For a moment, we just stood there, the space between us crowded with everything we hadn't said and everything we couldn't take back.
And I remembered—over these past weeks—how he's been trying in that quiet, stubborn way of his. The day he showed up with the very first pair of worn dance shoes he ever bought for me, the leather scuffed from hours of rehearsals we once thought would never end. How he's brought food for the entire crew more than once, slipping it in without ceremony, as if feeding everyone was just another way to make sure I was taken care of. How he's waited outside for me after every rehearsal, leaning against the stage door until the lights went out, even though he knows I'd walk straight past him to my car and drive to Jan's.
Even the smallest, almost imperceptible things—leaving a battered copy of a poetry book , its spine split in the exact spot of my favorite poem; quietly sliding my preferred tea across the table during a break without saying a word; fixing the broken hook on my costume when he thought no one was watching—each one was a deliberate move, a silent dance meant to draw me back toward him.
They were gestures laced with memory, choreographed to tug at something soft inside me. And yet, I kept myself measured, reserved, civil, polite, but never offering him more than a fleeting glance or a thank-you that felt like the final curtain coming down before he could step closer.
Unfortunately, there was too much pain, too much betrayal for any easy return. The woman who once loved him with her whole, unguarded heart was gone. In her place stood someone changed, tempered, and sharpened by the fire of hurt. She had been refined the way stardust becomes a new world through collapse, pressure, and heat.
She had mourned it all, the love they'd lost, the wedding preparations she had once approached like charting a course for a lifelong voyage. She grieved the home they never built together, the first dances they never shared, the dreams that had burned up on re-entry before ever reaching their destination.
And...and she met wonderful people, steady as planets, bright as comets who reminded her that there was more to explore than the single orbit she had once been trapped in. Her world had grown larger, and she was no longer willing to shrink herself to fit inside the gravity of his regret.
I just told him to leave and went back to dancing, after few minutes or hours, I saw Leo coming in practically beaming. "Good news! I found someone for the stage manager position. Mora took it surprisingly well, said she'd find a replacement, and a few hours later came back to me with someone she knows. I talked to her; she's really good. Maybe even overqualified."
"Great," I said smiling.
"She's here now. Welcome to the crew!"
I turned around, expecting a stranger. But the moment my eyes landed on her, my stomach dropped. I had never stood face-to-face with this woman before, yet I knew her in ways I wished I didn't. I had spent hours comparing; my body to hers, my hairto hers, my eyes to hers. Picking myself apart piece by piece, wondering what she had that I didn't.
"Hi, June," she said with an easy smile. "I'm Selene."
Chapter Twenty-Six: Curtain Down on Ghosts
I just stood there, arms folded, still as stone, and let her talk.
"Mora reached out to me and she told me about this opportunity," Selene began smoothly, like she was reciting a cover letter she'd practiced in the mirror. "I've been dying to get more stage direction work under my belt. I shadowed a director duringPhantom's touring revival, did blocking consultations for an off-Broadway company, and even coordinated fight choreography for a Shakespeare festival in the summer. This production is the perfect next step for me. I already talked with Mora about where things stand, and—""
"You're fired."
Her smile froze. "Excuse me?"
"What the hell, June?" Leo stepped forward, his brows furrowing.
I turned to him slowly, deliberately, and my voice dropped into that calm, dangerous register I knew made people uneasy. "I'll deal with you in a second. For now..." My gaze snapped back to Selene. "My dear Selene, you might fool Leo, but not me. I know exactly who you are. I know you know who I am. I know you know exactly who's been slithering backstage. And I know exactly what your darling Mora has been plotting."
Selene blinked innocently. "I don't understand what you're implying."
"Cut. The. Crap." My words hit like gunfire. I turned to Leo, jabbing a finger in his direction. "Selene. Leo. Are you sure that name doesn't ring a bell? Not once? Maybe when I was sobbing, telling you Aaron was having second thoughts about our wedding because of a girl named—Selene?"
Leo's face went paper-white, as though the ground had been yanked from under him. His mouth opened, closed, opened again. "Surely it's not... not the same Selene. I mean, what are the odds?" He fumbled for his phone, hands trembling.
"Very high," I snapped. "Considering Mora's been stewing in her resentment of me since day one—and Selene here is desperate enough to crawl back into my life under the guise of professionalism."
Selene's lips curled into that cruel little smirk. "Oh, I get it now. You think I'm here chasing you... or Aaron. Please." She gave a fake little laugh. "Yes, he picked me. Yes, we lived together.That's not the point. The point is, you're being completely unprofessional, June.Thisis the kind of production that gets people noticed. I need this on my résumé—assistant stage direction, lighting calls, blocking notes. Real credits that matter and frankly, you need me too. I'm competent, I'm connected, and I actually know what I'm doing. Can you be mature enough to put aside your... what? Personal vendettas? Emotional baggage? And focus on the damn performance?"
I laughed—sharp and bitter. "You have thesameaudacity as Mora, and it's disgusting. What the hell is wrong with you? Was it not enough for you to shove yourself into my personal life when you knew damn well Aaron wasengaged? Do you have any idea what kind of person looks at a man with a fiancée and thinks,yes, that's my shot? You weren't clueless. You weren't naïve. You knew and you didn't care. You helped rip apart something I'd been building for years, and you waltzed into it like you were entitled. And now—what? You want my professional life too? This stage, this production, this company—this ismykingdom, Selene. You don't get to plant your flag here. Not after the mess you helped make of my life. Aaron's betrayal will always be on him most, but don't fool yourself into thinking your hands are clean. You're just as rotten. Just as culpable. And I'll be damned if I let you sink your claws intothistoo.You're leaving now, or I'll call security."
Selene crossed her arms, chin high. "Leo hired me."
"And I fire you." My tone cracked like a whip. I turned to Leo, who looked stricken. "And if he doesn't like it, he can follow."
Leo's throat bobbed as he swallowed hard, guilt radiating from him. "I... I'm so sorry, June. I swear, I had no idea it was the same Selene. I thought Mora was just being helpful. That's all."
"Helpful?" I spat. "Yeah, because she's always beensokind to me before."
Before I could say more, the sound of hurried footsteps echoed in the hallway. The door banged open, and Aaron came jogging in, out of breath, eyes darting between us. "What the hell is going on here?"
