㅡ
"Excuse me?"
I stopped.
Mara was in front of me.
She had appeared from nowhere, like she had been waiting for exactly this moment. Up close she was prettier than she looked across a conference table, her smile wide and warm and so completely fake that I felt unease in my stomach immediately.
"I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced." She said, "I’m Mara."
"I know who you are." I deadpanned.
Her smile didn’t flicker. "Of course you do." She tilted her head slightly. "I was hoping we could have a little chat. Just the two of us." She glanced back in the direction of the others and then back at me. "Privately."
I looked at her and that smile.
There was nothing nice about her. We had never spoken but I could tell she was irritated. And that smile? It held nothing but contempt. freeweɓnovel.cѳm
I felt the sudden urge to walk away but something about the way she stared at me kept me rooted to the spot.
"About?" I asked.
She smiled wider. "Girl to girl." She said pleasantly. "Shall we?"
