2: The pain of rejection

Fiona’s POV

That question caught me so off guard that I had to blink a few times, straining my thoughts to make sense of it.

I mean, one moment I was drowning in my own self-pity because the man I loved was asking for a divorce, and out of nowhere, he asks something so random like that.

God, I couldn’t answer that question.

“Sebastian, I wish you happiness,” I simply said to him and got in the car.

As soon as the car door closed, tears started streaming down. I just couldn’t hold myself back anymore.

Where Sebastian couldn’t see me, I let my pain pour out freely. The pain I was feeling was immense; he could never understand the gravity of it all.

I’d been married to Sebastian for three years, but I’d been secretly in love with him for seven years. I’d loved him since high school.

Sebastian and I went to the same high school. Back then, he was a star on campus. His striking looks, wealthy family, and being a champion player on the school baseball team made him wildly popular.

On the other hand, I was a chubby girl. I came from a single-parent family, and my mother, Sofia, ran a startup lingerie company.

I loved my mom so much; she worked hard to raise me and give me a better life. But to other kids at school, an overweight girl with a sensitive family background was a target, and I became a victim of bullying.

I remember the day Tina, a cheerleader, threw a lingerie ad from my mom’s store in my face. “Look at this fat girl. She’s just a bastard; I bet her slutty mom doesn’t even know who got her pregnant!” she mocked, making the whole class laugh.

They bullied me because of my mom’s job and my figure. Tina threw all kinds of insults at me, but in truth, she was only furious because her boyfriend stared at my backside as I passed by the field and whistled at me.

It wasn’t my fault her boyfriend was a jerk, but she was slandering not just me but my mom, so I couldn’t let it slide. I couldn’t let them ruin my mom’s reputation.

So I fought back. “Wash your mouth out before talking about my mom!”

But she and her friends outnumbered me. They dragged me and threw me into the school lake, laughing as they walked away, leaving me struggling in the water alone.

I tried to swim to the shore, but my legs cramped. I nearly lost hope as my body slowly sank in the water. Few people passed by that lake. No one would come to save me. I lost hope.

That’s when Sebastian appeared like an angel, a prince charming, or whatever my teenage mind could fantasize about in that moment.

He pulled me out of the water when I was nearly unconscious. He was going to bathe in the lake after playing ball and saw me there. I coughed to clear the water from my lungs, and when I opened my eyes, I couldn’t believe I was still alive.

“Fuck, were you trying to kill yourself in the lake?” he looked furious.

He was a mess and angry, but that was the moment I started to love him. I mean, he had saved my life; he had simply been my hero from that day forward…

My thoughts were interrupted when the taxi stopped at my doorstep.

I stood at the entrance with my suitcase and rang the doorbell, letting out a sigh. The feeling of coming back home after a failed marriage wasn’t exactly the best.

The door opened, and my mom looked from me to the suitcase in my hand, then let me in without a word. I thought she was mad at me because I insisted on marrying Sebastian despite her objections.

“Your blind husband finally kicked you out?” she said sarcastically.

“Mom, his eyesight was restored two years ago,” I replied with a sigh. Even though she knew that, she still insisted on making those comments.

“Oh, he needed you to take care of him when he was blind, and now that his vision’s back and his ex-girlfriend’s back, he just kicks you out,” my mom got angrier.

“His ex-girlfriend abandoned him when he was sick, but he still divorced you for her. Fiona Clarke, you really married a ‘great’ husband.”

My mom didn’t usually call me by my full name, and when she did, it was a sign she was furious and about to explode.

“Mom, you know I had a crush on Sebastian. I did my best to make him fall in love with me. Even though I failed, I don’t regret it,” I confessed, though I felt helpless.

It was painful to realize Sebastian could never love me, but the person you love doesn’t always love you back, and it’s impossible to control the heart.

I always tried to let reason overcome my emotions and force myself to accept that fact.

But the moment my mom hugged me, I broke down. “Yes, you didn’t regret it, but your heart was hurt.”

I immediately started sobbing on her shoulder.

It hurt.

It hurt so much.

It was seven years of secret love.

It was every night and day I saw him and wished he’d love me back.

Why wasn’t there any chance for Sebastian to fall in love with me?

Why did he ask for a divorce so easily?

We lived together for over a thousand days and nights, and our connection was so deep. Why did he erase me from his life without any nostalgia just because his first love came back?

I had so many questions in my head, but I didn’t need to ask Sebastian.

Because I already knew the answer was no.

He didn’t choose me because he didn’t love me. He loved Ross.

“It’s okay, my little girl.” My mom comforted me and stroked my head like I was still a child.

It felt so good to be back home and have someone to support me.

“My company has a dozen hot models. Meet and date any of them, and you’ll get over the divorce sadness in no time,” my mom joked.

My tears turned into laughter.

I rested in my old room and didn’t think about anything.

I needed time to clear my thoughts.

But just one day later, I saw Sebastian again.

When the doorbell at my mom’s house rang and I went to answer it, I could hardly believe it when I saw him standing there.

“What are you doing here?” I asked. After he’d kicked me out of his life, seeing him here was the last thing I expected. Besides, he should be off having fun with Ross, right? The woman he had no qualms about flaunting to everyone as the one he loved.

“Hey, Fi. Sorry for coming like this, but something urgent came up. Grandma wants to see us,” he said. “Could you come with me and pretend to be my wife for one more day?”

I had a bad feeling about this meeting, that I was about to get myself into big trouble.