Why did you have to make this so complicated? He stared at the pile of carefully chosen gifts, each one clearly selected with his family members' individual interests in mind. Why did you have to go and make them love you too?
Breaking the news to his family, telling them that he and Victoria were over, suddenly seemed impossible. How could he crush the joy in his mother's eyes? How could he explain that he'd thrown away the woman they were already considering a daughter?
What was she thinking? What was her endgame here?
A traitorous part of his heart whispered that maybe there was no ulterior motive. Maybe Victoria had simply done what she always did, given of herself without expecting anything in return. Maybe she'd wanted to do something nice for his family because she genuinely cared about them.
The thought made his chest tight with emotions he wasn't ready to face.
The holidays passed in a blur of forced smiles and internal turmoil. New Year's came and went, and James threw himself into work preparations with desperate intensity, grateful for any distraction from the war raging in his head and heart.
When the invitation to TechVision arrived, his entire team erupted in celebration. James managed a smile, accepting their congratulations and letting their excitement wash over him. This was huge recognition that would cement his company's reputation in the industry.
"This is incredible, Mr. Mitchell!" Gaia bounced in her temporary secretary chair, her enthusiasm infectious. "TechVision! Do you know how many people would kill for an invitation like this?"
James nodded, trying to match her energy. The virtual reality gaming system he'd been developing, combined with the revolutionary gaming tube design, was exactly the kind of innovation that would set them apart. The weeks leading up to the conference flew by in a haze of late nights and perfectionist tweaking.
When the day arrived, James felt the familiar surge of adrenaline that always accompanied a major presentation. Standing on that stage, watching the audience's faces transform from polite interest to genuine amazement as he demonstrated his technology, he felt a flicker of the old confidence that had once defined him.
The applause was thunderous. Gaia was practically vibrating with excitement beside him as they left the stage, her praise flowing freely.
"Did you see their faces?" she laughed, her hand finding his arm in her enthusiasm. "That one executive in the front row looked like you'd just handed him the keys to the future!"
James smiled, something felt off about her touch. Foreign. Wrong, somehow. He found himself unconsciously stepping away, putting distance between them.
"The gaming tube design was brilliant," Gaia continued, apparently oblivious to his discomfort. "Remember when you couldn't get the immersion sensors to calibrate correctly? You were so frustrated you threw that prototype across the lab.
She giggled at the memory, her hand reaching for his arm again, and James felt his skin crawl. It wasn't her fault, Gaia was sweet, enthusiastic, and completely professional. Her touch felt alien against his skin.
And then he saw her.
Victoria took the stage with the same confidence that had first drawn him to her all those years ago, her presence commanding the room's attention without effort. Even from his seat in the audience, James could see the fire in her eyes as she launched into her presentation, her innovative ideas flowing with the passionate precision that had always taken his breath away.
She was magnificent. Untouchable. Everything he remembered and more.
He couldn't look away, couldn't breathe, couldn't think of anything beyond the way she moved, the way she spoke, the way she commanded that room like she was born to it. The spell she'd always cast over him reasserted itself with devastating force.
"Mr. Mitchell?" Gaia's worried voice cut through his trance. "Mr. Mitchell, are you okay?"
He looked down to find her hand on his arm again, her face creased with concern. The touch that had felt wrong before now felt suffocating, and he shrugged away from her with more force than necessary.
"I need some air," he muttered, not looking at her as he pushed past the seated attendees toward the exit. "Excuse me."
He didn't wait for her response, didn't acknowledge her confused call of his name. He needed to get away, to find somewhere he could breathe without feeling like he was drowning in his own emotions.
His legs carried him through corridors and doorways until he found himself on a small patio overlooking what had once been a garden. Snow covered everything in pristine white, transforming the world into something clean and peaceful.
Get it together, he told himself, gripping the railing until his knuckles went white. She's just a person. Just another person.
His mind betrayed him, conjuring memories of Victoria's laugh, her smile, the way she looked when she was excited about a new project. The confidence she'd displayed on that stage was one of the qualities that had first made him fall in love with her.
"Ah..." He rubbed his face roughly, running his fingers through his hair. The war in his chest had reached a fever pitch, love and hate battling for dominance until he felt like he might tear apart from the inside out.
He loved her. God help him, he still loved her with a ferocity that scared him. He hated her too, hated what she'd done, hated how she'd made him feel, hated the way she could still affect him with just her presence in a room.
She was the source of everything wrong in his world. Before she'd come back into his life, everything had been simple. Predictable. Safe. Now every day was a minefield of emotions he couldn't control or understand.
"Ah..." He sighed, the sound echoing in the stillness. Even as he cursed her for turning his world upside down, other thoughts crept in. Worry. The kind of bone-deep concern he'd never been able to shake where Victoria was concerned.