CHAPTER FIVE:The Woman Who Wasn’t Supposed to Come Back28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBuRC3NAX2b
(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…28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDkwXXXBWV1
But because she wanted too much.
What kind of woman kisses a stranger just because he touched her kindly?28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNv00q5guoP
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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIBP7vbRHPB
That’s what she thought.
But the problem was…28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH5uzNNBMpK
She didn’t feel broken anymore.
She felt alive.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFYtPDlZCqQ
Uncomfortably. Unapologetically. Tragically alive.
The days passed like a fever.
She worked. Smiled at people. Ate her salads. Wrote her reports.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgjjQIxRj7q
And every time she blinked, she saw him.
Matteo.
Not just his face.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsQlokxcW9L
But his hands. His voice. That silence he sat in like he owned it.
That kiss.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm0B2ZSV09C
God, that kiss.
"Tell me to stop," he’d said.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ272NFOPiuh
And she didn’t.
She didn’t even think.
And now, every mirror she passed felt like a lie.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoa1FyyrOB6
She wasn’t the same woman anymore.
Not the one who curled her hair into place.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3B9oaNG5lw
Not the one who shrank when men stared too long.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYWJ8NlZt49
Not the one who’d numbed herself for the sake of surviving.
No.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDHoX1WaSQm
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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyq7Llb8qdE
That this was a phase. That she didn’t need this.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc9cz52lV2w
That he didn’t feel it, too.
But he did.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvmsGBpXlhG
She saw it in his eyes.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbmBS2caDmA
Right before he kissed her like it meant something.
She opened the app again.
Scrolled.
Found his name.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFokRXDCXQb
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:28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYth6HV80M1
CONFIRMED.
She stared at it, heart pounding.
She didn’t smile.
Didn’t cry.
Just… breathed.
Because deep down, she knew:
ns216.73.217.11da2She wasn’t going back for healing anymore.
She was going back to burn.
