04: Is It Life?

“Desmond, you’re–”

“What are you doing here?” Desmond was wearing a very hostile expression on his face as he reached Irene.

Irene’s courage wavered. “I c-came to see you. Look at me.”

Desmond’s eyes raked her figure. As impressive as Irene thought she looked, Desmond didn’t seem moved by her appearance at all.

“If you know what’s good for you, you’re going to leave this place now,” Desmond advised—warned—with a low-pitched tone.

Finally feeling the many eyes set on her, both judging and inquiring, Irene suddenly felt small. But she still had a goal to achieve. She couldn’t come all the way here and leave without her mate.

“Desmond, listen to me. I know you feel like I’m undeserving of you, but I can assure you that I am. I truly am,” she reached to touch Desmond’s hand as she spoke, “If you can just come back with me, I’ll–”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Desmond slapped her hand away with a deep frown marring his handsome features. Then he glanced around them, facing the guests of the events.

His features seemed to relax as he sighed with some sort of awareness dawning on him.

“Excuse me,” he said to the stone-faced guard who had been watching the drama from the closest range. Desmond stepped down from the platform and told Irene, “Come with me.”

He didn’t need to say more before she nodded her head vigorously and chased after him, casually ignoring the flood of people who judged her with their eyes and mouths.

“Causing a scene at such an auspicious event… Why do I get the feeling that they’re from Pluto Pack?”

“Her shoes. Ew.”

“What are they doing here? Trying to dampen the atmosphere?”

“So uncultured.”

Desmond’s face twisted with discomfort at every statement he heard. Regardless, he didn’t stop moving, leading Irene outside the hall through an empty side entrance.

The entrance opened up to a small garden that was lit up with candles on the stony straight pathway. The moon was at its peak, casting a soft glow on the path where Irene and Desmond stood.

“Are you coming back with me now?” Irene asked foolishly with a teasing smile, concluding that the reason Desmond led her outside was so they could depart together.

“Fuck, no!” Desmond rebuked. “I brought you here so you wouldn’t shred off the last piece of shame you have left in front of everyone, staining yourself with me along in the process.”

Irene’s smile faded away.

“I’ll tell you this cause I owe it to you for wasting years of your life. No one would want someone like you who can’t even understand when to keep shut or speak, when to act or not, when to do things or not,”

“I’ve gotten a post to work as a guard here at Jupiter Pack. Do you know what that means? Do you know how much I struggled- what am I saying? You do know. You’ve known all this time, yet you don’t understand.” Desmond was speaking with a tone that implied severity.

“I can’t be with someone who doesn’t understand my joys and my lows. Someone who lives but doesn’t understand the point of life. You go about everything so simple-mindedly that I find it fucking annoying!” He suddenly changed his pitch, as if remembering a triggering event.

“Irene, you don’t need to fix yourself or be better for me. Do it for your own self. Because you don’t even have a goal in your life. You go along with whatever I tell you to, is that even life? Answer me, is it life?!” Desmond questioned aggressively, grabbing Irene’s shoulders.

All this time, she’d been looking at him without knowing what to say or how to react. But now met with his sudden outpour of anger on her, Irene felt so scared that she blurted, “I don’t know!”

“Exactly,” said Desmond softly as he released her shoulders slowly and distanced himself from her, “You never know anything.”

Irene’s eyes watered, blurring her vision. Her throat became dry, and her palms grew itchy. She clenched her fists tight, digging her nails into them.

“Stay on your own from now on. Our bond is broken. There’s nothing between us anymore. Never contact me, or repeat this shit that you pulled here today,” Desmond said with a tight jaw, “Okay?”

Irene was about to shake her head negatively, but flinched when she met Desmond’s cold gaze as he said again, “Okay?”

“Okay,” Irene echoed.

Desmond hummed in satisfaction, then walked past her in the direction of the hall’s side entrance.

The tears in Irene’s eyes flowed down. Her fists clenched harder.

Everything… Everything that she’d done to get here, none of it mattered. Desmond didn’t want her anymore. How could… How could he be so cruel?

Irene gritted her teeth.

Desmond expected her to go home now and do what? Live without him? She couldn’t! He’d made her dependent on him. Now, he wanted to do away with her. How could he?

Thoughts that never crossed Irene’s mind when Desmond was with her began to flood her brain at full intensity.

“I can’t go back empty-handed,” Irene said to herself with a firm tone, wiping her tears away with the back of her hand.

Then she turned around and took the same path as Desmond, oozing anger and energy as she marched straightforwardly.

Irene reentered the grand hall, fiercer than ever. Her eyes narrowed on the uplifted platform, ignoring everything and everyone else.

Those blocking Irene’s view of the platform were shoved out of the way, leaving her with a trail of ‘ouches’ and ‘what the…’

She was almost there when the volume of the music played by the live band suddenly increased, disrupting her momentum and causing her to lose sight of the platform. It led her to crash face-first onto a wall, falling on her butt.

“Ow!” Irene exclaimed with her palm to her forehead on the floor.

The music stopped. Whispers ensued.

“Why is there a wall in the middle of…” Irene trailed off in her complaint as she lifted her head and realized that she was wrong.

There was not a wall in the middle of the hall. Instead, there was a large man dressed in a black three-piece suit with every inch of his body clothed safe for his face. His black hair was slicked back formally, and his eyes were a sharp shade of blue that held emptiness behind them.

He was not frowning, no. But his face was carved with a permanent hostility that did nothing to dull his breathtaking beauty.

Irene’s breath was obviously taken away by the sight of this man. Not only because he was dangerously captivating. Irene also felt the familiarity of being grounded to nature once again.

Something that she’d only felt when she first locked gazes with Desmond years ago. Now, she could feel her wolf soul come alive with excitement as it latched onto something she thought was unreachable.

This feeling only meant one thing. This person was her—

“Soulmate.”