Chapter 89 - SAD MEMORIES
"I just want to let you know before I start to explain the truth, that you'd been the very best wife to me. Whatever happened in the past—it's entirely my fault." He spoke so gently, his tone trembled a bit. Pain and regret struck his exquisite blue eyes. Seeing his eyes glistened with tears broke my soft and fragile heart into a million pieces.
His bright eyes never once depart from mine in fear I would vanish from his sight if he dared to look away for even a second. His warm fingers slid to my arms and held me still in case I tried to flee. I closed my eyes for a moment and summoned just enough courage to face all he has to say knowing when this night is over, our lives will never be the same.
Moonlight shone on his breathtakingly handsome face. That unforgettable face haunted my dreams countless times. When I first met him, I know there's something about him I needed to know, it appears I wasn't mistaken.
The silence hanging between us thickened and so the tension. The sound I could only hear was the sound of my heart beating wildly inside my chest. I was surprised that he didn't hear how violent my heart beat inside my rib cage.
"Just tell me everything, Ace. Start from the very first time we met." I said, breaking the silence swirling around us. I break free from him as if his touch burned my skin and hastened to the nearby bench to support my trembling legs about to collapse anytime soon.
The elegant steel bench provided the support I needed after I sat down. My racing heart which I thought would slow down didn't. It continues to pound on my chest while I wait for him to drop everything like an explosive bomb.
Ace didn't move a bit even after I glared at him impatiently. He just watched me with half-closed distant eyes as if he wasn't seeing me. It was the memories of the past he is looking at. Just when I thought he would keep quiet for eternity he took a deep, steadying breath, and spoke in his softest tone.
"We accidentally met in a bar, Beatrix. You're the first to approach me and ask for my number." His lips curved into a smile, wry amusement twinkled in his eyes while he recalled the memory. He then continues, "who am I to let a beautiful lady down?" Overwhelming tenderness made his cheeks flush with warmth.
I wasn't sure if that's actually what happened but I felt he's telling me the truth.
"Am I that desperate or something? I swear I couldn't imagine myself initiating a bold move such as that just to catch your attention."
"But you did Beatrix. You even told me valiantly that I was your ideal man. I assumed though you're drunk at that time."
"Was I drunk?"
He shook his head. "No, you're surprisingly sane that time that I thought perhaps you're a mental patient who escaped from a mental institution."
"Perhaps, I could say I'm a candidate. I wouldn't talk with a random man if I'm sane in the first place… Well, please continue."
"I thought we would never see each other again after that incident but I was wrong. We kept bumping into each other wherever I went, a huge coincidence. It seems fate was trying to keep us together despite my best efforts?trying to steer clear of you."
"What made you decide that you like me too?"
"Like would be an understatement. I say I fell in love with you and your determination, Beatrix. And I realize how deep my feelings were to you when one of your obsessed, deranged suitors tried to kidnap you. And when you refused to let him have his way he got so angry and ordered his men to kill you instead."
"You try to save me," I said the words more of a statement than a question. "Is that how you acquire that fatal wound?"
"Yes," He admitted. There was a momentary pause. "And after that incident, you became even more desperate to have me. And guess what, after a month of speedy recovery I found myself married after you successfully seduced me. Your parents caught us in your room and I have no other options but to marry you after your father aimed a shotgun at my head. The next morning we were married by a judge."
A horrified gasp escaped my lips. I'm still in shock at the idea of how we became husband and wife. I straightened on my seat and looked up at him without the slightest trace of emotion on my face. "Did you regret marrying me?" I blurted the words aloud before I realized the enormity of what I've said. I bit my lips. Humiliated by my undisciplined behavior.
"The truth is I never once regretted meeting you, Beatrix.?Marrying you was the most beautiful decision I ever made in my whole life."
"Then what went wrong, Ace?" I said weakly, unable to prevent a tear from sliding down my flushed cheeks. " If we're almost perfect then why did we drift apart? Why did the almost perfect marriage end with shattering divorce?"
"I went wrong, Beatrix. It's all my fault. You got pregnant and—"
"And you assume that I cheated on you! That you're not the father of my child?" I forcefully abandoned my seat and glared at him furiously. If looks could kill he died a few seconds ago.
"Yes." He replied weakly. Anguish tortured his handsome face. "Vince—my brother drugged you one night—I caught you in bed with him."
"Oh Ace, I don't know how I will take this all. This is too much." I sobbed. An imaginary knife stabbed my heart repeatedly. I brushed my palms to my hair hoping it would help ease my distress… it didn't.
"I'm sorry Beatrix…. I'm sorry you have to suffer like this."
With tear-stricken eyes, I raise my head back to his. "Did something happen to us that night?" I braced myself for his response. The thought of another man touching me was enough to make me shudder with dread.
"Vince convinced me that something happened between the two of you and I believe him. He was too convincing, he made me believe the two of you were having an affair and foolish me jumped to the conclusion after he produced pictures… evidence... Who am I not to believe when the proof was right in front of my eyes."
"So Vince and I did it?"
He shook his head again. "No," He replied, he sounded relieved. "Before I went here in Cordova months ago, I contacted the servant who witnessed what exactly happened that night. She told me the truth…. nothing happened between you and Vince that night. I arrived in time to save you."
A burden was lifted off my chest. I let go a huge sigh of relief.?I couldn't bear the thought of thinking I did have s*x with another man who is not my husband. I rather die than cheat.
"You should have confronted me instead of jumping to conclusions?" I muttered in between gritted teeth. "You could have asked me the truth."
"Asking you would be pointless. You're drugged. The next day you couldn't even remember a thing. How could I squeeze the truth from you if you don't even recall the tiniest detail about that night? You probably thought that it had only been a dream."
It was too painful to look at him. I turned my gaze away from his piercing eyes. and walked forward and gripped the rails tightly for support until my knuckles turned white. Ace was right, It's better that I'm not aware of the truth because it was too painful. But then, I could never escape from it. I will discover the truth sooner and later. Perhaps, things are far better this way.
"Then what made you believe that you're not the father of my child?" It took me a great amount of self-control not to hurl myself at him and beat him until I have no strength left.
"The paternity test result says I'm not the father. Who am I to contradict Science, Beatrix?" Anger flashed in his eyes. At first, I thought he was angry with me. It took me a moment to realize he was angry at himself.
Silence lapsed between us. No one dared to talk, too lost within our thoughts to even speak. It was me who couldn't take the deafening silence to stay any longer, I raised my head in his direction when he moved forward and stopped just beside me. "It was Vince who faked the DNA result. His now wife Angela, who previously was my secretary, was the one who helped him create a fake DNA result. I was blinded with fury that I didn't realize my mistake until it was too late."
"What happened to our child, Ace?" My voice shook badly as I spoke. When his eyes clouded with tears, I knew at that moment I would not want to hear the answer.
"The night you thought I was having s*x with my secretary inside my room, you left the house in the middle of the night to go to your parents' house." He took a harsh intake of breath as if it was difficult for him to explain. "The car you're driving collided with a truck…. The same night Vien died."
The news was too much. My legs lost their strength and I collapsed. A warm stream of tears abundantly flowed down my cheeks. But before the hard floor could catch me, Ace was able to save me from the fall.
He held my rigid body while I wept into his arms.
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