The morning was slowly arriving. Sarah looked at her phone; it was 5 a.m., but the darkness outside lingered, as if unwilling to retreat. The light was reluctant to appear.
Damien felt her hand resting on his head and, opening his tired, sleepy eyes, saw her.
Sarah: "Damien? Why are you sitting on the floor? You'll be in pain later."
Damien: "Sarah... The only time I feel pain is when you're not next to me."
A tear fell from her face, which she quickly wiped away. Seeing her teary eyes, Damien got up and hugged her tightly. This time, she didn't push him away; instead, she wrapped her arms around him.
The embrace lingered, a silent communion of two souls bound by a love that defied circumstance, yet threatened to be consumed by it. Damien held Sarah close, his heart a battlefield of conflicting emotions. He felt the warmth of her body against his, the familiar scent of her hair, the gentle rise and fall of her breath. He desperately wanted to freeze this moment, to encapsulate it, to preserve it against the inevitable storm brewing on the horizon. He knew the conversation they had avoided for so long was about to happen—a conversation that would irrevocably alter the course of their lives.
Finally, Sarah pulled back slightly, her eyes searching his, filled with a mixture of love, sadness, and resignation. "Damien," she whispered, her voice trembling, "No matter what you decide, I want you to know that I won't blame you. I am thankful to have been found by you that night. I am thankful to have been held by you when I was at my loneliest and lowest. I am thankful for your love, care, and protection, for not abandoning me... But I'm also a woman, a woman who can't watch in silence while you marry another."
He looked at her, his heart aching with the weight of her words. He didn't have a clear answer for their current state, not one that wouldn't leave them both scarred. He knew the choices before them were stark, each path leading to pain and sacrifice.
"I..." he spoke, his voice hoarse. "I wish... I wish I could hold you like this, for eternity. Sarah, there must be another way, and I will find it. Trust me. Please, trust me one more time..."
The words trust me struck her deeply. She remembered the accident and those same words echoing in her head while he carried her away from the car.
Sarah nodded slowly, her gaze drifting to the window, where the city lights twinkled like distant stars in the fog. "I don't think there is another way," she said softly. "Your grandfather's wish... it's important to him, and you're his only relative. Damien, I just wish you didn't have to sacrifice yourself to honor his wishes. I wish you didn't have to do it for reasons other than love."
Damien's jaw tightened. He knew his grandfather's health was failing, his grip on life tenuous. He knew how much his grandfather wanted to see him married to Penelope before he passed. The weight of that expectation, the burden of that wish, of that family debt, pressed down on him, suffocating him. Why did it have to be Penelope? Why did it have to be her?
"I know," he said, his voice barely a whisper. "But... it's not just about his wish, Isabella. It's about something he owes to the Wellington family, an old debt he needs to repay, and he's going to sacrifice me to settle that debt... The family, the business, the obligations, the pain... For years, I've been carrying a sense of responsibility that's suffocating me, but I could endure it all, it didn't matter... Until now. Now that I've met you... I just want to take your hand and disappear. I want to hold you in my arms like this for the rest of my life... But that would end my grandfather's life faster, and I'm not that heartless. I can't. I would carry that blame for the rest of my life. I already blame myself for his two heart attacks. But I don't want to lose you now that I've found you... I don't want to hurt you, and I don't want to witness you drifting further away from me every day... The pain is like a twist of the knife in my heart."
Sarah turned her face towards him, her eyes filled with understanding and heart-breaking acceptance. "Your heart..." she repeated softly. "Damien, if we don't separate, both of our hearts will bleed..."
She smiled at him through her tears. "I understand. Damien, I don't want you to beat yourself up over a wrong decision. I want you to do what you think is right, even if that meant... a goodbye. I understand, and I support you. There are things more important than love, and your grandfather's life is one of those things. I was never clear about what we are, but I have always loved you... The accident was a tragedy that took Ethan away, yet it also gave me a blessing in the form of you. We both knew this was going to end someday, so why not now? Endings are also beginnings. Our ending will give you and Penelope a fresh start."
Damien reached out and gently cupped her face in his hands, his thumbs caressing her cheeks. "Do you understand the pain I'm going through, kitten?" he asked, his voice thick with emotion. "Do you understand what this means? What it means for us? Sarah, I don't want an ending with you. I want you whole, I want you to stay. I want you to be mine forever."
Sarah nodded, tears welling up in her eyes. "What this means is... goodbye," she whispered, the word a sharp knife twisting in his heart. "I can't be the other woman in your life, Damien... I'm not strong enough to watch you and your future wife hold hands and kiss. I don't want to think about you holding her like this. I don't want to be here when you get married or have kids together... I can't."
Damien: "Sarah, the only woman I want to have kids with is you. I will never give myself to any other woman."
Sarah: "Damien... Don't say that. Once you get married, your grandfather will want great-grandchildren, and you will oblige just to make him happy. It doesn't matter who the child's mother is; you will do it because you never think about yourself. You look at the people around you and you want to make them happy, even at the cost of your own happiness... Because you don't think you deserve it... But let me tell you, Damien Sterling, you deserve to be happy too. You deserve to be loved and cared for. You deserve the understanding and light that will get you out of that darkness you've buried yourself into."
Damien's breath hitched. The way Sarah spoke to him was different this time; she spoke with a gentle, determined finality. He couldn't bear the thought of losing her, of letting her go. She was more than just a woman he loved. She was a part of him, a missing piece he had finally found. She made him whole.
"No," he said, his voice filled with desperation. "No, it doesn't have to be like that. I can... I can find a way. We... we can fight this together."
Sarah shook her head, her tears streaming down her face. "We can't, Damien," she said softly. "It's bigger than us. It's... destiny. I love you, Damien Sterling, you are the best thing that has ever happened to me, but there comes a time in life when we need to accept reality and let go of whatever it is that we're gripping so tight. I just hope your decision will bring you peace."
Damien's heart sank. He knew she was right. They were caught in a web of obligations, a web woven with threads of family loyalty, social expectations, and the weight of history. They were at a crossroads, their paths diverging, their futures uncertain.
He pulled her close again, his arms wrapped around her tightly, holding her as if he could somehow absorb her into himself, make her a part of him forever. He buried his face in her hair, inhaling her familiar scent, the scent that had become his comfort, his solace, his home.
"I love you, Isabella," he whispered, his voice thick with emotion. "I love you so much it hurts."
Sarah clung to him, her sobs intensifying. "I love you too, Damien," she cried. "I will always love you."
They held each other, their bodies intertwined, their hearts breaking in unison. They knew this was the beginning of the end, the inevitable parting that awaited them. They knew that the whispers of destiny, the echoes of obligation, were growing louder, drowning out the whispers of their hearts. They knew that the time for choices had come, the time for sacrifices, the time to say goodbye.