CHAPTER FIVE:The Woman Who Wasn’t Supposed to Come Back24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOSnd7Np70m
(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…24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡybOIOw8tik
But because she wanted too much.
What kind of woman kisses a stranger just because he touched her kindly?24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Ep5PfzBQ1
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnGAtVVdXYs
That’s what she thought.
But the problem was…24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFQEuVedCNP
She didn’t feel broken anymore.
She felt alive.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf4g3stctmw
Uncomfortably. Unapologetically. Tragically alive.
The days passed like a fever.
She worked. Smiled at people. Ate her salads. Wrote her reports.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJJMHm4m6bL
And every time she blinked, she saw him.
Matteo.
Not just his face.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGIJqdq85Lt
But his hands. His voice. That silence he sat in like he owned it.
That kiss.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA7PzfgHlQ4
God, that kiss.
"Tell me to stop," he’d said.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhrqJmLHkm9
And she didn’t.
She didn’t even think.
And now, every mirror she passed felt like a lie.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTNGMi3bLcP
She wasn’t the same woman anymore.
Not the one who curled her hair into place.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0nOuzr8w4v
Not the one who shrank when men stared too long.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJpR3gOxWCq
Not the one who’d numbed herself for the sake of surviving.
No.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3xn2D67dQq
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCk7A57yIW1
That this was a phase. That she didn’t need this.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBsHzjUQvCK
That he didn’t feel it, too.
But he did.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN9Xy0VD4fo
She saw it in his eyes.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡecsWBWHQWR
Right before he kissed her like it meant something.
She opened the app again.
Scrolled.
Found his name.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBGmmsrTrWO
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:24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpEK1dh4Nbg
CONFIRMED.
She stared at it, heart pounding.
She didn’t smile.
Didn’t cry.
Just… breathed.
Because deep down, she knew:
ns216.73.216.169da2She wasn’t going back for healing anymore.
She was going back to burn.
