CHAPTER FIVE:The Woman Who Wasn’t Supposed to Come Back35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUIxR8U9Q2R
(Ms. De Luna's POV)
She didn’t plan to return.
After the kiss, she swore she wouldn’t.
Not because she didn’t want to…35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy99kVN2Dbs
But because she wanted too much.
What kind of woman kisses a stranger just because he touched her kindly?35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV2C6vOgER0
What kind of woman sits in her car afterward, heart racing, lips burning, thighs pressed together like she could trap the heat he left behind?
A broken one.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbtIZWUN9oj
That’s what she thought.
But the problem was…35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmDMhlJOvNS
She didn’t feel broken anymore.
She felt alive.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTquAl3s08m
Uncomfortably. Unapologetically. Tragically alive.
The days passed like a fever.
She worked. Smiled at people. Ate her salads. Wrote her reports.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXQgSJxedTI
And every time she blinked, she saw him.
Matteo.
Not just his face.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2S7gVTlmG4
But his hands. His voice. That silence he sat in like he owned it.
That kiss.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDRUqA1fqQq
God, that kiss.
"Tell me to stop," he’d said.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyXnheiClu8
And she didn’t.
She didn’t even think.
And now, every mirror she passed felt like a lie.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW7XNnV0NDM
She wasn’t the same woman anymore.
Not the one who curled her hair into place.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1bMzSg9tKJ
Not the one who shrank when men stared too long.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpPjHT0y2Dy
Not the one who’d numbed herself for the sake of surviving.
No.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhCNvu2IOe8
That woman died in Room 3 of Matteo’s clinic.
And what rose in her place?
Someone dangerous.
She tried to delete the appointment app three times.
Her finger hovered over the screen each time.
She told herself she was being ridiculous.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM7b82OUGMZ
That this was a phase. That she didn’t need this.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnNDzckONNr
That he didn’t feel it, too.
But he did.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3YxEAwdyw3
She saw it in his eyes.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡygiozHRocH
Right before he kissed her like it meant something.
She opened the app again.
Scrolled.
Found his name.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6D3PJREYQl
Dr. M. Reyes — Private Schedule
"Last Available Slot: Friday, 5:00 PM"
Her finger trembled.
And then she tapped it.
Book Appointment.
A second later, her screen confirmed:35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpGj0dgCMGi
CONFIRMED.
She stared at it, heart pounding.
She didn’t smile.
Didn’t cry.
Just… breathed.
Because deep down, she knew:
ns216.73.216.238da2She wasn’t going back for healing anymore.
She was going back to burn.
