Chapter 220 - Angela Who? (1)
Her eyes bulged in shock. Who would send that to Desmond, and via email? Perhaps it was a system generated email from a site he had unsubscribed? She knew the answer even without having to go searching. It was not some site. Would they be crazy to send that kind of email?
She checked the sender. Angela Aguilar. She had not seen the name before but it gave her chills. Was it a woman who was obsessed with Desmond?
She scoffed at the thought. There were more women obsessively pining for Desmond than could fit in a cruise ship—just within the city. Angela Aguilar must be one of them.
So she did what she would for any other email that had no business appearing in Desmond's inbox. She deleted it. That was just a few minutes before another email came in from Angela. She must be quite the persistent one, Zaria thought as she selected the message for deletion. What if it was important?
She clicked it open reluctantly, knowing she might just bump into some love letter meticulously written to seduce her boyfriend. No one wanted to see that, but it would be troublesome if she made him miss out on important information just because her jealousy was acting up. She reluctantly opened the email and the content was more baffling than the previous one.
It was a picture of a woman and Desmond holding hands.
"Do you miss me as much as I do?" She read the caption at the end aloud.
"Fucking hell." She slapped her forehead, blood draining from her body. No way.
There was no way this was real. But no matter now she thought about it, the woman in the picture had to be Angela and the man was evidently Desmond. The meaning of it was glaring right in her face but she didn't have the courage to acknowledge it.
She made a billion excuses for Desmond being with her in the same picture. Maybe he took her as a friend but she thought too much of their closeness.
This was the first sign that she was in denial of what was going on around her but she didn't care. What else was she to think? That Desmond was cheating on her? He would never do that, would he? She was still giving herself reasons to believe that he would never cheat on her when a more believable picture was sent in.
This time, Desmond's hand was around her waist. They must have just left an event, because she was wearing an evening gown while he donned a perfectly fitting tuxedo. His head was tilted to look down at her while she said something in amusement. His gaze…
She shut her eyes but when she opened them, nothing had changed. It was still that fiery, deeply in love gaze. She was familiar with it and the thought that it was for another woman gnawed at her insides.
Her hand flew to her stomach. What if one of the reasons for him not wanting kids was because of Angela?
"Let's find out this evening at dinner." She whispered about the date she had set up with him, her eyes widening when she realized that she was treating her stomach like it definitely had a little life growing inside it. She suddenly hoped there wasn't one.
The rest of the day was a blur as she kept herself busy even when she didn't need to be. She reorganized her files over lunch and ignored the takeaway that Desmond had an intern drop off. If he cared so much, why couldn't he drop it off himself?
She was probably acting like a bitter jilted girlfriend but she didn't care until Lucy pointed it out.
"You are not even showing. You can calm down. By the time it's obvious, you will have figured out what you want to do." She remarked in the evening when Zaria was preparing to leave.
The latter paused midway through arranging her stationery and looked at Lucy, who was leaning against the shut door. Zaria looked at the door that separated her office from Desmond's, then back at Lucy in shock. "Showing what?"
Lucy's response was to point at her daughter's stomach with her chin.
"I'm not expecting." Zaria spoke sternly like she was about to snap.
"You think you are." Lucy shrugged. "It's obvious from how different you have been acting all day. I noticed that you checked the ingredients of every snack at the pantry before you ate them."
"Mom…" She massaged her temples.
"I'll let you be." Lucy said, much to her relief. Her expression dimmed as she stepped closer to Zaria. "But you have to be careful. The Sus have not given up and neither has Alyssa. The former will not care that it is their great grandchild in there and if Alyssa spared you because you are carrying her first grandchild, hell would freeze over."
"I didn't expect them to." It was one of the things that worried her. However, if she was going to be a mother, she would not give her baby up out of fear. She wouldn't do anything to hurt it even if it was because of Desmond's wishes or lack thereof.
Her choice to not take a test baffled Lucy but she could only rein in her curiosity. Zaria was currently a time bomb ready to explode.
….
She had been unable to choose the perfect venue all day so she let Desmond decide. As expected, he chose a home-cooked dinner on his terrace and had his chef prepare a variety of her favorite meals.
She stared at the garlic pasta in her plate and wondered whether it was alright for her to eat it. It probably wasn't, so she replaced it with white rice.
Misunderstanding her gesture, Desmond felt sour. Did she dislike him so much that she would no longer eat the food he served her?
"Do you dislike the food?" He gently asked, trying not to sound compelling.
"No. I'm just not in the mood for garlic tonight." She stabbed her fork into her food with more force than was necessary. Lack of appetite was an understatement. She felt nauseated, and the reason was becoming more obvious by the second.
"The chef specially prepared lasagna. He said his wife likes to eat it on their anniversary every year so he made some for us too." He announced, his tone lacking the excitement it usually had.
"I don't want anything with cheese either."
"You love cheese. Especially mozzarella." He pointed out. "Are you…"
"Not on my period." She cut him off. "That's the last thing I want to talk about."
That sounded odd in so many ways that he contemplated her words for almost an entire minute. What did she mean?
"You don't have to think about it too much." She laughed, but she didn't sound amused.
His heart pounded against his chest. First, she had been ignoring him and treating him like he didn't exist, then she called him out for dinner and didn't look in the slightest bit happy to be present. This was definitely the set up for a break up. What would he do if she actually wanted to call it quits? What would he say to make her stay?
If she was hell set on leaving, she wouldn't stay no matter what he said. He was painfully aware of that.
So he changed the topic. "I have plans for my birthday banquet that I would like your help with."
"You decided to throw a banquet?" She was puzzled. That was unlike him.
"I made it into a company banquet so everyone could come with their family or friends." He lied. He had just come up with it to buy time.
"That's going to be humongous. You do realize it, right?" She frowned.
"I do. I think it's a good idea to ease the tension. Everyone is always walking on eggshells around me."
"If you say so. I will do what I can to help." The words sounded sour. She could be doing another woman's work and she wouldn't even realize it.
Their gazes collided and she couldn't keep it in anymore. She took a deep breath and blurted the question that had been bugging her all day. "Who is Angela Aguilar?"
His hand stopped with a spoon halfway towards his mouth. The obvious shock on his face gave the answer before he could state it.
"Shit." He cursed under his breath but she heard it.
She swallowed a hard lump. Did she still need a verbal response?
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AN
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