The Girl I Shouldn’t Feel For

(Neo’s Point of View)

People talked.

Smiled.

Laughed.

I stood among them, nodded when expected, held a glass I didn’t drink from.

Every movement rehearsed. Every word calculated.

This was the O'Dell Annual Gala.

The one night when the press, the investors, and the vultures in diamonds circled close.

And I, Natha Elyas Odell — Neo — smiled as if nothing in my life was cracked beneath the surface.

It had been months since the wedding.

A wedding no one was allowed to talk about.

No photos. No announcement.

No bride.Lilly.

The name echoed too often in my head lately.

Even when I didn’t want it to.

She wasn’t supposed to be a part of my story.

Not like that.

Not as a bride.

Not as the girl standing at the edge of every silent room like a ghost who refused to vanish.

---

Rulia.

She was supposed to be my ending.

The woman the world adored — the one I trusted for three years.

And then one night, I found her in a hotel room with a businessman whose handshake cost countries.

That moment rewrote everything.

But somewhere deep inside me — a part of me still believes Lilly was behind it.

Because why was she there?

Why did she walk into my life that day, so quietly, so ready?

Why was she always watching?

Maybe she waited.

Plotted.

Maybe her innocent face was just a mask.

Rulia didn’t say much in her note when she left. But her words were soft enough to sting:

> "Sometimes, people you trust the most stand behind your fall. But I forgive her."

Her.

Not a name. But I knew.

Everyone knew.

Lilly.

And still…

despite every bitter thought, every unanswered question — I couldn’t bury the feeling that refused to die.

The way her silence felt like punishment.

The way her eyes used to glow when she looked at me as a kid.

The way she still looked when she thought I wasn’t watching.

I feel something for her.

And I hate it.“Sir,” someone from the media called. “Can we get a few words about the gala theme?”

I offered a smile. “Creativity always deserves a stage.”

I meant it.

I just hadn’t expected the stage to belong to her.

---

A sudden wave of gasps rippled through the room.

Camera shutters. Whispers. Movement.

I turned.

And there she was — Natalia Valen — looking like the moon descended to earth and decided to be dangerous.

But it wasn’t just her.

It was the dress.

The slit, the collar, the hand-beaded stars.

I knew that stitching.

That design.

Because I’d seen that sketchbook.

Abandoned once on the kitchen counter of the third floor.

Pages full of forgotten dreams.

It was Lilly’s.

---

My grip on the glass tightened.

I scanned the room.

And then — I saw her.

Tucked behind the crowd. Standing still.

Black outfit. Silver crescent pin on her chest.

Hair pinned back like she didn’t want to be noticed…

but how could she not be?

She looked like every word I never said.

Lilly.

I should’ve turned away.

Like always.

Pretend she wasn’t real. Pretend she wasn’t mine.

But this time…

I looked.

And she looked back.

No accusations. No hope.

Just… eyes that no longer waited for me.

It hit harder than it should have.

She didn’t wear her ring.I hated that she was here. That she dared to shine in a room full of people who only knew her as the problem, not the person.

I hated that I remembered the feel of her fingers shaking when I slipped that ring on her hand.

I hated that she never defended herself.

Never begged.

Never cried.

She just stayed.

And that — that infuriated me the most.

Because part of me believed she was guilty.

And part of me...

wanted to believe she wasn’t.

But my heart had already made a vow.

> For the pain you caused me, I will never forgive you.

I hate you for making me feel this broken.

And I hate myself even more… for still feeling anything at all.

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