4. Losing It

…

~RAYMOND~

Damnit! 

Did I mess up?

I wiped my face in frustration as I chugged down my final glass of beer. 

Blair confessed that she loves me. 

I can't believe it. 

I haven't been myself ever since she said those words, ‘I love you.’

She doesn’t mean them, does she?

What am I even doing here when I should be searching for her? 

It has been three days and she hasn't returned.

Ever since she left that morning, she never showed up again. I can't reach her on the phone because she left it at home.

Maybe I shouldn't have said those words.

But seeing what she did to Cassie, I completely lost it. 

Cassie has suffered a lot. 

Blair has always made her life difficult, yet, she does her best to please her. 

I can't fathom how a sibling will hate the other so much. 

“Dude, you haven't answered my question.” Daryl snapped his fingers, breaking me out of my thoughts. “What's beating you up? Damn, you look out of it.”

Music boomed from the ground floor, dimming some of his words.

I've come to the bar for solitude and also to clear my mind. 

But the more I think about her words, the more muddled my mind becomes.

“C’mon. You're not too excited because Cassie is back, right?” Daryl joked. “Or have you lost interest now that she's crippled?”

I glared at him. 

Cassie only had an accident that halted her modeling career.

Her legs will be fine in a few months. 

I'm not petty to lose interest in a lady because she's now in a wheelchair. Cassie is much more than a beautiful girl with nice curves to me. 

If it weren't for her, I wouldn't still be alive.

“Blair,” I murmured, pinching the space between my brows. “She confessed to me.”

Daryl's jaw dropped, and then he frowned. 

Thank goodness I'm not the only person who finds it strange. 

“You mean that crazy girl who loves bullying Cassie?” Daryl sipped his wine leisurely. “Now that's interesting.”

I sighed. 

It's chaotic. 

I was among the people Blair hated the most during high school. 

Because I hang out with Cassie sometimes, she would send me those threatening letters including everyone else in our circle. 

Everyone believed she was jealous of her sister's perfect life.

I've always laughed it off, finding it cute in fact. She was much younger than us but very rebellious.

But then, I lived with a completely different Blair after we signed the contract.

I was hesitant at first, but then, she was so calm and innocent.

Except for her clumsiness, she has no other defect. And that night, a few weeks ago…

Just a reminder of it has my heart racing. 

Blair didn't speak about it. I bet she is disappointed, and Damnit! I hate myself after that.

“Urgh! If only I can read minds.” Daryl groaned. “I'm kind of curious about these fluctuating expressions on your face. Don't tell me you've actually fallen for that.”

Have I?

Frowning, I shook my head. “I'm not stupid.”

“Great.” Daryl nodded. “Besides, you can't just cancel your engagement with Cassie.”

Right. 

All this might be Blair’s way of getting back at her sister.

She thinks Cassie is involved in her father's accident which is crazy. 

She doesn't love me. 

She wouldn't have confessed right after giving her sister two hard slaps. It was only to spite Cassie. 

My phone rang and I grabbed it from the table. 

Seeing the investigator’s name on the screen, I wonder if he has finally found Blair.

“Mr. Reece, someone saw her in Starlight Hotel. She's living with a man.”

My fingers gripped the phone instinctively. That's impossible.

“Are you sure?”

“Hundred percent. I'll send you evidence, Mr. Reece.”

After hanging up, I stared at the footages the investigator forwarded to me.

Inside the video, Blair was walking out of the hotel with a guy, holding hands. 

In another footage, they were eating at a nearby restaurant.

While the third footage shows her hugging the man.

So much for ‘I love you.’

“Haha!” Daryl laughed. “Isn't that Jeffery Reid? I remember him. He's that poor guy who thought he could beat us all. You taught him a lesson, remember?”

Jeffery Reid.

How can I ever forget him?

He made my high school life so interesting that if I had slacked off a bit, I'd fall behind him and face humiliation.

How did Blair know him?

What the hell are they doing in a hotel?

“Heard the guy became successful.” Daryl continued adding insult to injury. “I've also heard rumors that he and Blair, during our high school-”

I shot to my feet before Daryl spit more nonsense.

Has Blair forgotten that the contract hasn't ended?

Would she rather go and mess around with men outside?

What does she take me for? 

“Chillax, Dude… you aren't gonna break his bones, are you?” Daryl also stood up as I grabbed my car keys.

Funny how it's the same thing on my mind. 

Why do I suddenly have the desire to break his bones? 

“Who cares if they're having an affair?” Daryl shrugged. “She's only a girl from the countryside. She needs to survive in this city at least.”

Blair isn't that kind of person, is she? 

Shouldn't she wait until our marriage ends before she starts chasing other men?

“By the way-”

I glared in Daryl's direction before he spit more words. The more he speaks, the more I lose it.

What the hell is happening to me?