My Paralyzed Groom
1- Dexter’s Heartbeat
FL'S Friend
(Came running, shouting—
FL'S Friend
“Dexter’s Heartbeat! Hurry up!”
Elowen : FL
(Her friend’s voice pulled her from the daydream
FL'S Friend
“He’s on screen—some new interview!”
Elowen : FL
(Instantly ran to some place with a happy grin and full excitement
But she wasn’t running to see him on TV.
She was running to hear his soul through words that always managed to rip into hers.
Elowen : FL
🗯“Yeah... they call me Dexter’s Heartbeat.”
Elowen : FL
🗯I grew older with time-
Elowen : FL
🗯But the part of me that loved him?...It grew faster than anything else in me.
Elowen : FL
🗯Like it knew...He was the one thing I'd never grow out of.
Elowen : FL
🗯Everyone around me knew it
Elowen : FL
🗯How could they not?
Elowen : FL
🗯How could I ever hide something so loud, when he runs inside me like blood in my veins?
Elowen : FL
🗯He is Dexter Hawthorne.
Elowen : FL
🗯The man with the golden feet.
Elowen : FL
🗯A world-famous football star.
Elowen : FL
🗯They say when his foot touches the ball
Elowen : FL
🗯A goal is guaranteed.
Elowen : FL
🗯Nothing can stop him—
Elowen : FL
🗯Not even the most ruthless defenders.
Elowen : FL
🗯He’s adored by millions.
Elowen : FL
🗯But I don’t love him for any of that.
Elowen : FL
🗯I love the human behind the spotlight
Elowen : FL
🗯The humble soul I caught glimpses of...Hiding behind those wild, defiant eyes—
Elowen : FL
🗯Eyes that seemed to shout: “Don’t mess with me.”
Elowen : FL
🗯But I saw the truth behind them.
Elowen : FL
🗯I saw the kindness.
Elowen : FL
🗯The silent battles no one else noticed.
Elowen : FL
🗯And no—we’ve never met...
Elowen : FL
🗯Maybe we never will....(sighing painfully while running as a broken smile jumped onto her lips
Elowen : FL
🗯I always knew that my love for him would stay a distant, silent one.
Elowen : FL
🗯But still… I pray for him to find love
Elowen : FL
🗯Real love and true happiness, even if it’s with someone else.
Elowen : FL
🗯He deserves that.
Elowen : FL
🗯You might think I’m crazy.
Elowen : FL
🗯But this is me.
Elowen : FL
🗯And I won’t change.
FINALLY, she reached the place where his smile was blooming in the screen
Dexter Hawthorne
...........
2- When Breathing Sounds Like You
FINALLY, she reached the place where his smile was blooming on the screen
The moment she caught sight of his shadow on the screen from afar---Heard the light in his voice — the smile behind it...
Elowen : FL
(Her breath caught. Her steps locked in place..
As if the earth beneath her feet stopped turning.
Elowen : FL
(lowered her gaze, listening to his soul
ANCHOR: LANA MERCER
🎙️ Dexter Hawthorne —
ANCHOR: LANA MERCER
🎙A man who once ruled the stadiums… and now somehow rules hearts off the field
ANCHOR: LANA MERCER
🎙It’s an honor having you today.
Dexter Hawthorne
(slight smirk): Appreciate it. Thanks for having me.
Elowen : FL
(Let her head fall gently to the side...
Elowen : FL
(closed her eyes
Elowen : FL
(Lifting her face as if searching for air...
She needed his existence to flood every hollow part of her, just to feel whole again
Elowen : FL
🗯Please… talk more
Elowen : FL
🗯Let me breathe again.
Elowen : FL
🗯Let me feel alive.
Elowen : FL
🗯Only your voice can keep this heart beating...My lifeline.”
ANCHOR: LANA MERCER
🎙️(flipping the page lightly):
Let’s start with the obvious.
ANCHOR: LANA MERCER
🎙You’ve rebuilt a career where most give up.
ANCHOR: LANA MERCER
🎙Racing. Speaking. Coaching.
ANCHOR: LANA MERCER
🎙But still — you keep your personal life locked tighter than a championship trophy vault.
ANCHOR: LANA MERCER
🎙Why?...(looking to him with a sly smile
Dexter Hawthorne
(chuckles, but voice firm):
Dexter Hawthorne
Because the minute you let people in, they think they own a piece of it.
Dexter Hawthorne
And some things… aren't meant to be shared.
Her heart beat harder.
She almost wished it would stop beating altogether.
Elowen : FL
🗯 “Don’t say it... Please don’t say it... (whispered silently
Elowen : FL
🗯Because if you truly belonged to someone else...
Elowen : FL
🗯Even my dream would have nowhere left to live.
ANCHOR: LANA MERCER
🎙️(grinning slightly, but direct): Fair enough.
ANCHOR: LANA MERCER
🎙But forgive me — we do have to ask.
ANCHOR: LANA MERCER
🎙Our team caught a very interesting moment last week —you walking out of a jewelry store downtown
ANCHOR: LANA MERCER
🎙With a ring box.
Elowen : FL
*her heart skipped beat --- then forgot how to start again
ANCHOR: LANA MERCER
🎙Should fans expect a wedding bell headline any time soon?
Elowen : FL
(waiting for his answer the way lungs wait for breath
Dexter Hawthorne
(pauses, lowers his gaze briefly...
Dexter Hawthorne
(A soft smile tugging at his lips as if a memory touched him right then): Maybe.
Elowen : FL
(The word shattered her.
It was just one word-"Maybe”—but it shattered her like a promise not meant for her.
Elowen : FL
(Her breath caught in her throat
The hope she had nursed like a secret flame flickered, dimmed... and quietly died
ANCHOR: LANA MERCER
🎙️(tilting her head, intrigued): That smile says more than ‘maybe’, Dexter.
Dexter Hawthorne
(voice softer now, still grounded):
Dexter Hawthorne
Some things are worth keeping close until they’re ready to shine
Dexter Hawthorne
That’s all I’ll say
Elowen : FL
(tears began to fall quietly
She didn’t sob.
She didn’t blink them back.
They just fell — one after another — like her heart had been opened with a quiet knife
Elowen : FL
"This is what I wanted,"
Elowen : FL
(reminded herself.
“His happiness.”
Elowen : FL
"Then why .....why did it hurt like dying?"
ANCHOR: LANA MERCER
🎙That sounds like a man who’s not just in love —but finally at peace with it.
Dexter Hawthorne
Maybe I am.
Elowen : FL
(💔smiled bitterly.
Nodded to no one.And whispered
Elowen : FL
“Then I’m happy for you…
Elowen : FL
Even if I'm the one who has to walk away... without ever being seen.
Elowen : FL
(walked out of the place as if even air there was choking her.
3- The silence After His Smile
She tried harder than she ever had before.
Not to stop loving him—that was impossible.
But to stop being called “𝗗𝗲𝘅𝘁𝗲𝗿’𝘀 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗯𝗲𝗮𝘁,” they used to call her.
She feared the shame in others’ eyes if she kept loving him so openly after everyone knew... That she no longer could belong to him
That name always chased her.....
Sara : Some Friend
*Cheerfully..."Dexter’s Heartbeat.....he is coming to the town!"
Elowen : FL
(Her heart clenched at that name, her smile vanished
Sara : Some Friend
(awkwardly slowing down):.. "Oh... within a week."
Sara : Some Friend
(guiltily)..... I'm so sorry 😞
Sara : Some Friend
I forgot that you're no longer....
Elowen : FL
*Cut in with a fake smile.....It's okay
Elowen : FL
*walked away, can't act longer, feared her hidden love might be exposed
Elowen : FL
💭The name used to make my heart flutter.
Elowen : FL
💭Now it just tells me where I no longer belong💔.
𝗗𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲, 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗱𝗮𝘆.
Elowen’s Sister
(spoke casually while scrolling through Instagram.
Elowen’s Sister
“Dexter’s Heartbeat really used to suit you.”
Elowen : FL
*A fork dropped.
Even the sound of his laughter echoing through the television screen.
When his interviews played in the background
She feared falling deeper—
Feared her crazy heart would betray her by just wishing...That he might leave the woman he truly loved.
She refused to wish her happiness with him at the cost of the happiness he wanted and chose
She still searched....With her phone dimmed low.
Eyes scanning headlines—not to see him
She never dared in the past Because she was sure—The more she saw his face…The deeper she fell.
𝗔𝗻𝗱 Not 𝗻𝗼𝘄…
Because she knew:...The deeper she fell…The more she bled for losing him.
She only needed to make sure that he was fine...That he was happy
𝗕𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝗳 𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘀...
Then her pain meant something.
It meant she had loved truly.
But even that comfort...
came 𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐃.....
And always, headlines crushed her loving heart and made it bleed.
Elowen : FL
❝"𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗵𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝘁 𝗗𝗲𝘅𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗛𝗮𝘄𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗻𝗲’𝘀 𝘄𝗲𝗱𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝘀.❞
❝Countdown begins.❞
❝Fans speculate the big day is closer than ever.❞
& even when the cruelest of them hit her up
As his shadow appeared in the news again…
Standing beside another woman’s outline—
Under the cruel headline:
“𝐖𝐄𝐃𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐌𝐄𝐃. 𝐈𝐓’𝐒 𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆.”
She didn’t look.
She couldn’t.
Elowen : FL
(smiled, As if she wasn’t breaking
𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗲𝘁… She whispered his name like a sin.....No one was allowed to hear anymore.
Elowen : FL
"I hope you find happiness..."
Elowen : FL
"And one day, hold a baby boy— Kind, gentle...
Elowen : FL
Just like you." (Tears slipped down her cheeks, quiet and endless.)
Elowen : FL
"Call him Jason...
Elowen : FL
The name I always dreamed of giving our son...
Elowen : FL
In a life where you were mine."💔
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