All Chapters of Go Away Chris : Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Ayesha's POVI held onto the torn edges and ran off towards the restroom. I heard some giggling behind me. When I got there, I sat on the toilet seat weeping and wondering why Chris had rejected me like that. He should have just accepted in front of everyone, then later we could have talked it out in private. Was that too much to ask, or didn't he care about my feelings the way I cared for his?I thought about all those small moments I had held onto like they were promises. The time he had stopped in the hallway to ask if I had eaten. The two bouquets he brought without a reason. I had built a whole future out of those small things and apparently I had been building alone.My mind went back to Gemma. She was the cause of all this. This is what she advised me to do and why wasn't she here comforting me like she used to? I wiped my eyes with the back of my palm, smearing mascara across my chin. I hissed when I looked in the mirror. Why should I care how I looked when this had just happe

Chris's POVI had messed up really badly.The problem wasn't Ayesha. It was me.I had known her to be a dramatic woman, so when she got on one knee in front of everyone, my first reaction had been disbelief. But I couldn't give such information to the public.We were dating secretly, yes. At least, that was what I had always considered it. I cared about her. I checked on her whenever she looked stressed. I spent time with her outside work. Looking back now, maybe I had blurred some lines without realizing it.But when Gemma told me she was pregnant, I didn't know what to think.How could I accept Ayesha's proposal when another woman was claiming she was carrying my child? A big scandal would brew and it would affect my company's image badly.The whole mess started because of a single invitation to a business collaboration. My uncle, Gregory Evans, had invited me over to GG Hotels to meet with two other business associates I wasn't really fond of. They were Paulus McCoy and Steve Danie

Ayesha'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

Ayesha'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

Chris'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