My Billionaire Ex Beg For A Second Chance-Chapter 27: Stranger With His Face

The wind was soft against Katherine’s skin, the night air laced with the scent of white roses blooming in pots along the balcony edge. For a moment, it felt like everything paused. The laughter and music from inside became a faint hum, like a dream drifting further away.

She pulled away quickly, stumbling back a few steps as her heels clicked awkwardly against the tiled floor. Her fingers clutched her dress with nervous, like it could anchor her. Turning her back to him, she pressed both palms against her cheeks and then gave herself a small, sharp slap.

"Get a grip," she muttered under her breath. "You’re drunk. Just drunk."

This was ridiculous. She’d had three—maybe four—glasses of champagne. Okay, maybe she wasn’t the iron-stomached college girl anymore, but hallucinating Leonard Ford? That had to be her limit. She shook her head and turned back around slowly, expecting the face of a stranger, maybe someone who vaguely resembled him. Her heart stumbled in her chest.

But the man hadn’t vanished. He stood there still.

And it was his face.

His expression was showing nothing much. A mixture of surprise, hesitation, and something else—something heavier sat in his eyes. Shadows maybe. Memories. Pain.

Her breath caught. She opened her mouth, wanting to speak, to ask something, anything, but the words crumbled on her tongue.

And then he spoke.

"Katherine."

Her name on his lips. Not a figment of her imagination. Not a drunken echo. It was his voice. Deep. Steady. Still holding that calm weight that had always made her feel like everything around him slowed down.

Her throat dried instantly.

He took a step closer, but not too close. Enough to let her know he wasn’t a ghost.

"Hi," he said, like they were old friends. Like it hadn’t been years.

Katherine’s fingers curled slightly at her side, her knuckles brushing against the soft fabric of her dress. She swallowed hard.

What was she supposed to say? The millions of things she had dreamed about saying to him—shouted, whispered, screamed—they all scattered like ashes in her mind.

She heard herself say his name. But it wasn’t soft or surprised. It came out like a question.

"Leonard?"

He nodded once. "It’s been a long time."

She didn’t answer. Her legs itched to turn and run, but her pride stood tall. She straightened her shoulders, tilted her chin up a little, and summoned the most polite mask she could manage.

"Mr. Ford," she greeted with a little smile, like he was just another business acquaintance. The use of his surname was deliberate. A shield. A sword.

His expression shifted, his brows lifting subtly, as if her words had managed to cut deeper than she intended.

There was a beat of silence. He tried to smile, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. "You look great."

She nodded once. "I’m fine."

Silence again.

The atmosphere between them was taut and crackling, not with warmth or nostalgia, but with tension. Every second stretched unnaturally long. Katherine avoided his eyes, scanning the balcony for an exit route, wishing for Felix to come back or maybe the earth to swallow her whole.

Leonard shifted on his feet. "I didn’t expect to see you here."

"Neither did I," she replied quickly.

It wasn’t a lie. She had trained herself over the years to believe she would never see him again. That whatever they had shared belonged firmly to the past. Yet here he was, standing in front of her, solid and alive.

And all she could feel was a churning ache, like old wounds being pressed with cold fingers.

He opened his mouth, hesitated, then tried again. "Are you here with... someone?"

She looked up at him sharply.

"That really shouldn’t concern you," she said evenly, though there was a faint tremble in her voice she couldn’t quite mask.

Leonard looked down and gave a soft, almost humorless exhale. "I guess I deserve that."

She said nothing.

The silence between them grew unbearable again. The background music swelled and faded from the ballroom inside. A waiter passed by the balcony, glancing at them once before disappearing into the party.

Katherine finally gathered her courage to turn away. Her feet moved, slow but determined, back toward the doors.

She didn’t need this. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Didn’t need him.

Didn’t need the way his voice still folded into her memory like it had a right to be there.

Whatever Leonard thought he deserved, it wasn’t her silence. But it wasn’t her attention either.

God, she thought, how did I even end up out there with him?

What did he want? A neat little moment of closure?

God, no. If that kind of exchange was on the table tonight, she’d rather go home and fold laundry.

Her heartbeat, though still tight in her chest, was steady now, no longer thrown off by his voice or that small, sorry exhale of his.

Better to find Felix, say something vague about a headache, and slip out before the speeches started.

Yes. That sounded like a plan. Sensible. Clean. Perfect.

If no one or nothing got in the way.

But then she felt it.

Fingers closing gently around her wrist.

She froze.

His hand was warm. Familiar. She remembered that hand. How it used to hold hers like it was something precious. How it had once wiped her tears away in the dark of night.

Her body tensed, but she didn’t pull away immediately.

Leonard’s voice was low, a whisper meant only for her.

"Don’t go. Not yet."

She didn’t turn around. Couldn’t. If she saw his eyes now, she feared the control she fought so hard to keep would unravel.

Her lips parted slightly, breath catching.

But she said nothing.

And the moment stretched, trembling like the quiet right before a storm.

Behind them, the music changed. A slow, elegant waltz began to drift through the open doors.

But on the balcony, it was just the two of them.

A man who used to be her everything.

And a woman who was trying to forget she ever loved him.