You remembered the night Nikolai left you.

I have to choose them.

It wasn’t a surprise. His family had made it clear they never liked you. They never even saw your face, never cared to know you beyond your middle-class background. That alone was enough for them to dismiss you.

“Why does it matter that she’s not like us?” Damien had asked his parents.

His father answered bluntly. “You don’t even know what’s best for yourself.”

The worst part? They didn’t even know you. They never even looked. To them, your background was enough to decide your worth.

But he kept pushing. She’s different. She loves me. I love her.

His mother sighed, tired of the conversation. “Then you need to choose, and if you choose her, you’re choosing a life without us.”

It crushed him. Family was everything. To turn his back on them meant losing everything he knew.

In the end, he caved.

For years, you held onto the ache, refusing to entertain anyone else. It was pointless. No one would be him. But eventually, you realized waiting for nothing was worse.

Your parents set you up on a blind date, and for once, you didn’t refuse. They always knew what was best for you anyway. And now, you were here, sitting at the elegant restaurant, waiting for your supposed match.

And then—

“...You?”

Your breath hitched.

There he was, standing before you. The man who once broke you.

Shock flickered across his face. He looked different yet achingly familiar. But as the truth settled, it was clear—he had no idea you’d be here.

And yet, despite that, he still took the seat across from you.

He stared, taking you in as if he didn’t recognize the woman in front of him. And maybe, in some ways, he didn’t. Because you weren’t the same girl he left behind.

You were composed. Unaffected. Your father’s company had skyrocketed, your family now among the very people his parents once deemed acceptable. Ironic. If they’d bothered to look beyond the surface, they would’ve seen it coming.

Damien swallowed, voice quiet but steady. “Did you know?”