Regrets

Elliot

Her words hit me like a freight train, knocking the air out of my lungs. I sat across from Susan, my hands frozen around the glass of wine I hadn’t even tasted.

“You gave me an ultimatum,” she had said, her voice steady, but the weight of her emotions bled through every syllable.

The memory resurfaced, vivid and unforgiving, like it had happened yesterday. I could still see the heartbreak in her eyes, the way her voice had cracked when she asked me to stay. I had walked away from her, the love of my life, and that decision haunted me every single day.

I leaned back in my chair, my gaze fixed on the flickering candle between us. For a moment, I forgot where we were...the grand private dining room, the perfectly arranged dinner, everything I had planned to make this night special. None of it mattered.

Because she had brought back the past. The one thing I tried to bury but could never escape.

“I didn’t have a choice, Susan,” I said finally, my voice low.

Her lips curved into a bitter smile. “You always had a choice, Elliot. You just didn’t choose me.”

Her words felt like knives, sharp and precise, cutting through the walls I had built around my regret. She wasn’t wrong. Back then, I thought I was doing what was expected of me. My mother had drilled it into me...family first, business above all else, emotions were a weakness.

But even now, years later, I could still hear my mother’s voice, cold and demanding: “You are the heir, Elliot. There is no room for distractions like her.”

I stared at Susan, her beauty more striking than I remembered, her fire stronger than ever. She wasn’t a distraction. She was my anchor, my balance, the one thing that made me feel like I could be more than the heir to a business empire.

And I had thrown it all away.

“I thought if I left and focused on my family’s business, it would all work out,” I said, the words tumbling out before I could stop them. “I thought... I don’t know what I thought. Maybe that you’d wait. Or that I could come back and fix everything later.”

Her eyes narrowed, her gaze piercing. “Fix what, Elliot? The fact that you gave me an impossible choice? That you left me behind like I didn’t matter?”

“You mattered,” I said quickly, the desperation in my voice startling even me. “You still matter, Susan. You were everything to me.”

“Were,” she repeated, her tone ice-cold. “Past tense.”

I flinched.

The silence that followed was deafening. She looked away, her fingers toying with the stem of her glass. I wanted to reach out, to touch her hand, to beg her to look at me. But I knew I didn’t have the right. Not yet.

“I regretted it,” I said quietly, my voice breaking. “Every day since the moment I walked out that door. I regretted leaving you, Susan.”

She didn’t respond, but I saw the way her shoulders stiffened, the way her lips parted like she was about to say something but decided against it.

“I was under so much pressure back then,” I continued, my words spilling out like a confession. “My mother...she didn’t accept us. She wanted me to focus on the family business, to prove myself as the heir. And I was too much of a coward to fight her, to stand up for us.”

Susan’s gaze snapped back to mine, her eyes blazing. “So, what? You thought it was easier to break my heart than to break hers?”

I had no answer. Because she was right.

“I was stupid,” I admitted, my voice raw. “I should have stayed. Or... or I should have taken you with me and figured out a way to make it work. I should have chosen you, Susan. Every time, I should have chosen you.”

Her expression softened for a fleeting second, but then the walls went back up, her guard as impenetrable as ever.

“Well, you didn’t,” she said quietly. “And you don’t get to rewrite history, Elliot.”

“I know,” I said, leaning forward, the intensity of my emotions spilling out. “But I can write the future. And I swear to you, Susan, I’m not going to make the same mistake twice.”

Her eyes searched mine, and for a moment, I thought I saw something flicker in their depths...hesitation, maybe even hope. But it was gone as quickly as it appeared, replaced by the same guarded expression she had worn since the day we reunited.

“Why did you invite me to dinner, Elliot?” she asked, her voice steady but laced with suspicion.

“Because I need you to know,” I said firmly, “that I’m not walking away this time. No matter what it takes, I’m going to win you back.”

Her breath hitched, and for a split second, I thought she might respond. But instead, she picked up her glass, taking a slow sip of wine before setting it back down.

“We’ll see about that,” she said, her tone unreadable.

But as the corner of her lips curved into the faintest of smirks, I felt a spark of hope ignite in my chest.

This wasn’t going to be easy. But for her? I’d fight every battle, climb every mountain, and shatter every wall she put between us.

Because losing her once was my greatest regret. And I wasn’t about to let it happen again.