Chapter 42
Chapter 42:
Helena didn’t move. She stood there, breath shallow, as if her body hadn’t quite caught up to what had just happened. If not for the lingering tingle on her lips, she might have convinced herself the whole thing was a dream.
Had she and Alden really kissed?
Confused and flustered, she turned on her heel and practically bolted back to her room.
Alden froze mid-motion as the bedroom door slammed shut. His hands hovered over the sink, dishes still in his grasp, as a wave of regret washed over him.
He hadn’t meant for things to escalate like that. Yet the soft echo of her voice still rang in his ears, and the trace of her lips lingered longer than it should have.
He knew better. He should’ve waited. Respected her pace, her choices—especially when it came to something as personal as this.
Alden took a breath and reminded himself why he’d wanted Helena beside him in the first place. Maybe… just maybe, he needed to ease off.
“What? Alden kissed you?” Valeria exclaimed, her voice rising with disbelief.
Never in a million years did she think Helena’s request for an urgent psychological therapy session involved kissing Alden.
Helena looked like someone who’d just confessed to a crime—uneasy and rattled.
Over the following several days, Helena found herself buried in work until late into the night, barely catching a glimpse of Alden. Their paths didn’t cross once, and for reasons she didn’t fully understand, that left her feeling… empty.
She missed seeing him, even though part of her was terrified of what might happen if she did. None of it made sense. She’d never felt like this before.
Valeria leaned in with a teasing smirk. “So… tell me straight. Was he any good p>
Helena flushed in an instant. “Valeria!” she shouted, embarrassed.
Valeria chuckled without a shred of remorse. “Hey, from what you told me, you didn’t freeze up at all. No panic, no retreat. That says a lot. Emotionally? I’d say you’re in a pretty healthy place. As your friend, I’m proud p>
“Okay, great. But as my doctor, do you have anything less embarrassing and more clinical?” Helena retorted.
Valeria responded, “Keeping all your emotions locked away isn’t good for you. Since you don’t have any real issues with Alden’s intimate behavior, like I mentioned before, if there’s someone who could guide you through exposure therapy, maybe that’s the breakthrough you need to move past your fear of intimacy p>
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A few clicks on her keyboard later, Valeria printed out a document and handed it to Helena.
Lifting a brow, Helena gave her a skeptical glance. “What exactly is exposure therapy supposed to be p>
“It’s pretty straightforward,” Valeria replied, flipping to the first page. “The best way to deal with fear is to face it. So if intimacy rattles you, you lean into it—with someone you trust. This list lays out progressive steps you can try—with Alden p>
Scanning the document, Helena skimmed through a lineup of physical tasks: hugging, casual touches, kissing…
As she continued reading, the material grew increasingly specific—no longer resembling a medical treatment plan, but more like a thorough, step-by-step manual on intimacy.
Heat rose to Helena’s cheeks as vivid images of herself and Alden in those described moments played uninvited through her mind.
Feeling overwhelmed, she swiftly shut the file.
Valeria said, “Naturally, if you’d rather go through this with someone else, that’s totally fine. Everything I’ve compiled is guaranteed to be effective p>
Helena gave a faint, bitter smile and shook her head.
Whether the document would actually help wasn’t what kept Helena up at night. What really weighed on her was Alden’s growing distance. She hadn’t even seen him recently, much less found an opportunity to be near him.
After finishing her session, Helena made her way to her job at Nexus.
Eleanor’s desk sat empty. Coworkers were whispering about how she had pulled off the impossible—leaving with her pride intact and without being officially dismissed.
Just as Helena stepped through the door, Dominick approached to give her a nudge. “They’re announcing the results of the first round today. You should take a look p>
It was only then that Helena recalled she needed to check the company’s intranet.
Her name appeared among those who had advanced past the first round. But the knowledge that her placement hadn’t been earned through fair means dulled her excitement and stripped away much of the pride she might have felt.
Unexpectedly, an anonymous message popped into her inbox. The email contained a full breakdown of scores from the preliminary round, along with the detailed rules used for scoring.
Right away, someone in the office shouted, “Whoa, these are the internal selection results p>
“Did someone accidentally leak this p>
“Did everyone get this? Was the intranet breached p>
The entire office filled with a hum of speculation and raised voices.
Helena felt just as thrown off as the rest. She continued reading.
What she found stunned her—her scores had consistently ranked in the top five over the years, more than enough to qualify her for the competition. However, at the very end of her row, a line had been crossed out: “Due to Helena Ellis’s live broadcast incident three years ago, she’s disqualified from consideration p>
Dominick let out a sharp curse under his breath. “That’s complete nonsense. I remember a few colleagues had broadcast issues just last year and still made it in p>
His words swept away the fog of confusion clouding Helena’s thoughts. In that instant, she realized without a doubt who had sent the email. That message hadn’t come from just anyone. It was meant to tell her she belonged in that competition. She’d earned it fair and square.
It came from Alden.
Helena exhaled slowly. No one had been pushed aside for her sake.
This shot—it was actually hers.
Had she gotten Alden all wrong from the start?
Hiring someone to dig up that kind of intel had to cost a small fortune. The more her mind circled back to it, the worse she felt. If there were a trapdoor nearby, she’d have gladly disappeared through it.
Dominick believed Helena was finally shedding the weight of years filled with bottled-up frustration and kept admiring her for staying calm through it all, never once speaking up to report a single issue. And it wasn’t just Dominick. Her coworkers had started treating her differently—gentler, warmer.
When Helena stepped in to rescue Eleanor’s live broadcast, people began to see what she could really do. Now that her scores were public and her spot in the competition official, no one doubted she’d earned it.
This had been the easiest day Helena had ever experienced at Nexus TV. Without Eleanor in the building, even the air felt lighter.
It almost didn’t feel real.
And it was all because of Alden—the man she’d pushed away when he tried to help.
As the clock neared closing time, she gave in and dialed his number. The call connected after a single ring, but it wasn’t Alden’s voice that greeted her. It was Xavier.
“Mrs. Wilson, if you’d like to leave a message for Mr. Wilson, I’ll make sure he gets it p>
Helena’s carefully rehearsed apology evaporated. Her throat tightened. All she could say was, “There’s a chance of rain on the west side tonight. Make sure he brings an umbrella p>