She walked into the café in a loose white dress that clung softly to her curves, barely brushing the new roundness of her stomach.
And still... she was devastating.
More beautiful than I remembered. Even with tired eyes. Even with pain shadowing her smile.
Maybe especially because of it.
Because Jaimie had always carried herself like a fire too afraid to burn the wrong hands.
But I wanted that fire. I wanted to be burned.
I said all the right things.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ918PME78a6
I talked about grief.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQtHlnJCrr6
About my mother.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWTFb9psUA2
About regret.
But as I watched her stir her coffee, head tilted slightly, lips pursed in thought—
My mind was elsewhere.
If things had gone differently...31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjh8Jxhzyc9
If Tedd never returned.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlJrvsnLJHA
If there was no baby...
We could've had it all.
I would've had her.
Not just the way she let me kiss her that rainy night in Baguio.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgJqOTvMd9Q
Not just the soft Jaimie.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeuJBriTOkB
But the one who broke when no one was looking.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6gcesJjBmq
The one who needed control taken away so she could breathe again.
In my mind, she's beneath me—bound in silk, wrists above her head.
Eyes locked with mine, not in fear—but in challenge.
She's the kind of woman who wants to be undone only by someone who understands every scar—every trigger.
Her breath would hitch when I whispered, "Mine."
And she would melt into it.
Her hair tangled in my fist.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTz6WsYzLMd
Her skin marked by every kiss, every bite, every slow punishment for all the nights we wasted.
I would take her until she forgot her name.
Until all she knew was my voice.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQY2D3T7lsB
My pace.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyMkAHwKw7a
My command.
I blinked hard and came back to the café.
She was asking something.
"...and how's work?" she repeated.
I coughed. Cleared my throat. "Busy. Empty, if I'm being honest."
She gave a polite smile, then glanced at the time.
The moment was slipping again.
She stood to leave.
I didn't move.
Because a part of me was stuck between two versions of her—
The woman sipping her lukewarm latte with guarded strength...
And the one I kept in the shadows of my mind, pleading my name between gasps and silk sheets.
But I didn't tell her any of that.
Because fantasies are safe.
Reality?
She was pregnant. In pain. Torn.
And not mine.
Not yet.
But maybe... someday.
31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3lTZWpJI8J
