Page 18 of All That She Needs

I swallowed the lump in my throat and blinked at the tears to stop it from falling as I watched Kayden walk away to the front door, his head hanging low as if he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders. This was what Dennis had been trying to make me see—that my silence, my acceptance of Aiden's behavior, was not only affecting me. It was affecting my childrenas well. By not standing up for myself, I had allowed Aiden's actions to hurt them too. And I saw it now. I finally saw it. The realization hit me with painful clarity, and I knew I needed to end this not just for my own sake, but for my family's.

"Asha, sweetheart, what's wrong?"

But not now. I needed to be levelheaded when I talked to him. I was too emotional at the moment to discuss this properly. I needed to take a step back, gather my thoughts, and approach the conversation with rationality.

Aiden was searching my face, his expression growing frantic as he seemed to find something he couldn't quite process. He dragged my chair to him, pulled me close, and buried his face in the crook of my neck. I could feel him slightly tremble against me.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to ignore you," he whispered, his voice thick with emotion. "Forgive me" The way he said it, the way his voice wavered, seemed like the apology carried a weight that went beyond just this morning. But I had reached my limit. I was exhausted, and I couldn't continue like this. I couldn't empathize. I felt myself stiffen as he held me. I couldn't stand him touching me, and he felt it. I knew he did.

"Ash?" he asked, pulling away slightly from me. His voice was pleading.

"I need to go. I'm already late." My voice cracked as I spoke. I pushed myself away from him, trying to ignore the pained, bewildered look in his eyes. The hurt in his gaze only deepened my resolve to step away. Because if I stayed a moment too long, I would crumble, and I couldn't afford that. I needed to be strong. So very strong, because Aiden had the power to unravel me, just asshehad the power to unravel him.

The state he was in right now—I could be worse than him if we separated. The fear of losing him gripped me tighter than his embrace ever could. But I also knew that staying like this, trapped in a cycle of pain and hope, was no way to live. And my children. I couldn't do that to them.

"Asha," he called after me as he stood up, trailing me to the bedroom, where I grabbed my bag. "Wait. Did I do something wrong?"

The words hit me like a slap, the sheer audacity of them. Oh, the lies. Even now, he was still pretending—pretending he wasn't cheating on me, pretending he hadn't been avoiding and ignoring me. Since that night, he had never touched me with the same passion or warmth. Sure, he still kissed me, hugged me, spooned me when we slept, but it all felt mechanical, like he was just going through the motions.

Of course, he had done something wrong. A lot of mistakes. His deception, his neglect, his betrayal—they were all there, hanging between us like a dark cloud. And yet here he was, asking me if he had done something wrong, as if his actions weren't slowly tearing us apart.

"Can't talk right now, Aiden," I sighed, my voice carrying the burden of everything I was holding back. Misery must have been painted across my face, but I didn't bother to hide it anymore. I was done pretending, done acting like nothing was wrong with me, with us. He needed to see it—to understand that he couldn't keep getting away with this. He needed to know that he had hurt me, hurt our children, and that it had to stop.

I would not protect him from the truth anymore. If he could look me in the eye and still pretend everything was fine, then he needed to see the damage he'd caused. Until he acknowledged the extent of his mistakes, there was no point in trying to talk things through. He would just continue to deny thetruth, clinging to his version of events that justified his actions. If he couldn't understand the depth of his wrongdoing, then any discussion we had would be futile. It was clear that he was out of touch with the reality I was living in every day. It was time for him to see what his behavior had really done to us—to see the raw, unfiltered consequences of his actions.

"If I do something wrong, please forgive me."

He kept talking. And I just wanted him to shut the fuck up.

"Okay, Aiden," I said numbly.

"What's gotten into you, Asha? Are you angry with me?" he asked, his brow furrowed in genuine confusion. He stood there, searching my face for answers, but it was clear he couldn't piece it together. "I've had a lot on my mind lately, and I know I haven't been around much, but I promise I'll do better, okay? How about we go to dinner tonight? Just the two of us. It's been a while since we went out."

His words felt hollow, like a bandage over a wound too deep to heal with promises. He spoke as if a nice dinner could erase the months of distance, the nights of silence, and the betrayals that lay unspoken between us. The last time he took me out? It had been so long I couldn't even remember when it was. The memory had faded, buried under everything that had gone wrong.

"I can't tonight," I said to him, walking around him to get to the door. "I'll be working late."

"Asha, talk to me." He began pleading. "Don't leave like this."

I didn't reply to him. I just kept walking, my pace quickening with every step until I was out of the house. Aiden was still following me, his footsteps loud and urgent, but hedidn't say anything anymore. Maybe it was because our drivers, Roy and Brody, were standing by the cars, watching the scene unfold. Without a word, I climbed into the backseat of my car, not bothering to glance back at Aiden. Brody, who had been my driver forever, took one look at me and he knew that there was something wrong. He quietly closed my door before Aiden had the chance to get into the car with me, the soft click sealing me off from the man who had once given me his entire heart. Brody gave Aiden a respectful nod before walking around the car to take his place behind the wheel.

As the car drove off, I rested my head on the cool window, watching the streets pass by while my thoughts went back to this morning. Kayden's words kept coming back to me. I let myself feel the guilt until it overwhelmed me, knowing that I deserved the pain. I tried to stop the tears, but it was a losing battle. They quietly fell, one by one, down my face as the world outside became a haze of colors and shapes. Brody stayed quiet during the ride. He was giving me the space I needed, and I appreciated it. I appreciated the silence, even though it let my thoughts spiral.

Aiden had been my everything. I stood by him for years, supporting him through the hard times, only to be hurt deeply in return. Now, I wondered if there was anything left to fix or if it was finally time to let go of the man who once meant the world to me.

The quiet sound of the car was the only noise. The silence was a sharp contradiction to the havoc inside my head. I knew that, eventually, I needed to talk to Aiden. We would have to face what we had done to our lives. We needed to fix the destruction we had done to our family. I was not completely innocent in this situation. I knew that. By keeping silent, I let it go this far.

I had to make a decision.

But that time wasn't now. Right now, I need to get away, to catch my breath, to find some strength before I fall apart completely.

As we drove farther away, I shut my eyes, and finally, I let the tears fall.

Part 9: Asha

Dennis had been hovering around me all day. His concerned eyes kept wandering to me as he fluttered around me doing some kind of meaningless shit. He kept finding excuses to check in on me, bringing me files to review, asking about tasks that didn't need immediate attention, or offering to fetch me coffee even though I had just declined moments ago. Like Brody, he only needed one look at my face to know that something was deeply wrong. He didn't ask any direct questions—he rarely did—but his presence was constant, a silent reminder that he was there if I needed him. It was both comforting and exhausting. Especially exhausting, because I knew perfectly well that he could see through the cracks I was trying so hard to cover up.

I really wasn't in the mood to talk, let alone explain the weight pressing so heavily on my mind. But Dennis, being Dennis, wouldn't let it go.

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