She Was The Deal
Author's Words
"I don’t really know how to start…"
"Should I say I missed you with every tiny piece of my heart?"
"Or tell you how your old comments were the only thing that made me smile during the days I couldn’t even sit up?"
"Life pushed me into hospitals, medicines, and exhaustion — and somewhere in the middle of it, I felt like pieces of my soul were being peeled away one by one."
"I know many of you are waiting for the paralyzed groom story. "
"I didn’t abandon it — I simply paused."
"Not because the story faded…"
"But because I didn’t want to return to it half-alive and give you something rushed or incomplete."
"I love that story too much to treat it with tired hands."
"It’s been a day and a half since I came out of the hospital, and I brought this short story with me — not to escape, but to breathe again."
"To remind myself I am still human… still alive… still able to create worlds even when mine feels like a hospital corridor."
"Just give me this week to rebuild myself."
"Then I’ll return stronger — and the Paralyzed groom will walk again through your hearts, the way he was always meant to. 🖤"
"✨ I just hope I don’t mess this story up — "
"I’m pouring every quiet piece of strength I have into it, and I truly wish for your love and support along the way."
"So… shall we walk this journey together? 🌿🖤"
1 — Asking to Be Chosen
Under the cold rain, a girl walked alone —
Lost, drenched, clutching a small broken heart toy.
Yet the heart behind her ribs was far more shattered
than the one trembling in her palm.
Her steps weren’t steps.
They were wounds — reopening, bleeding memory with every breath.
Her father’s voice came first, sharp as the storm cutting her skin:
Adrian Sterling : FL's Father
"“You’re the obstacle of my life."
Adrian Sterling : FL's Father
"Why don’t you just leave?”
Her tears spilled harder.
Her knees gave out, and she sank onto the wet street stairs —as if the whole world finally crushed the last fragile piece holding her upright.
But pain does not stop when the body falls.
It hunts deeper.
Then came her step-mother’s voice, calm in the cruelest way:
Victoria Sterling : FL's Step Mother
“Why can’t you understand? "
Victoria Sterling : FL's Step Mother
"You are unwanted."
Victoria Sterling : FL's Step Mother
"Even your mother abandoned you."
Elara : The FL
(Her cracked whisper tried to hold onto hope —even as the hope inside her drowned:
Elara : The FL
“No… she didn’t abandon me…"
Elara : The FL
"I’m not a burden…”
Yet pain wasn’t done with her.
Some wounds are fresh, sharp, still bleeding —like the one carved hours ago by her step-sister:
Bianca Sterling : FL's Step Sister
“Even your fiancé chose me over you."
Bianca Sterling : FL's Step Sister
"Why don’t you disappear?"
Bianca Sterling : FL's Step Sister
"No one wants you.”
Her chest twisted so tightly it felt like her ribs were collapsing inward.
At the weight of her pain, the tiny heart toy slipped from her hand —falling, cracking, scattering, breaking apart on the ground.
But it was the only gift she ever had —
Even if it came from the fiancé who betrayed her.
Elara : The FL
(Watching it shatter felt like watching the last piece of her life crumble too.
With trembling fingers and drowning eyes, she bent to gather the pieces —
As if fixing that toy might fix anything at all inside her.
A͟ g͟e͟n͟t͟l͟e͟ h͟a͟n͟d͟ r͟e͟a͟c͟h͟e͟d͟ f͟i͟r͟s͟t͟.
He knelt beside her, collecting the fragments with quiet care, and offered them back with a soft, steady smile:
Hers swollen and drowning,
his warm enough to soften storms.
And without meaning to —
without even understanding what she was clinging to —
she breathed out a trembling plea:
Elara : The FL
"Would you marry me?”
She wasn’t asking for love.
She wasn’t seeking a dream.
She was asking if she deserved to breathe in this world.
If she was truly unwanted —
Or if someone, anyone, could choose her before she disappeared from herself.
Caelum : The ML
(He froze.
Caelum : The ML
(His breath tangled.
Caelum : The ML
(Something inside him stumbled and then… opened.
He never believed in love.
Never searched for warmth.
But the moment he looked into her eyes —something unfamiliar flickered inside him: soft, frightened, alive.
And before his mind could stop it, 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗸𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗵𝗶𝗺:
Caelum : The ML
“Of course."
Caelum : The ML
"Why not?"
Caelum : The ML
"Let's get married.”
𝐇𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐲…
But what happens when he realizes
It wasn’t her brokenness that moved him —
But something far greater, something he’s never known before…something called love?
𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗺 𝗶𝗻 𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘀𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲𝘀?
When she realizes she never meant marriage — only “Do I deserve to stay?”
Not a whole life with him. Just a reason to breathe.
Will this broken beginning become their end?
Or will love - stubborn, quiet, and born in the darkest moment find a way to breathe between a heart that loves and a heart still learning it deserves to be loved back?
2- When Kindness Felt Like Pain
She never dreamed of a wedding gown.
Yet here she was… wrapped in white, surrounded by warmth she never knew existed.
His mother fixed her veil with hands that trembled with joy.
Vivienne : ML's Mother
"Finally," (murmured),
Vivienne : ML's Mother
"I get to see my son married."
His little sister clung to her fingers like they were delicate treasures, eyes shining with childlike wonder.
Ayla : ML'S Younger Sister
"You look like a real princess," (whispered).
Ayla : ML'S Younger Sister
"Like the ones in Disney movies."
Elara : The FL
(Her lips curved into a smile.
But it was the kind that trembled at the edges, as if it was holding back a flood.
Inside her chest, two truths collided painfully.
The gentle mother who looked at her like she mattered.
The tiny girl who loved her without knowing her wounds.
This warmth she had prayed for in silence her whole life.
But fear rose just as fiercely.
"What if he woke up one day and saw her clearly?"
"And realized she wasn’t worth choosing?"
"What if they stopped loving her like the others did?"
"What if she tasted happiness only to have it ripped away?"
𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴.
𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘳.
Elara : The FL
(Her hand pressed to her trembling heart.
Better to stop it now, she thought
Better to break on my own terms than be shattered later.
Elara : The FL
💭"Maybe… I shouldn’t do this."
A whisper only fear could hear — fragile, almost swallowed before it reached the air.
But then his mother pulled her close,
holding her with a tenderness she had never known.
𝗪𝗮𝗿𝗺. 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹. 𝗟𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗲 𝗛𝗼𝗺𝗲.
Vivienne : ML's Mother
(Her voice trembled, soft like a vow only mothers could make to their beloved daughters.
Vivienne : ML's Mother
"I finally have another daughter…"
Vivienne : ML's Mother
"And I truly love her."
Elara : The FL
(Something inside her broke softly.
Elara : The FL
(Her arms hugged back. Tight. Almost desperate.
Elara : The FL
(Tears streamed like she'd been holding them for years.
Elara : The FL
"Mother…" again, again,
Elara : The FL
"Mother… I love you… I love you so much…"
It was a word she had carried her whole life with no one to give it to.
So she clung. Afraid love would disappear if she let go.
Elara : The FL
💭Don’t disappear.
Elara : The FL
💭Don’t leave like everyone else.
A gentle knock.
A deep voice from outside.
Nathaniel : ML's Father
"Sweetheart,"
Nathaniel : ML's Father
"Your groom is waiting."
Nathaniel : ML's Father
"He can't hold himself still any longer."
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