Scarlett’s POV
I put out the cigarette on the bin when her door opens.
Sebastian frowns at me, remaining by the door, half of a hallway from me. He hates me smoking. He would glare at me, scold me, or like this -- standing far away with disgust on his face.
It’s a gross habit, but a woman needs SOMETHING to let out the pain in her chest or she will burst. But then again, if his delicate Ava could afford such a habit, he would definitely join her instead.
“So?” He puts one hand in his pocket, glaring at me when he finally walks over. He does that when he is impatient. As in, all the time with me.
I gaze at his face, handsome and dominant, just like the day he found me in that forest. But at that time those eyes were clear like crystal, with sparkles like the Milky Way. Right now it’s pure darkness of hatred.
He snaps his finger to get my attention.
“Sorry...” I dart my eyes to the ground, pulling the divorce papers out. He reaches over, and in panic, I dodge.
Instantly, disgust fills his beautiful eyes, shouting at me--
[I knew it wouldn’t be that easy.]
“Just...I have one question before this,” I pretend to not see his hurtful look, keeping my eyes on his chest, “...Please.”
Would it change anything if I’m pregnant? I want to ask, I don’t know how.
Taking a deep breath, I look up, just to catch him rolling his eyes with a sigh: “I don’t have time for your games, Scar.”
I know I missed my chance for my question.
I raise the file only an inch, and he snaps it out of me, leaving a cut at the root of my thumb. I grip my fist, feeling the pain. It’s really nothing compared to the ones he left on my heart.
He doesn’t even notice, just turns to leave.
“I heard you,” I blurt with my heart drumming fast, “you...you said you were married.”
I watch him turning slowly, knowing I must look like a pitiful dog begging to be taken home.
But I have to ask.
I don’t know if at this point, which would hurt more. A shred of hope...or not even that. I’m just...asking for the baby’s sake.
Lying to myself, I wait.
He got my question in that out-of-nowhere blurt: “I didn’t want to give her false hope.”
He wasn’t rejecting her. He was just putting her feelings as priority to all, like always. No matter how much he wants her, he wouldn’t even allow her to bear a shred of pain, even if the pain from hope.
Bitterness explodes in my mouth, forming an ugly smile, I assume. Because his frowning deepens seeing my face.
“Would--” I ask but he is turning again. He stops, again, this time even more grumpy.
“Can you finish your nonsense all at once?!”
Would you miss me, even a bit, if I’m gone from your life...forever? I stare at the man that I loved for ten years, tears coming out faster than my words.
“Would you mail the papers to Aurora when you are done with it?” I almost bit my tongue twisting my question into a normal one.
“Why can’t you get it yourself?” Sebastian retorts, adding, “Your stuff...”
“I’ll get them out of your house today,” I nod. I already did. I don’t have much, really. An iPad, passport, and a few pieces of clothes. All the things he bought for me, they bare Ava’s mark and I don’t want them.
I barely filled my small suitcase, which he didn’t notice when he left the house today. I doubt he would notice anything missing tonight.
“What’s your plan after this?” Rarely, Sebastian asks.
“Do you really want to know?” I can’t help but ask. If yes, then maybe...maybe we can share a kid in our separate life?
“Why is it so hard to talk to you?” Sebastian leaves before his words can land.
Because you never cared to really talk to me. I watch him disappearing in her ward, finally allowing tears to pour out as they like.
I’m sorry, Sebastian. But I can’t tell you about the baby. It would only make life harder, for all three of us.
[Aurora, it’s done.] I text. Three words and I have to wipe my eyes twice to see.
Instantly she texted me back: [Your ride is downstairs, your Highness.]
I basically throw myself into her car, with the world twirling around me. Really glad that I don’t have to sit on the street and let every passerby catch a show.
Aurora hits the gas and takes us miles away from the hospital before she pulls over and comes out to the backseat. She doesn’t say anything and just lets me cry my lungs out on her shoulder.
Ten years. Ten years of this bitter-sweet love. Died, today. Just...such a lousy ending. I could have at least left with dignity.
“I didn’t think you could do it,” On our way to the airport, Aurora observes me several times before she mumbles half jokingly half seriously, “I wasn’t too surprised this morning when you told me to cancel, not as much as later when you got back on the plan. What happened this time?”
“Well...I’m pregnant.”
Now Scar understood – Adrian asked her when he saw Sebastian coming, and he wanted Sebastian to hear it from her. To cheer Sebastian up? Scar shakes her head at Adrian’s obvious attempt, but she is not ruining Adrian’s plan just yet.If it works, then she would take it.“I forgot my phone,” Sebastian says as if answering Adrian, by avoiding Adrian’s obvious hint completely, “Sorry to interrupt.”Looking at his cold face, Scar suddenly feels so remote from this man. Not just her. He is distancing himself from everyone. His whole world.She never noticed before how it has become easy to talk to Sebastian, until now, when it’s no longer true.It wasn’t always like that with him.In the early years after she married him, he hated her so much that he would throw a dispute when she just said “nice weather”. She could NOT talk to him. She would try her best to find topics, to start conversations, or just to get a simple text from him by asking over and over again what he would want for dinne
“First, we need to do damage control. Contact his legal team and clean up any related rumor online about any of these,” Scar never worked in the business world, but thanks to all the time she spend pestering Sebastian to talk about work so she could get him to talk to her during their marriage, she is familiar about how to handle issues like this more than she knew, “I’ll call Granny and feel out whether she knows about this. If not, then we try our best to keep it from her. As for the matter at hand, we need to figure out what Ava really wants and why he is complying with her so we can stop him from sinking deeper, and about getting him to quit…”That’s something only Sebastian can do, and even if he wants to, Scar is not sure if he could.Quitting drugs is one of the hardest challenges for any human being. People say that with a strong enough will, one can do anything, even quit addictions. But if it’s that simple, then it won’t be an “addiction”. It flips a switch in your brain, gi
Scar wheels onto Sebastian, staring at him with utter disbelief.Is it true? She wants to ask, but her body is too shocked to comply. All the details of the past week flash through Scar’s eyes. Pale face. Low appetite. Fatigue. Hiding his limbs under long pants and sleeves…and the indifference in his eyes as if he had nothing left in the world to care about.It all makes sense now.“You drugged him?!” Scar frowns at Ava, couldn’t even start to comprehend, “Why…? I mean…why??? What good does that do for you?”“I didn’t drug him! He--” Ava snaps angrily. He drugged himself for you! But to explain that, Ava would have to perjure herself on the failed crime against Scar. “This is called malicious incrimination, and I can sue!”“Really?!” Scar lets out a snort with despise. Compared to Ava, of course she trusts Adrian more, even though his story is so much more unlikely. Surprising, but making sense. “Please, call the police on me. We will see if you can get away with it again this time!”
Not shooting a glance in Scar’s direction, the man walks over slowly before he sits down on the chair next to Ava. On a cruise, yet he wears a long pair of pants to hide his legs. His hair messy and his eye bags big and dark as if he hadn’t been sleeping in days. Though the man complied with Ava’s summons tamely, he is not using the sun chair to its original function, but to sit there with his fingers crossed each other to support his forehead, as if he barely has energy to be there.He looks tired. Extremely. His thumbs rub each other compulsively, but the man doesn’t even seem to notice.Scar couldn’t imagine why.“Scar was just asking about you,” Ava smiles to Sebastian, kicking him lightly on the waist with her scarlet painted toe, “She was wondering if--”“Huh,” The man lets out a low laugh, looking up at Ava as if Scar doesn’t even exist, “Really?”The cold sarcasm in his tone sounds…dead.There is not even a shred of doubt in his voice – he is saying he knows, plainly and firml
Sebastian and Ava yet again took up the front page, reading--Billionaire’s Love Story, Forever and EverTheir long love story came out from Evens Moore’s pen, depicting in details about how he found the traces of the billionaire who hid all the way out in the ocean just to avoid getting divorced by his obsession from his childhood, the woman who he loved all his life, and can’t seem to let go even when her heart might be leaning toward another man who just might be the only one richer than him in the city.When Scar saw the newspaper, she just let out a light laugh and put it away, closing her eyes for the sun bath with only her bikini on.She has really moved on this time, but no one around her seems to be used to that.And the most among them – Ava.“Have you seen Sebastian today? I really need to talk to him about something, you know?” Ava chooses the sun chair right next to Scar’s, waving a folder in her hand as she chats with Scar as if they are besties.A folder that even looks
Ava looks like she is at the peak of her life.The first dinner after the “luxurious guests” boarded lured everyone on the cruise to the dining hall. The jazz band is replaced by four cellists, and the buffet is changed into a high-end banquet. Elijia Green has his paralyzed mother in a wheelchair, two nurses by their side at their service. Emily Green is swimming in the crowd, one celebrity to the next, introducing Scott to all their distinguished friends.And Ava is tagging along.She was a socialite before all these, but never before did she have such a chance to join the real elites. She was the daughter of a middle-tier family, an actress, a girl whom Sebastian favored. But now, she is the queen-to-be of the Green family.Or so Emily Green is indicating.Sebastian is still sitting by himself in a dim corner, having little to no food in front of him. He is not lea