CHAPTER 98
Celine’s POV
“What the hell do you mean by that?” A deep frown descends on my face and I shoot to my feet immediately. I can’t hide my displeasure. “How is that even possible? How can I be your wife? Is this your trick to let me stay back or what sort of rubbish is this, Bryan?!”
He isn’t responding. He is just watching me and I am beginning to think this is a joke. It has to be a joke.
How is this even possible? We had a wedding in the church but the certificate was a fake one. What is he talking about then?
Antonio’s face holds pain and sorrow and I wonder why he isn’t looking happy like I expect him to. Aside from the fact that he doesn’t want Jason to be out of his reach, he should be happy he will be free from my troubles.
He has taken care of Paxton and his family members, what then is going to stop him from letting us go? He told me he would let us go when this has been sorted out.
I won’t let him convince me with a silly talk like this. I was there. I was right there in the church and I signed on the fake certificate.
“Well, I just found out too”, he moves further into the room, heading towards the sofa. I turn as he walks there to sit.
I am still confused. Confused as hell as to what he is talking about.
“You just found out?” I question him with a raised voice. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“My mom”, he only says and my forehead creases further in bewilderment. “She switched the certificate and I just found out we actually signed on the real certificate and not the fake one.”
“What?” I exclaim again in shock. It was supposed to be a year-long marriage and after a year, I would leave and then claim to have been divorced.
I can’t believe this.
“Yes. I found the certificate and I have been making my findings to know if my assumptions were right. It turned out to be right and I found out my mother is behind it”, he explains further but I am not listening with rapt attention.
My attention is divided. How come it is just now he is getting to know about it? Why didn’t he check all these years? Why didn’t he notice the discrepancy after we were presented with the certificate?
This isn’t possible.
“You can’t buy me with something as silly as this. So please, don’t patronize me. It won’t stop me from going. My things are parked already and I am going to call a cab now”, I inform him so he will know how serious I am about leaving.
I am not a fool.
“You don’t believe me?” He points to his chest arrogantly. “Have I ever lied to you, Celine?” He asks softly, standing up from the sofa and moving close to me.
“I don’t care whether you have ever lied to me before or not. I don’t care whether this will be your first lie to me. I don’t care if you have just started lying. I don’t f***ing care if…” he grabs me, cutting me short from going further with my rantings.
Without giving me a chance to adjust to the new possibilities, he takes my lips and I go still with emotions.
I stiffen, and my eyes are wide open. Before he can move his lips on mine, I push him away.
I want to be in charge of my emotions now. I won’t let them control me. I won’t let Bryan get to me again. I am going to make decisions on my own henceforth.
“Get out!” I point to the door.
“Please, Celine. Listen to me…”
“So this is it? This is how you want to keep me here? Under the pretense that we actually got married and it wasn’t a fake one? What do you think of me? Do you think I would just jump into your arms just because we are actually married? I don’t care. I don’t f***ing care. If it is actually real, then let’s sign the divorce papers. Besides, I don’t even believe you one bit.”
He lowers his head, looking pathetic. This is something I have never seen in Bryan before and it stirs a thing in me. But my determined self isn’t ready to be shaken.
He isn’t saying anything so I point to the door.
“Get out!” I want to add please to it but I remember we are not civil with each other. We are bickering words at each other.
“This is my house”, he tries to sound as calmly as possible.
“Oh, really?!” I raise a questioning brow at him and shake my head. He is still the narcissist I know him to be.
Egoistic.
“Thanks for the reminder, boss. I will quietly leave your house now”, I nod dramatically before walking to the suitcase beside the wardrobe.
I grab it, feeling my uprising anger and gritting my teeth to calm my nerves.
“I didn’t mean it that way, Celine”, I hear Bryan’s voice behind me and I twirl back abruptly. Suddenly, I find his face inches away from mine, and his hot breath fans my face.
Unconsciously, I drop the suitcase. “I’m sorry, Celine. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I swear on you, I didn’t know what came over me. I had a nightmare and it felt like a part of my memory was erased from my head. I didn’t know we were…”
He trails off and I nod in understanding. That won’t stop me from leaving. I am still leaving.
Before I can do anything, Bryan holds my hand and drops to his knees. I try to wrench my hand free from his grip but his hold on me is stronger. His eyes are soft and he looks like someone who is about to cry.
I don’t want to feel sympathetic for him just like I used to.NôvelDrama.Org owns © this.
“I’m sorry, please forgive me. I promise I won’t hurt you, anymore. I promise to make up for all the hurts. Just give me a chance to prove myself to you. I’m sorry, Celine.”
“Please let go of me, Bryan”, I say stubbornly, not ready to let go. I am too angry to hear him out.
I am too hurt about this.
“Bryan, please leave this room now. I’m going and that’s final”, I affirm quickly and I turn around again and release my hands from his hold.
I bend to take the suitcase again, a wave of dizziness enveloping me. When I rise, Bryan is still on his knees. He stands up slowly and grabs me again.
“Let go of me”, I say, not looking at him.
“Give me a chance, please”, he begs but I don’t want to. Instead of replying to him, tears spring to my ears.
He takes a hold of my right hand and place it on his chest which is hammering hard within his ribcage.
My eyes grow wide and he smiles at me sadly.
His heart is beating fast. What meaning do I attribute to this? Is it beating fast because of me?
This is exactly how I always feel or how my heart beats whenever he is near me.
“Whether you believe it or not, this is how it has always been”, he confesses and I gasp, my mouth agape. “I have always felt this way for you ever since the first time we had sex. I don’t know what happened or how it happened but that sex changed everything. The night changed it all. It opened my eyes to a whole lot of things but I wasn’t ready to accept it for myself or even accept the fact that I feel this way for someone who isn’t Helena.”
“It was like a betrayal on my part towards Helena. I made a vow to her to remain celibate for life. I was disappointed in myself and the only person I could transfer my aggression to was you. You were the closest person to me. You were always there whenever I needed someone to vent my anger on. The more you showed me concern, the angrier I felt towards myself and the madder I became towards you.”
“I didn’t want Helena to haunt me. I didn’t want to go through the same pain as I felt when she died. It was traumatizing and I didn’t want something similar. I didn’t want fate to repeat itself again. You have no idea how bad it was for me, do you?”
I gulp loudly and finally close my mouth. Everything is happening fast. First, it was the fact that Bryan and I have been married for over five years when we thought it was a fake one and now he is confessing his feelings of love for me.
How is that even possible?
Bryan can not love. I thought he was beginning to when we had sex for the second time and we talked into the night but he disappointed me and made my assumptions wrong.
Bryan isn’t someone destined to love. He doesn’t love me. He must have made a mistake.
I am about to tell him he must be mistaken about his feelings for me when he pulls me closer to him with his hands around my waist and he takes my lips in a searing kiss.
It was slow at first and he didn’t hesitate to move his lips on mine immediately.
When I try to push him away again, even though I want him, I want more, his grip on me becomes stronger and the kiss becomes rough and a soft moan escapes my mouth.
This is when it dawns on me that Bryan isn’t one to express his feelings through words but through actions. He is pouring out all of his emotions into this kiss.
Without thinking, I open up for him to explore the insides of my mouth and I kiss him back.