Chapter 116: So he wasn’t here because he missed me ?
RAINA’S POV
Anna noticed the change in my expression immediately.
"Himari?"
I answered almost on instinct.
"Hello?"
Silence.
Then his voice.
"We need to talk."
Every emotion I’d spent weeks trying to bury came rushing back at once.
"I... wasn’t expecting your call."
"Can we meet?"
There was no warmth in his voice.
No anger either.
Just quiet certainty.
"Now?"
"Yes."
I didn’t hesitate.
"I’ll come."
The line disconnected.
For a moment I simply stared at the screen before a smile escaped me.
It was small at first.
Then impossible to hide.
"He called," I whispered.
Anna’s expression remained careful.
"What did he want?"
"He wants to see me."
She studied me for a second.
"Just... be careful."
"I know."
But the truth was, I wasn’t thinking about caution anymore.
He’d called.
After everything...
He’d called.
I grabbed my handbag and stood.
"Let’s go."
Anna rose with me, though something unreadable flickered across her face before it disappeared.
A few minutes later Malik was already pulling away from the club.
The city lights blurred across the windows as we drove through the night.
My mind replayed the conversation over and over, searching for meanings that weren’t there.
Maybe he was finally ready to listen.
Maybe this was only the first step.
Maybe...
I never noticed that beside me, Anna had fallen completely silent.
The drive home felt impossibly short.
Every traffic light seemed determined to let us through, every road unexpectedly clear, and before I knew it Malik was slowing to a stop outside the house.
I couldn’t stop smiling.
It felt foolish after everything that had happened, but hope had a way of ignoring reason. Ethan had called. Not a message. Not silence. A phone call.
I kept replaying his voice in my head.
"We need to talk."
It wasn’t warm, but it wasn’t cold either. If he’d wanted nothing to do with me, he never would have called.
Beside me, Anna looked out of the window.
She’d barely spoken since we left the club. The only thing she’d said was, "Don’t expect too much."
I understood why.
It didn’t stop me hoping anyway.
Before Malik had finished parking, I was already opening the door.
"Himari—"
"I’ll only be a minute."
I hurried up the front steps, barely feeling my feet touch the ground.
He was here.
After everything...
He was here.
I pushed open the front door.
"Etha—"
The word caught in my throat.
Susan stood beside him.
The smile disappeared before I even realised it had.
So that was it.
He hadn’t come alone.
He hadn’t come because he missed me.
Something had happened.
My eyes drifted back to Ethan.
He looked exhausted.
Not the kind of tired sleep could fix, but the quiet exhaustion that settled into someone’s face after carrying too much for too long.
For a moment I searched for something familiar.
Some sign that he was happy to see me.
There wasn’t one.
Footsteps sounded behind me.
"Himari?"
Anna stopped beside me, taking in the room with a single glance.
Her eyes moved from Ethan to Susan, and I watched her expression settle into something calm and unreadable.
She stepped forward first.
"I’m Anna."
She offered Ethan her hand with an easy smile.
"Himari’s best friend."
I caught the briefest glance she gave me before she spoke.
She’d changed it.
A second ago, I could have sworn she’d been about to say something else.
Ethan shook her hand politely.
"I’m Ethan."
"It’s nice to meet you."
"You too."
Anna turned to Susan.
"And you must be Susan."
"I am."
There was a brief pause before Anna smiled again.
"I’ve heard a lot about you."
Susan returned the smile, though hers didn’t quite reach her eyes.
"Funny I can’t say the same about you ."
For a second I thought the conversation might become something else entirely.
Ethan spoke before it had the chance.
"I didn’t come here for introductions."
His voice was calm, but there was an edge of exhaustion beneath it.
He looked at me.
Not Raina.
"Himari."
The name hit me harder than I expected.
He had always called me Raina.
Always.
Until now.
"I need to speak with you."
Nothing else.
No smile.
No hesitation.
Just those six words.
Anna noticed it too.
I knew she had because her eyes flickered toward me for the briefest moment.
Then she nodded.
"We’ll give you some privacy."
Susan hesitated before finally agreeing.
"I’ll wait outside."
Neither women argued.
A moment later the front door closed behind them.
The house became quiet again.
For the first time in weeks, Ethan and I were alone.
Neither of us moved.
Neither of us seemed to know how to begin.
The distance between us was only a few steps.
It felt much farther than that.
He looked at me for a long moment before speaking.
"Himari..."
There it was again.
Somehow that hurt more than I was prepared for.
Whatever he had come here to say, I knew one thing before he spoke another word.
This wasn’t the conversation I’d spent weeks hoping for.
Ethan crossed the room before I fully realized he was moving.
His hands closed around my wrists with enough force to make me gasp.
"Where’s Jade?"
The question caught me completely off guard.
"What?"
"Jade." His voice was raw, stripped of every trace of the restraint I’d always known him for. "Where is he?"
I stared at him, struggling to make sense of what he was saying.
"Why are you asking me that?"
"Because he’s gone."
His grip tightened as panic bled through every word. "He disappeared before his flight. Your grandfather took him. I know he did."
For a moment I could only look at him.
Jade?
Kuro’s friend?
The name meant almost nothing to me beyond the few times Ethan had mentioned him.
Why would Grandpa—
No.
None of this made any sense.
"Ethan, I don’t know anything about Jade."
"Don’t protect him."
"I’m not protecting anyone."
"You expect me to believe that?" His voice cracked with frustration. "Every road leads back to Katsuro, and every time I get close, I hit your family."
I tried to pull my hands free, but his hold only tightened.
"I haven’t even seen him," I said, unable to hide the confusion creeping into my voice. "I don’t even know what’s happened."
"Then tell me where he is!"
The shout rang through the house, leaving a stunned silence behind it.
I flinched.
Not because of the volume.
Because this wasn’t Ethan.
His breathing had become uneven, his eyes fixed on mine with the desperate intensity of someone who had run out of places to look and refused to accept there was nowhere left.
"Ethan..." I whispered, wincing. "You’re hurting me."
For the first time his gaze dropped.
Only then did he notice how tightly his fingers were digging into my wrists.
His expression flickered with something that looked almost like horror.
He loosened his grip—
But he never got the chance to let go.
Anna was already moving.
She crossed the room so quickly I barely saw her. One moment she was near the doorway, the next she had driven herself between us, forcing Ethan back with a hard shove that finally broke his hold.
The crack of her slap echoed through the living room.
Nobody moved.
Ethan turned his face slowly, one hand rising to his cheek more out of instinct than pain.
Susan hurried to his side.
"What is wrong with you?" she snapped, glaring at Anna before checking Ethan’s face. "Are you okay?"
Anna ignored her completely.
She stepped in front of me, not hiding me from view but making one thing unmistakably clear.
If Ethan wanted to reach me again...
He would have to go through her first.
"I warned you," she said quietly, her eyes never leaving his. "I told you what would happen if you ever laid a hand on her."
The words landed with unexpected weight.
I frowned.
"Warned him?"
Anna answered so quickly it felt rehearsed.
"It’s just an expression."
I looked at her.
She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes.
Anyone else might have believed it.
I didn’t.
I’d known Anna too long.
Whenever she lied, she rushed to fill the silence before anyone could question it.
My gaze shifted to Ethan.
He didn’t deny it.
He didn’t even look surprised.
Instead, he looked away.
A chill crept down my spine.
They knew each other.
Not casually.
Not through my stories.
Personally.
Somehow they’d met before...and both of them were pretending they hadn’t.
The realization settled heavily in my chest, but before I could ask the question burning in my mind, Ethan spoke.
"I’m sorry."
His voice had changed completely.
The anger was gone, leaving behind only exhaustion.
He looked at me—not past me, not at Anna, only at me.
"I shouldn’t have touched you."
He glanced briefly at the angry red marks beginning to form around my wrists, and the guilt on his face was immediate.
"I lost control."
He took a step forward, then stopped himself, as though remembering he had no right to come any closer.
"I’ve been searching for Jade since I heard the news . Every lead disappears. Every answer points back to your grandfather, and..." He drew a slow, unsteady breath before meeting my eyes again. "When I saw you... I stopped thinking."
There was no excuse in his voice.
Only regret.
"I’m sorry... Himari."
to be continued....
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