Chapter 4

4

"Ever since I gained maturity I have loved you. I kept myself pure so you would be the one taking me. I dressed myself as per your liking so you would look at me. I even turned down offers of marriage from compatible men because I was enchanted by you. After all the sacrifices I made for you, this is what you give me?" She grasped his collars, shaking him. Her streaming eyes made his face seem blurry. 

"For two years I endured your ill-treatment and invested my time to make you happy. I would make food each day even though you left it to turn cold. I didn't complain when you came home late and retired to bed without even taking a glance at me even if I was wide awake and talking to you."

"You forgot my birthdays, let alone wish me. You ignored my parents on family dinners. But I was still happy because you were with me all this while. I took your cold treatment with a smile. Despite all this, all that I wished for was to see you smile. You want to know why?"

Hunter's eyes remained averted. His face, a mask of cement. 

"Because I cared for you, Hunter. Even when you did not return my efforts I cared for you unconditionally." Claire shuddered. 

"My family is reprimanding me for choosing you over all the other men I could have. Your parents didn't utter a single word since you left. They're too ashamed to speak for themselves." Claire said in a voice edged with exasperation. 

"The world is laughing at me, Hunter. Everyone is pitying me because of you." 

She was instantly tired. She couldn't keep her head up. The throbbing in her head was too much to handle. 

She rested it on his shoulder and sobbed, "What have I done to get this? What was my mistake that you punished me like this?" 

"Claire," He touched her back. 

Before he stroked her, she pushed him away. Claire glared into his eyes. She wanted to see his face when he gave his reasons. 

"Yes, Hunter, I am listening. I know you have a strong reason to leave me at the mercy of the world today." 

"I have told you to not keep hopes, Claire." He ground the words out between his teeth. 

She recalled their conversation from two months ago when she asked him to give a chance to their marriage. One last chance.

He had said, “Fine, if that's what you want. I'll give us a try. But you must not keep hopes, Claire.” 

And she had replied with a sad but hopeful grin, “Don't worry, I have faith that it'll work out.”

It came like an arrow and hit her chest. Claire stared at him. Was he the same man who told her that he was glad she didn't lose hope in them? 

"It was not supposed to happen like this had it not... Fuck, I can't pretend it anymore." Hunter growled. 

Suddenly his eyes darkened as he looked at her, "I was never into continuing this marriage with you, Claire. I could never accept you as my wife. Zara has always been there between us. She was always here."

He pointed at his chest where his heart stayed buried.

"I could never let her go. She has always been with me in my thoughts, in my mind and always in my heart. Even if she was married and taken and gone I couldn't help but miss her. She was too bad of a habit to surrender."

"In these two years of marriage I never had a chance to think about us because I couldn't give up on Zara. We both loved each other too much to belong to someone else.I had faith that she would return one day. I knew she would come back to me." He said with such smoothness that tore Claire piece by piece.

Hunter gazed at her nonchalantly, "It may hurt you to know but I have been putting up an act with you. An act of loving you."

Tears strolled out of her eyes. Claire silently stared in his gaze as he remorselessly spoke.

"An act of loving me?" She whispered while a sea of relentless pain engulfed her. 

He sighed, "I knew my parents wouldn't let me be at peace once we divorced. After leaving you I would have been forced to find another wife to live with which I was not ready for. So to save myself from going through that wife-hunting shit again I played along." 

"Not that it was a bad deal. You were an understanding wife. You put up with me after all my harshness. I was afraid the other woman may not keep up with me. She may not endure my behavior silently. And if Zara was to come back to me, I doubted if the other woman would let me be with her. But you would." Claire choked on her sobs while Hunter guiltlessly spoke. 

"That being said, I decided to stick with you and thus all that facade of love."

Her heart dropped to her feet. Claire wished she would have died before she heard this. 

"I didn't mean for you to know it like this but..." Hunter walked towards her. 

Stopping two steps away from her, he said ever so heartlessly, "It was not meant to end like this between us."

"However, without causing you more pain I will step out of your life. I will submit the divorce papers and request a quick procession." Those words jerked her out of her miseries. 

Anger penetrated into her, causing her to pull her hands out of his hold. Claire took a step back as she connected her hand with his face. She slapped him thrice before pushing him back with full force.

"You want to leave me for a woman you hardly met?"

"She's not just any woman. She's Zara and I love her."

"Zara or not, you want to ruin our marriage for another woman."

"There's no point in staying together. There's no love between us. I hardly want you." He said coldly.

Claire's eyes burned with tears, "We've been together for two years, Hunter. What about us? What about me?" 

"I have been clear with my intention towards you, Claire. I don't love you. I can't when I have another woman ruling my heart and soul. But don't worry I will compensate you with a huge amount of money. You can keep this villa too.” Hunter stated it as if it was the best deal he could offer to his client. 

“You can also keep seventy percent of my equity shares and become the major shareholder in my company. If there's anything else you want before we part, don't hesitate to state it. I will fulfill all your demands."

A sarcastic laugh left her mouth. Claire watched him with teary eyes. There was not even a small hint of regret in Hunter's features. 

But then, she suddenly remembered Zara. She was married, wasn't she? 

Was her husband not possessive of her? After all, she was a beautiful woman. Didn't he want her? 

"What about her husband? Was she not married?" "

That's when his eyes came up and he spoke sadly, "Zara's a widow now. Her husband had a heart attack. Today was his funeral and she was returning back home after burying him that we happened to meet again."

"So you want to leave me and marry her to make her a married woman again?" 

"Her In-laws are very controlling, Claire. She lost her parents in an accident. Zara is an orphan now which means she's stuck with them. They will kill her if she's not rescued." 

"Oh, so you want to rescue her!" Claire exclaimed. 

Hunter's eyes hardened persistently. At that moment, he looked like a man who would go any limit to achieve what he desired. 

"I want to claim what should have been mine long ago." He announced. 

Tbc...