Contract Marriage with My CEO Boss (Kylan and Katrina)
Chapter 71

Chapter 71

or the

resignation pape

papers to Kylan

She ripped her heart out when she gave

Katrina hadn't wanted to. She wanted to work with Rylan, to help Kylan, to know Kylam

The further she fell into him, sank into him, felt for him, the harder it became to step away. Which was the very reason she knew the needed to

only for now.

For now. Hopefully only

Kylan Ross was a beautiful person. He had a wonderful heart, a giving soul, and a smirk that could weaken even the most steel set of knees.

Kylan Ross was a broken man. He had a troubled mind, a soul lorked far away, and a frown that broke her own heart.

She recognized bits of herself in him. In his behavior and in his fear. There were remnants of her own trauma,

na, her own heartache from her mother walking out on her that are at her soul.

However, she had put in the work. She had strived with a therapist for years to get to a place where she felt stable. Where the felt cafe in the walls of her own mind.

It was clear Kylan had never confronted his demons, whatever they all may be. It was obvious he had yet to heal. To be angry be angry Really angry. And not only the surface-level kind of anger everyone knew he carried with him. What had he been throught What shackled his heart, his spint?

What were the contents of his nightmares! What fueled him to get his cardinal tattoo?

let himself

What made him pull her in, shower her with affection, with love, and with words that made her melt into him? What made him push her away. deny her leave her

She wanted to stick it out with him. To lift him.

But she had tried. Daman, if she hadn't tried

At the end of it all. if he wasn't ready to talk about things, if he didn't want to if he was too broken to. She couldn't fix him. She couldn't force him

At that point, she had to worry about herself. Her own mental health. Her own self-respect.

The week she spent in Portland with her dad, had been both liberating and exhausting. She lost track of how many times she cried. How often she wallowed in her sadness. She couldn't count the number of instances she fought herself not to call Kylan. To lash out at him. To beg him to just talk to her. To work with her. To must her.

It was exhausting. It was necessary

Stepping away from the chaos with Kylan, opening up to her father, and telling him everything helped her see both the situation and herself clearly. She could both have compassion for Kylan and respect for herself. The two could coexist within her heart, but she had to let Kylan go. She had to let him know that she deserved more

Her father, ever the kind soul that he was really held no animosity for Kylan. Nor after she told him everything. Not after she shared how many

times Kylan had stood up for her. Had helped her. Had opened up to her. Had been vulnerable with her.

It wasn't so easy. It wasn't so simple. None of it was black and white.

She was a human being. Kylan was a human being. He was just Broken. Floundering. Drowning in grief he didn't know what to do with it k from.

When her father encouraged her to take a step back i Ross Corp, and from Kylan, it wasn't to spite the man. It was to help him. And to help her.

for

"Katrina, mental health is a challenge. It is still often taboo, my dear girl. You cannot fix someone if they are not ready to take that themselves. You can love them, but even from a distance. From a distance, until and if they decide for themselves that they are worthy of the love they owe to theinselves"

Her father's wisdom, his guidance it was everything. It was more than she needed to know that she was making the right decision by stepping away from Ross Corp. For now, or forever.

She couldn't fix Kylan. She couldn't make hun see reason if the only thing he was really seeing was his darkness, hus uner turmoil, and the shakus that haunted the halls of his mind.

She cared for Kylan. She cared for him more than she ever karwar would. She wanted him to be okay. To be loved.

But she loved herself, too. She cared for herself, too. She had worked hard for herself, you

Letting him go like this was devastating. It was painful. It was awful

Yet she did it. Yet, she would do it.

She would do it because she deserved to acknowledge that her part in trying to peel back the layers that were Kylan Ross was over unless he decided to work on himself.

It was torture, walking into that office, feigning indifference as she watched his face fall before he could correct it. It was horrendous. The whole

She only made it through that day, because Aaron and Maine came over to her house that night. They held her as she cried. They reminded her of her strength and what her mental health was worth.

What she would have done without them holding her together, she didn't know.

And then it hurt her all the more, because who was holding Kylan together, if not her?

-0-0-0-

Day four.

It was day four since submitting her resignation papers to Kylan, and three days before Christmas

She looked down at the tea steeping in the mug on the counter of the break room. She glanced at the small watch adorning her wrist, taking note that she had one more minute left before the tea would be ready to bring to Rylan

It was another gloomy, overcast day and she was burnt out and ready for a break from Ross Corp. From Kylan

His mood perhaps trumped even the grey clouds and the iciness outside. He was rude to everyone lately. Absolutely anyone that he came in contact with. Everyone, that is, apart from her.

with her, he was nearly zombie-like. He was dry. Curt. Robotic. His eyes had never been more hardened, his gaze never more unreadable than it was each time she saw him now.

in attempts to keep her at

She chose to take no personal offense to any of it. She knew by now that it was all a defense mechanism. All a ruse.

a ruse. All in

what he deemed to be a safe distance.

It was difficult though, unbelievably so, to pretend as if his behavior didn't bother her. Didn't break her heart and nearly flatten her resolve altogether.

I was next to impossible to remain impartial. To ignore his passiveness. To act like it didn't haunt her every time she ventured home

It was so different from the glances behind the curtain he had given her to the real him. The one who cared how she was feeling, who told her that she mattered to him. He was so different from the man who had been inside of her. Who had held her tenderly and called her darling as he caressed every part of her body. Katrina needed to remind herself more than once throughout each day why she resigned. Why it was better for them and that it was okay to care abour that. Why it wasn't selfish of her to worry about that....

A knock on the break room door startled her and she spun around, a hand clutched to her chest and a short gasp leaving her lips

"Oh you startled me, Ryan" she laughed airily, shaking her head and stirring Kylan's tea a few times with a spoon she lifted from the counter

My apologies, Katrina. I wanted to ask how you're doing" Ryan moved into the room a bit more, resting against the counter, a respectful amount of distance between them.

I'm fine, Sir. Thank you for asking" She flashed him a quick smile.

Have you spoken to Oscar as of late?" he asked her, watching her as she shuffled about the counter space to put away the supplies she used to make

Kylan's lea

I haven't yet, no. He told me he'll talk to me after Christmas," she paused, her hands falling to the laminate surface near Kylan's tea. " have a feeling like something is wrong though, you know? L.. I don't know what it is, and I'm hopeful that I'm overreacting but.." She frowned. "Part of me just. Is aware that everything is not okay" She sighed and smiled at Ryan apologetically. "I'm sorry, Sir. You don't want to hear about any of this."

She waved him off with a half laugh.

"On the contrary, I do want to hear about all of it. I know the last few months have not been easy for you. I'm privy to the small bit of knowledge Kylan is keen on sharing. I want you to know that I fully support her decision to reign. Kylan is.. Well, it isn't my place to divulge anything, of course. But he is lost. I have little doubt that you can't already see that for yourself. As much as I care for the man, I understand and respect why you must thank of yourself."

Ryan shifted and caught her off guard by placing a gentle and along her shoulder. Take care of herself Kate. I know how you care for Kylan. I know this is not easy for you. But understand that you both deserve to had happiness, whatever that may look like now, or in the future." Ryan's light blue eyes bore into her own gaze, his words resting far more than she anticipated they would.

"Thank you, Sir. I-I appreciate that very much. Kylan is He's important to me. This can't. It isn't easy, or what I want to be doing" Her voice was ihaking her lower lips quivering and warning of more ention she was attempting to keep at bay while she was at work 2.3

Ryan gave her a kind smile. The sort of smile that told her he understood exactly what she was feeling. "I know it isn't, Katrina. I think somewhere

Inside Kylan. he understands that too," he told her quietly, squeezing her shoulder once before allowing his hand to fall