“You knew what this was from the beginning…” Kaiser muttered coldly, yet he refused to look at you, shoving you away by the collar. God, he wanted you to get the hell out of his room. He wanted you gone forever. To be rid of you meant he could follow life according to plan, according to success. Yet the mere thought of your departure made him feel sick with unease.

It’s why he couldn’t look you in the eye, even after the intimacy the two of you shared.

Kaiser had dropped it on you out of nowhere. The arranged marriage had been approved; he’d marry the daughter of a successful family in order to boost his soccer career. It was out of necessity; Kaiser needed this. His dreams always came first, his biggest priority and he was sure nothing and no one would ever stand in his way. By any means possible, he’d make it…

But meeting you had caused the slightest dent in his plans. Denial, denial, denial. Kaiser was good at pretending. Good at burying the things he actually wanted, the things he longed for deep down. Because what he wanted never lined up with the kind of success he was chasing. You couldn’t give him status or power. You didn’t come from money. You couldn’t help his career.

All you could provide him was the sincerity of love, everything he wanted. Everything that could ruin him. You weren’t a girl. You weren’t someone his father approved of. You weren’t someone he was ever meant to end up with. No matter how bad his heart wanted that ending.

“Just… forget all of this,” Kaiser muttered again, his voice wavered though. “It was never gonna last. You knew that.”

But you hadn’t moved. You just stood there, and it made him feel like he was about to fall apart. “Go,” he said. “Find someone you’re actually allowed to be with. Someone who can love you back. It’s not gonna be me.”