Go Away Chris
She bought the ring herself.
Ayesha Adams planned every detail which includes the venue, the words, even the dress her best friend picked out. She got down on one knee in front of every employee at Azul Corporation and told Chris, the man she had quietly loved for four years, that she wanted to spend her life with him.
He told her to get up. That she had embarrassed him. That she should leave.
Her dress ripped on the way out and Gemma filmed the whole thing.
The next morning, Ayesha found out her best friend was pregnant for him. So she did the only thing left with any dignity in it. She resigned, packed her life into boxes,
moved across the city, took out a loan, and built something of her own. She stopped being the girl no one looked at twice. She became someone men crossed rooms for.And Chris noticed. He calls but he ignores him. He shows up at her gallery. She smiles and asks him to leave. He
donates anonymously to her business but she thanks no one in particular. He follows her to galas. She dances with other men. He is losing his mind and she is just getting started.
But then her mother falls ill. And Chris does something that no amount of anger or pride or self-preservation can make
Ayesha ignore.
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Chapter: The TelevisionChris's POVI didn't sleep that first week without Gemma in the house. The silence felt different now, heavier, full of the things I hadn't let myself think about while I was busy convincing myself I was doing the responsible thing.It was a Sunday morning, early enough that the light outside was still gray, when I gave up on sleep entirely and turned on the television without any real intention of watching anything. I flipped through channels the way a person flips through their own thoughts when they're trying not to land on one in particular.Then I stopped.She was sitting across from a morning show host in a bright studio, a microphone clipped near the collar of a fitted rust colored dress, her hair loose around her shoulders in a way I had never once seen her wear it at the office. She looked nothing like the woman who used to sit quietly at her desk finishing reports after everyone else had gone home. She also looked, somehow, exactly like herself, the version of herself I thin
Last Updated: 2026-07-09
Chapter: What Gemma WantedChris's POVThe months after Ayesha resigned passed in a way I could only describe as gray. Gemma moved into the mansion within a week of the confirmed pregnancy, carrying in boxes I hadn't agreed to make room for, rearranging furniture in rooms I rarely used and some I did.I told myself it didn't matter. None of it mattered, not really, not measured against the responsibility I believed I carried now. I had been raised to take ownership of my mistakes, and if this was mine, then I would see it through properly, whatever that cost me.It cost more than I expected.Gemma redecorated the east sitting room without asking, replacing furniture that had belonged to my mother with pieces she preferred. She began monitoring household accounts that weren't hers to monitor. She attended events at my side, something Ayesha had never once been allowed to do, and positioned herself carefully in every photograph, every introduction, every conversation with my associates, referencing the baby const
Last Updated: 2026-07-09
Chapter: Morning SparkAyesha's POVThe idea came to me while I was sweeping the gallery floor late one evening, frustrated after a second rejection from Marlene Kline's office. Diana's words kept circling in my head. Stop asking for permission. Make them notice you.I thought about the children's hospital three blocks from my old apartment, the one I used to pass on my way to work and never once stopped to think about. I thought about how much good a little attention could do, for them and for me both, if I built something worth paying attention to.I called the hospital's community outreach office the next morning and proposed a charity art night. All proceeds from sales would go toward their pediatric ward. I would cover the wine and the printed invitations myself. All I asked was that they let me put their name on it.They said yes before I had even finished my sentence.I spent two weeks preparing. Diana donated three smaller pieces for the cause without me even having to ask. I reached out to two other
Last Updated: 2026-07-09
Chapter: DianaAyesha's POVShe walked in on a Tuesday afternoon, when the gallery was empty except for the hum of the radiator and the faint smell of fresh paint that still hadn't fully faded."You're the owner?" she asked, not bothering with a greeting."I am. Ayesha Adams." I extended my hand.She didn't take it. She was already moving past me, studying the walls with narrowed eyes, the way someone studies a problem rather than a room. She was tall, sharp featured, somewhere in her forties, with paint stains on her fingers that no amount of scrubbing had ever quite gotten out."This space is wrong for hanging anything larger than a meter," she said. "Your lighting is decent. Your floor creaks in three places, which is honestly charming if you market it right.""I'm sorry, who are you?""Diana." She finally looked at me properly. "I paint. I've been looking for somewhere that isn't a corporate lobby or a coffee shop to show my work, and most galleries in this city want nothing to do with anyone wh
Last Updated: 2026-07-09
Chapter: Building SomethingAyesha's POVThe bank loan officer had kind eyes and a stack of paperwork that seemed to multiply every time I blinked. I sat across from her in a small glass office, my hands folded so tightly in my lap that my knuckles had gone pale."You're proposing a gallery space," she said, scanning my application. "Have you run a business before?""No," I admitted. "But I've worked in corporate finance for four years. I understand numbers. I understand budgets. And I've been saving since I was twenty."It wasn't entirely true. I had been saving since I was twenty, yes, but most of it had gone into a ring that someone had told me to get up off my knees for. I didn't say that part.She studied me for a long moment, then looked back down at the file. "The space you're interested in, it's modest. Good location, decent foot traffic once people know it's there. Risky, but not foolish.""I know it's risky.""Most first time business owners underestimate how slow the first few months will be.""I'm pr
Last Updated: 2026-07-09
Chapter: New BeginningAyesha's POVI didn't cry until I got home.In the mall, in front of Chris, I had been steady. My voice hadn't shaken. My hands hadn't shaken. I had looked at him and told him to go away and I had meant every word of it. But the moment my apartment door clicked shut behind me, something in my chest finally gave out, and I slid down against the door and cried until my throat hurt.It wasn't even about the rejection anymore, or the dress, or Gemma's stupid video. It was about how easy it had been for him to ask "what happened yesterday" like I was the one being unreasonable. Like four years could just be folded up and put away because it was inconvenient for him.I sat there for a long time. When I finally got up, my legs were stiff and my face felt swollen. I went to the bathroom, washed it, and looked at myself in the mirror. Bony shoulders. Flat chest. The same girl who had been laughed at in a high school hallway, still standing in the same body, still waiting for someone to look at
Last Updated: 2026-07-09
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