Chapter 149: Sorry
⚠️ Do not open this Chapter
"Come, lay beside me," Ava said, and Azazel found himself blinking, utterly flustered by the words.
His breath hitched in the hollow of his throat. The sentence felt like both a command and a confession—a gentle invitation wrapped in gravity he wasn’t prepared for.
Azazel—whose very name carried weight in dim rooms, in digital spaces where silence was law and shadows were power—felt suddenly small, startled. Like a machine unplugged. Like an armorer stripped of his armor.
Despite being one of the Mafia boys and a once–number-one hacker, Azazel was real. He wasn’t a playboy. He wasn’t a pretender.
It was strange to think of him away from the reputation that shadowed his every step: the careful quiet of his clothes, the sharp line of his jaw, the way his fingers once moved with the precision of code and the hardness of survival.
Here, in this lamp-lit room, holding nothing but the impulse to stay close to someone he loved, he was nothing but human.
He had never, not once, lain beside a woman. Certainly not at night, not just the two of them, and not with the woman he loved.
The bed creaked gently as Ava shifted, and Azazel found himself memorizing the small movements of her face—the corners of her mouth softening, her lashes casting brief fans of shadow across her cheeks.
The sight loosened something taut inside him: nostalgia, longing, a memory of steadier things.
"You mean..." Azazel asked, foolishly, his eyes widening slightly.
The question sounded raw, unpolished. It betrayed the man beneath the armor—surprised at his own yearning, vulnerable under the weight of a single sentence.
Underneath his composure, something like a smile threatened to surface, but he swallowed it back, uncertain.
"It’s already late at night. I can’t let you go home now," Ava explained, her voice soft, careful. "So just sleep here. Stay for the night."
Her voice folded into the air like a shawl. It steadied his pulse. There was no drama in her words, only practicality threaded with care—an offer born of concern, of a heart unwilling to send him away in darkness.
"Ehm... you know I can sleep on the floor. There’s no need for me to take your bed," Azazel said, rising from the edge of the mattress.
He stood with the awkward courtesy of someone who had been a guest in too many houses, someone who carried instinctive boundaries like armor. His words meant to show gallantry, to prove he would not take what wasn’t given.
Ava tilted her head to the side, and suddenly, she laughed.
The sound was soft, like air escaping a tight chamber. It lifted the heaviness in the room the way a flame can push back the dark.
Her eyes sparkled, tears glimmering at their edges yet still shining brightly. She looked at him with a fondness that unraveled him.
Her heart melted at the sight of his reddened ears. "Are you scared of Mom and Dad? That they’ll catch you sleeping on their daughter’s bed, huh?" she teased, smirking, and then winked at him.
The wink caught him off guard—a private sunbeam flaring across his chest. He wasn’t used to being teased into softness. He was used to being feared, respected, or studied, not disarmed.
Azazel’s eyes widened, and for a second he smiled. But quickly, his face sobered again, his expression shifting from flustered to reverent.
"I’m not afraid of your parents," he said firmly. "If they see us together on this bed, it won’t change what I feel. But... I should show respect. To you. Because you’re the woman I love. And the woman I want to spend my life with."
The words landed heavy, steady. They weren’t polished or rehearsed. They were earnest, stripped of performance, weighted with truth.
Ava listened, her eyes widening with each syllable until, at last, her face broke into a radiant smile that reached her eyes—and his serious expression melted like ice beneath the sun.
"Are you now asking for my hand in marriage?" Ava teased, her voice lighter than the tremor of her chest.
Azazel chuckled, the sound easing the tightness in his throat. But he didn’t deny it. His silence held an answer far deeper than immediate promises.
Inside her heart, Ava whispered words she didn’t dare say aloud: Had I met you earlier, before all those men, before the wrong turns, I wouldn’t have ended up with trust issues, wouldn’t have struggled so hard to believe in love.
The thought sat like a stone in her chest—sharp and heavy.
But she looked at him, and the regret softened. I love you more than words can hold, she admitted inwardly, her eyes shining with intensity.
Azazel caught that gaze and returned it with equal weight. He didn’t need words. The rhythm of his breathing near her spoke enough: slow in, measured out, steady as a vow.
When she patted the empty space beside her and he didn’t move, she reached forward, grabbed his hand, and tugged.
He stumbled forward, nearly falling on top of her, but she shifted at the last second, laughing, pulling him down onto the mattress.
The bed groaned beneath his weight, protesting with a sharp creak. The sound felt oddly comforting, grounding, like the house itself acknowledging the moment.
Slowly, Ava inched closer, resting her head gently on his shoulder.
Her touch spread warmth through him like wildfire. His back straightened, his chest swelled, and somewhere deep inside, a weathered part of him unclenched.
Azazel didn’t push her away. Instead, he leaned back against the headrest, wrapped his arm around her waist, and pulled her closer.
The feel of her against him was natural—like she had always belonged there.
Neither spoke. Silence stretched between them, heavy but not uncomfortable.
Finally, Azazel broke it.
"Ava," he said, his voice deep, quiet, yet trembling.
She lifted her eyes to him, and what he saw there made his heartbeat stumble.
Her gaze was full of tears, shimmering like stars about to spill. Tender, pleading, afraid.
Azazel shifted, cupping her face gently in his calloused palm. His touch was steady, reverent, careful as though he held something fragile.
He held her gaze, refusing to let her look away. And as he did, her tears spilled, warm trails racing down her cheeks.
"Do you know how much I hate to see that look in your eyes, Ava?" His tone was serious, raw. "Do you know how wild my heart beats when you’re in pain? When you cry?"
The words cracked through the silence. He let them hang, vulnerable and unshielded.
"Ava—" he began, but his voice broke.
And before he could say more, her hands rose. She wrapped them around his neck and pressed her lips to his.
It was sudden, warm, trembling with emotion. Her lips were soft and sure, carrying the salt of her tears and the weight of her confession.
The kiss silenced everything—no past, no scars, no shadows. Only this moment, clean and fierce.
"I love you, Azazel," Ava whispered as she leaned back, her forehead brushing his. Her eyes shimmered with devotion. "So much that I don’t even know how to explain it."
Azazel froze, stunned by her words, by the closeness of her, by the sheer enormity of what had just unfolded between them.
The room was small, modest. Yet in that moment, it felt vast, infinite—like the entire world existed only between the two of them.
Outside, the night carried on in its indifferent rhythm. But inside, two heartbeats had shifted, falling into the same cadence.
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Author’s Note
Some Chapters come like a storm. Others, like this one, arrive as a single breath held, then released.
This scene wasn’t about drama or spectacle. It was about the quiet bravery of two people learning to set down their armor.
Azazel’s strength lies not in the fear his name carries, but in his ability to be present, to hold tenderness like it’s something worth protecting. Ava’s courage is not the loud kind. It’s the kind that says stay, the kind that dares to love even when trust is hard-won.
If this Chapter teaches anything, it’s that love doesn’t always arrive with fireworks. Sometimes it comes in ordinary acts: a shared bed, a hand on a tear-streaked face, a kiss born of desperation and truth.
Those small moments stitch us back together. Slowly. Insistently. Honestly.
And in those moments, love becomes undeniable.
🌹 Author’s Thank You Note 🌹
Dear cherished reader,
Thank you so much for taking your time to walk through this Chapter with me.
Every page I write is alive only because you are there to read it, to imagine it, and to feel it.
Your support, your patience, and your love for the story mean more than I can ever put into words.
This journey of Ava and Azazel is not only a story of love, but also of healing, second chances, and courage to face emotions that are often hidden deep inside us.
If you’ve smiled, cried, or even paused for a moment while reading, then my heart is truly full.
I write for you, because of you, and with you in mind. Your encouragement gives me strength to keep building this world, Chapter by Chapter.
Please know that every comment, every view, and every silent presence of yours is deeply appreciated.
From the bottom of my heart—thank you for being here. May love and light always find you, just as it finds Ava and Azazel in their most vulnerable moments.
With gratitude and warmth,
—Your Author
Midnight_star07