Love Again

"It's your prison."

She looked at him.

Tala hesitated before saying,

"There's going to be an announcement soon."

Venisa's eyes narrowed. "An announcement?"

"About Code."

She went quiet.

Tala watched her carefully. "They say his engagement will be announced in the coming days."

Venisa looked away.

"I know."

"You knew?"

"It was on the news."

"And you didn't think it was worth mentioning?"

"Why would it be?"

Tala studied her face.

"That's what I want to know."

Venisa frowned.

"What exactly are you trying to say?"

"Nothing."

"Tala."

He sighed.

"I'm trying to understand how you can hear that the man who spent years making your life miserable is about to marry someone and simply carry on as though it means nothing."

Venisa's expression hardened.

Tala nodded slowly. "Maybe."

Venisa said nothing.

"Perhaps."

He glanced toward the manor. "Or perhaps I'm simply wondering why his engagement is happening now."

Venisa's eyes narrowed.

"What does that have to do with me?"

"I don't know."

His answer was almost too quick. Then he added, "That's precisely why I want you away from here."

She stared at him. "You're asking me to leave because Code is getting engaged?"

"Not because he's getting engaged."

"Then because of what?"

Tala looked at her for a long moment.

"Because sometimes a door closing doesn't mean someone has stopped looking through the window."

Venisa's expression changed.

"Tala..."

He shook his head.

"Forget I said that."

"No. You came here with something on your mind. Tell me."

He hesitated.

"I just don't want his engagement to become the beginning of something you aren't prepared for."

"What could possibly begin with his engagement?"

Tala gave her a restrained look.

"That's what I'm afraid of."

Venisa stared at him, unable to decide whether he was being paranoid or hiding something.

And Tala said nothing more.

But the way he looked at her told her that he knew something she didn't.

"Damn you, Tala." All she could say.

Venisa stepped into the manor, still irritated from her argument with Tala.

She had barely reached the stairs when the butler approached her.

“Lady Venisa, Lord Montenorie is waiting for you in the receiving room.”

She stopped.

“Lord Montenorie?”

“Yes, my lady.”

Her expression shifted.

“Code?”

“Yes.”

Venisa fell silent for a moment. She hadn't expected to see him, especially not here.

She glanced toward the receiving room and let out a quiet sigh. She glanced down at herself and remembered she was still wearing her nightgown.

“Tell him I’ll be there shortly.”

“Yes, my lady.”

Venisa turned toward the stairs and headed upstairs.

She entered her room, changed into a simple but elegant dress, and fixed her hair. She took one last look in the mirror before leaving.

She still couldn't understand why Code had come.

They hadn't seen each other since high school.

Not during college. Not afterward.

Their paths had simply never crossed again.

Until her grandmother's funeral.

And now, he was waiting for her inside her home.

Venisa walked toward the receiving room, her expression composed.

Whatever brought Code here, she intended to find out.

Venisa pushed open the receiving room door.

She stopped.

A man stood near the tall windows, his back turned toward her. He wore a dark suit, his posture calm and composed.

For a moment, she didn't recognize him.

Then he turned.

Their eyes met.

Venisa's breath caught.

Code.

The boy she remembered was gone. The sharp-tongued student who used to provoke her at every opportunity had become someone she barely recognized.

Yet there was something familiar in his eyes.

Something that made her remember everything.

Code studied her in silence.

Neither of them spoke.

Years had passed since high school. They had never crossed paths in college, never spoken, never even seen each other again.

Until today.

At her grandmother's funeral.

And now he was standing inside her home.

Venisa slowly narrowed her eyes.

“Why are you here?”

Code didn't answer immediately.

Instead, his gaze remained on her. “I wanted to see you.”

Her expression hardened. “Why?”

A faint smile touched his lips.

“That,” he said quietly, “is something we should talk about.”

Then he picked up a thick brown envelope from the table and held it out to her.

Venisa took it, studying him instead of the envelope.

“What is this?”

“I need your signature.”

“For what?”

“You'll know when you read it.”

She raised an eyebrow. “That's not an answer.”

“It wasn't meant to be.”

Venisa gave him a skeptical look before turning the envelope over in her hands.

“You came all the way here just to give me paperwork?”

Code leaned back against the table.

“Would you have preferred a bouquet?”

“I would have preferred a warning.”

A faint smile appeared on his face.

“Still the same.”

Venisa's eyes narrowed. “Don't start.”

“I haven't started anything.”

“You usually do.”

That wiped the smile from his face.

Silence followed.

They hadn't seen each other in years. College had passed without a single encounter between them. No meetings. No messages. Nothing.

And yet, standing across from each other now, it felt as though none of that time had erased what came before.

Code looked at her for a long moment.

Then, quieter than before, he asked,

“How have you been?”

Venisa looked up.

The question should have been ordinary.

Coming from him, it wasn't.

She studied his face, searching for the boy she remembered beneath the man standing before her.

“That's what you want to ask me after all these years?”

Code's gaze didn't leave hers. “It's what I've been wondering.”

Venisa's fingers tightened around the envelope.

“And why would you wonder about me?”

Code didn't answer.

For the first time since she entered the room, he looked away.

Venisa noticed the hesitation.

She stepped closer.

“You're avoiding the question.”

Code looked back at her.

“I didn't come here to talk about the past.”

“Then why do you keep looking at me like you did?”

His expression tightened.

“Because you look different.”

Venisa gave a faint, humorless smile. "Yeah yeah"

Venisa looked at the thick brown envelope in her hand.

“What am I signing?”

“Read it first, then you'll come to the my estate.”

Venisa looked at him. “Why?”

“You'll understand when you read it.”

She studied him, clearly unconvinced.

Code turned toward the door.

“Read it, Venisa. I'll be expecting you.”

He left without saying anything more.

Whatever was inside, it was enough to bring Code back into her life after all these years.

Venisa stared at the envelope, then sighed.

“Why are men these days so dramatic?”

Night had fallen.

After a hectic day, Venisa was too tired to do anything else. She stood before the mirror, slowly wiping her damp hair with a towel.

Then her eyes fell on the thick brown envelope.

She stared at it for a moment.

Why had Code bothered coming all the way to her manor just to deliver something.

She couldn't tell whether it was important or if he was simply being dramatic again.

With a sigh, Venisa reached for the envelope.

As Venisa read the first page, the documents slipped from her hands and scattered across the floor.

Her hands began to tremble.

She stared at the pages, unable to move.

This was not what she had expected.

Her heart began to race.

Venisa stared at the documents scattered across the floor, her mind struggling to process what she had just read.

She didn't know what to do.

“How?” she whispered.

Her hands trembled as she picked them up.

She clenched the papers in her hand, her disbelief slowly turning into anger.

“You mongrel...”