Chapter 53: Chapter 53: A Beautiful Past (I)
Claudia POV
"That’s so uncalled for," I said while looking away from him. Of course, I knew that he was mocking me for marrying Miles—a poor man who showed his true nature once he got a bit of money in his pocket.
Back then, I was just a girl who knew no better. Aside from discovering his sociopathic tendencies and how he played with my heart, there was also another reason why I broke up with Ray:
I saw his colleagues at the university, and also his family, and realized that we were not in the same wealth bracket. It would only hurt me if I married into such wealth without any backing behind me.
"What? Upset that I’m right?"
"Can we just go?" I said while trying to walk out of the elevator. But Ray had been holding my hand so tightly that it was impossible to break away.
"Heh, you really are one stubborn woman, Claudia," he sneered before walking out of the elevator with me.
Ray drove his emerald green Bentley out of the parking lot. We didn’t speak at first, because I was upset that he mentioned my bad choice of a husband.
Meanwhile, Ray didn’t try to strike up any conversation—not that he wanted to. Based on my knowledge of him, he usually kept quiet unless necessary.
Though...
I felt that he became much more talkative when it came to arguing with me. I didn’t expect him to be such a chatterbox with hundreds of creative insults directed at me.
However, our silence finally broke once the radio we tuned in suddenly played a song that I knew:
"Over and over I keep going over the world we knew~"
It was an old song from Frank Sinatra, The World We Knew, one of my favorite singers of all time. I remembered giving Ray a CD mixtape of all the songs that I liked back in our university days, and I included this song.
I spent the entire night compiling those songs and burning them onto a CD. But when I gave it to him in the morning, his reaction was... lukewarm at best.
He looked at me as if I was an idiot for doing something utterly pointless.
He ’accepted’ it in the end, but I bet he tossed it into a garbage bin soon after.
Ah, recalling the past made me want to vomit out of embarrassment. It made me sick thinking about how madly in love I was with a sociopath, only to end up getting played.
However, I was caught off guard when he suddenly sang along with the radio.
"But the dream was too much for you to hold,
Now over and over I keep going over the world we knew,
Days when you used to love me~."
His voice fit perfectly with Frank Sinatra on the radio, like they were harmonizing together. I didn’t expect him to be a decent singer—his voice felt... nostalgic, like those male singers from the 60s.
What I didn’t expect was... he actually knew this song?
"I never knew you liked this song," I muttered. "I thought you only liked classical music, since you only brought me to operas when we dated back then."
"I keep my music taste diverse, especially for songs that have nostalgic value," he replied nonchalantly, his eyes still on the road. "Someone recommended me this song, and I liked it from the first listen."
"I see..." I smiled bitterly. "I thought you were listening to my mixtape. Remember how I gave you one in uni?"
"I tossed that away," he said coldly.
"Mmm, understandable..." I lowered my head, ashamed. "Honestly, I’m glad that you didn’t listen to it. Because it’s full of sappy love songs that would make you cringe. Ugh, I want to bury myself whenever I think of that mixtape."
"..."
Ray fell silent after that, and the atmosphere turned awkward once more.
However, he continued humming along to the song until it finished, then changed the radio channel once it was over.
"There’s no point in listening to love songs, Claudia," he said. "They fill your head with unrealistic expectations of how a man should be."
I wanted to deny that, and then I recalled Miles’ change after a few years into the marriage, and had to agree.
Perhaps I had turned deaf because I listened to too many sappy love songs in my youth, which made me think that Miles was a perfect man despite all the red flags.
But was it really an ’unrealistic expectation’ to have a man who loved you as much as you loved him?
*
The park was almost empty at this hour. It was a weekday, after all, and it was almost lunchtime. I saw a few runners and mothers with their babies, other than those, the park was quiet and tranquil—much to my liking.
We walked along the man-made path and stopped to sit under a weeping willow by the lakeside.
Autumn in Los Angeles was the best, because the temperature and humidity were just right. It was warm and not too humid, so we wouldn’t sweat much.
The problem was... my hand had already started sweating. Ray had been holding it ever since we entered the park, and he hadn’t let go.
We sat side by side in silence, taking in the view and the fresh air. Yet no matter how I tried, I couldn’t pull my hand free.
"R-Ray, let go," I finally broke the silence. "My hand is sweating, it’ll gross you out."
"No, it’s my hand that’s sweating, not yours," he replied, but still firmly holding me.
"B-but I want to eat this ice cream," I said while showing him the gelato in my other hand. We bought it at the park entrance, and it was starting to melt.
Ray clicked his tongue, then took the small plastic spoon. He scooped the ice cream and began feeding me—just like what he did during breakfast.
I stared at the ice cream, then at him. He had that usual impatient look, so I opened my mouth and ate the ice cream obediently.
