Chapter 137: Choosing you

Selen turned away from the security gates and walked back through the crowded terminal toward the exit. She pushed through the heavy glass doors of the main entrance, stepping back out onto the departure curb.

She looked up and froze completely.

Clancy was standing right there near the edge of the terminal sidewalk, his coat buttoned tightly as he spoke quietly on his phone. His packed luggage sat neatly on the ground beside his travel bag. He had not boarded the commercial flight at all.

The realization hit her with a sudden shock, clearing the frantic panic from her mind.

She had been so completely consumed by the chaotic urgency of the moment, so desperate to catch the commercial deadline on the monitor, that she had entirely forgotten a major detail of his life- Clancy did not need to clear regular commercial gates, he had his own private jet.

Patrick’s voice call from the previous night reset in her mind. Clancy’s transfer operations were handled entirely through the private executive airfield on the other side of the terminal.

He was only standing here at the main entrance because he was wrapping up the final corporate details with his London office before his ground transport cleared the security gates to the tarmac.

In fact, Patrick had purposely found a way to delay Clancy’s flight schedule, creating an intentional hold on the tarmac clearance codes just in case what he told Selen during the voice call made her change her mind and she ran to catch up with him.

Clancy turned his head slowly, his eyes instantly picking up on her presence in the middle of the crowd. His body locked up, his hand freezing as he slowly lowered the phone from his ear.

The guarded, detached armor he had worn ever since the night in the foyer did not slide into place this time. Instead, the raw heartbreak and exhaustion he had been carrying for months surfaced completely, making him look entirely vulnerable as he stared at her flushed face.

Selen did not stop to evaluate the situation, and she did not allow her speechlessness to paralyze her a third time. She walked straight across the concrete toward him, closing the distance until they were standing just inches apart.

The awkwardness that had hung permanently between them since the birthday party vanished, replaced by an intense, quiet heat that radiated through the small space separating them.

Clancy looked down at her, his jaw tightening as he struggled to find his usual steady composure. "Selen? What are you doing here? The triplets-"

"The children are safe at home," Selen interrupted him, her voice quiet but entirely steady, free of any hesitation.

She looked up into his eyes, seeing the profound sadness that had driven him to pack his bags and prepare to leave her forever. "I did not come here for the children, Clancy. I came here for you." She said,

Clancy stayed completely still, his breathing deep and controlled as he listened to her. "I told you on the veranda, Selen. I am not having an emotional conversation with you out of guilt or pity. I signed over the company assets to the triplets because they deserve that security, not because I wanted to buy my way back into your arms.

I know where I stand in your life. You chose your permanent path with Vanguard. I am leaving for Madrid because staying here and watching you look at me with that distance is completely tearing me apart." he said.

"I know what you did," Selen whispered, her fingers reaching out to gently touch the front of his coat. She did not let her hand fall away this time. "Patrick called me last night. He told me that you orchestrated the entire backing behind the corporate takeover.

He told me that you used your own capital to out bid the market price just to protect my career and protect my family from the ministry’s audit." she said

Clancy looked away, his expression tightening with a sudden, defensive pride. "Patrick should not have told you that." he said in a low tone.

"I am glad he did," Selen said, her eyes locking onto him with absolute sincerity. She could see the quiet devotion he had hidden behind the shadows, realizing with absolute clarity how deeply he had truly changed.

He was not the arrogant man who had let his family’s pride dictate their choices eight years ago. He had completely stripped away his own capital and his own ego just to ensure her peace of mind, expecting absolutely nothing in return.

"You built a shield around my life without ever putting your name on the documents. You gave everything you owned to our children, and you were ready to walk away into the dark just to let me be safe." she said.

Clancy looked down at her, his composure beginning to crack as her words hit him. "Because I love you, Selen. I have loved you for eight years, even when we were completely separated by an ocean. But love is not enough when the history between us is too heavy to move past. I can not keep guessing where I stand, and I cannot force you to forgive a past that ruined us." he said.

Selen looked at him, her chest aching with a deep, warmth that she had not allowed herself to feel in nearly a decade. She knew she could not offer him a basic, cliché reassurance, and she did not want to pretend that their old wounds had vanished into thin air.

They could not erase the choices, the hiding in Spain, or the seven long years of absence that had kept him from his children. Instead of saying "I forgive you," she looked him dead in the eye and spoke.

"You can not erase seven years of pain. But perhaps we can begin writing seven better ones." she said.

Clancy froze completely. The finality of her statement hit him with immense force, stripping away the last remnants of his guarded detachment. He stared at her, his eyes searching her face for even a single shred of hesitation, but she remained completely steady, her hand still resting firmly against his chest.

Slowly, he let go of his luggage handle, his arm reaching out to pull her straight into his space.

He wrapped his arms around her waist, lifting her slightly off the concrete curb as he buried joined his lips with hers.