Scarlett’s POV
Aurora still took me to the airport. But she wouldn’t give me my ticket.
Stuffed a cup of hot cocoa in my hands, she glares at me across McDonald’s tiny table like a fierce mom judging her truant kid.
“I JUST found out today--” I start timidly and instantly she retorts--
“Yeah, you said that!”
It’s not like I planned any of this. I drop my eyes to my cocoa, can’t look at her. She’s mad, and I know why.
She’s from a rich family. Beautiful, popular, two-meter-long legs, etc. But she wasn’t born rich. She watched her single mom work her ass off raising her, hating her irresponsible father her whole life, only to find out that he didn’t leave them, like what her mom told her. Her mom brought forward the breakup.
She is seeing me doing exactly the same thing.
“I won’t teach the baby to hate him...” I mumble, not dare look at the anger on her face. I know how much she has been through.
“That’s not all!” Aurora shoots me a death stare, firing like a machine gun, “My mom lied to me, yes, but that’s because my dad did cheat on her. But he also loved me, and it hurts to only know that he suffered a dozen years thinking I hated him while I thought the same, and it hurts when it blew out and I shouted at my mom, and it hurts to know she has given me her everything and more...it’s just very, very complicated. You have no idea how hard it was for her to start her own company, and I watched, every bit of her pain!”
I let her finish her rant, I have seen her words happening to her, and I know it still hurts.
Aurora lets out a long sigh, “Scar, it’s not easy, raising a baby by yourself.”
“You are the lucky one, Aurora,” I wish I could listen to her, but my case is different, “but what if your father hated you? YOU went to him, remember how nervous you were?”
She is silenced.
It was the last semester of our 8th grade. Making that decision took her weeks. The teacher suspected that her best student was getting into a toxic relationship, seeing how off she was.
“Is there really no chance with you two? I still can’t believe you did it...” Aurora grumbles, reluctant to accept the reality, “What happened this time? It’s not like he wasn’t a jerk before...?”
What happened? Not much. I just walked in on my husband kissing my sister. They might have been doing it all along, but seeing it is still different.
“Doesn’t matter now,” I close my eyes, shaking my head to get him out of it, “He doesn’t love me, and now the love of his life is all healed. They will be together, and I’ll be free of them. That’s the plan.”
“Uh-huh, good plan,” Aurora shoots death stares at me, “don’t mind me asking but, where is the baby in your perfect plan?”
I return her a deadpan. The baby wasn’t there when I came up with this plan. But then again, Sebastian already made it clear that it wouldn’t change anything anyway.
“You don’t have to stay in a marriage for a baby, but you still should tell him,” Aurora says, huffing angrily as she rants, “Ughhh, why do I have to defend that jerk?! Look what you made me do!”
Only she would trash a powerful billionaire in the city for a notorious me.
Aurora pushes the flight ticket to me, pressing it down with one finger, and in her other hand lies my phone: “Tell him, and no matter his attitude, you can leave knowing you did everything you could.”
Tell him that I’m leaving with a baby he doesn’t want, a baby with his blood that would ruin his chance with Ava? On the day where he sees the first shine of hope to be with his beloved?
Even for me, that’s too cruel.
“He deserves to know,” Aurora just says.
Hesitating, I take the phone.
“What?” Aurora opens her eyes wide when I put it down.
“I texted him,”
“Texted?!” Aurora rolls her eyes, “He is your husband, and you TEXT? For a news like this?!” She grabs my phone in fury and I let her.
I’m tired. Tired of seeing hatred in the eyes I love. Tired of hearing the coldness in the voice that once brought me warmth.
“Seriously?! This is all you can do?” Aurora presses my phone to my face.
[I’m at the airport. Say the word and I won’t leave.]
“If there are even the slightest feelings for me in his heart,” I look at Aurora, “just one word to tell me he is okay with me staying NEAR his life, even if divorced, I’ll fight for him, for the baby, for everything and anything. But if not, then...”
Then what’s the point of torturing everyone with an innocent baby?
[Attention all passengers, this is the final boarding call...]
For a whole hour, we waited, only to hear the call for boarding repeated to the last one. Aurora’s look turns sadder and sadder. Strangely, mine remains calm. I’m used to disappointment.
Or. I didn’t get my hopes up this time.
My phone rings, cutting Aurora off. She nudges me excitedly, but it’s not a call from him.
[Mr. Fuller calling...] Three words glowing coldly on my screen. My heart freezes. I don’t want to pick up.
“Hello,” I hear my own cold voice.
“Your mom is hurt. Come home.” With a colder voice, he hangs up before I could.
Scarlett's POV“What was that?” Aurora blinks. My one-sentence phone call amazes her.I grip my phone, for the second time today, struggling with my plan. I just want to stop being hurt. Is it too much to ask? I close my eyes. A part of me wants to just grab the ticket and leave, letting the world burn behind me.But I can’t. If mom needs a blood transfusion, I need to be there. That’s what I’m in this family for. Their blood vessel.Please, lord, please tell me this phone call has nothing to do with my message to Sebastian.Between Mom really is injured, and Sebastian selling me out... I’m not sure which I hope is the situation.“I guess I’m not leaving today after all,” I let out a sigh, mumbling to Aurora, “I’m really sorry but...I need you to take me back.”“That’s great!” Aurora throws herself into me with genuine happiness in her voice, “That was him? What did he say? Is that always how you call each other?”With Mr. Fuller? Yes.My “dad”, never loved me. He had a deep flow of h
Sebastian’s POVI didn’t reply to Scar’s message. She would never leave. She just manipulates with threats like this.I might have spent too much time on Ava recently, and Scar is throwing a tantrum. She should understand that it’s a life on the line, even if that life belongs to the sister she hates.Not that I don’t understand Scar. I do. Being the healthy one, she is jealous of all the extra attention Ava is getting. That’s why she is the problem child. Always rebellious but proud, acting indifferent but begging for love. She is always looking for attention, with sour messages, tears, or a divorce.I didn’t think she would really give me a signed one. Think of the catastrophe if I dared to really go through with it.Surely enough, Scar came back.No longer with that half-empty suitcase either. I guess her show ends tonight.After all, today we got the best result on Ava’s blood platelet, almost reaching normal level. Today is the day Ava finally gets to live a normal life.“For a m
Scarlett's POVSitting on the cold floor, I realize I made my judgment too early.I thought my life used to be a living hell. How wrong was I. Though everyone treated me horribly, never did they lay a finger on me. After all, I was the precious blood vessel for the fragile Ava. They couldn’t afford to lose me.But not anymore.I palm my face, looking up slowly at the man I once called father, only to realize the coldness in his eyes: I’m still the blood vessel, just not “precious” anymore. I’m now a nice-to-have.After all, Ava is all but healed now.They won’t toss me away because I might still have value. What do they have to lose if I don’t get my chance of a normal life?For that slight “might”, I can’t have my freedom. I’m not allowed to leave the city and have my own life. They don’t care if my heart would be broken a million times every day here, seeing Sebastian with Ava. They don’t care that I might also need love, from somewhere, anywhere.And they can afford to physically hu
Sebastian’s POVThere are broken shards everywhere on the floor. I dare not put down Ava. Her blood platelet might have reached a normal level now, but no one dares to test if the monster that’s been haunting her is still lurking nearby.The last time Ava needed blood from Scar was because of a paper cut, literally. One that Scar caused no less.“...Please?” Scar mumbles when she walks over to me, not looking at me.“I can’t put her down, you know why.”Scar snorts coldly, finally looking up from under her messy hair. Jack must have slapped her really hard, to mess up her hair like that, as well as leaving a scarlet red palm print on her cheek.“Excuse me,” Scar says with a clear but cold tone that I’m not familiar with, “coming through.”I stopped Ava by the door.I frown, hating the sarcasm in Scar’s eyes. She knows why I misunderstood and she is mocking me for it. Every time I even just stood close to Ava she would come up and break us apart.“Where are you going?!” Jack yells behi
Sebastian’s POVI know how sensitive Ava is about her condition. To beg the sister she doesn’t like to save her life, over and over again. That’s why when Scar used that to force my hand, Ava started having real hatred in her eyes toward Scar.“Of course you can say that,” Scar spats at Ava viciously, “you can take the high road all you want, because your army will tie me to the table and drain my blood for you if they need to.”“Scarlett Fuller!” I warn her, and Ava raises her hand again. I dodge to the side so Ava can’t reach Scar, but Scar catches Ava’s arm at the same time. It all happens so fast, and Ava bursts into a painful shout. I have to push Scar away.Scar falls to the ground, her hand pressed on a sharp shard. I see.I didn’t even use too much force. I did push her, but the fall was mostly her way of making me feel bad. I want to put Ava down, but she wouldn’t care about the shards in the room and she would definitely hurt herself.“I’m sorry,” I can only apologize with w
Sebastian’s POVScar shakes her head slowly, throwing her disappointment into my face: “So, she DOES know.”Does she have trouble understanding English? That’s not what I meant!“Saying you want me gone, and yet you report me to your daddy,” Scar sneers at Ava with pure viciousness in her voice, “I guess between your loving Romeo and my blood, you still want the latter just a tiny bit more, huh?”I can understand why Ava would hate her. I want to seal those poisonous lips too at moments like this.“You took him from me!” Ava bursts into a hysterical cry, “You did! You took him! He was mine! We were meant to be together!”“Okay,” Scar is calm while smiling at Ava, too calm for me to recognize. The red palm prints on her cheek adds a touch of seductive fragileness to her, “If you beg your daddy to let me go, I will divorce him, today.”I roll my eyes with a huff.She is just playing Ava, but Ava would fall for it. I would have married Ava even if I couldn’t cure her.Ava cries harder.“
Sebastian's POVI felt that something was off with her, now I know.It’s her loving eyes. She has been looking at me with obvious love in those eyes even before we were old enough to understand what love is, and she never hides that.That love was still there even this morning, when she gave me the divorce papers. But now, that lively light is gone.I could barely recognize her without it.I feel like I lost something important. It’s not supposed to be this way.Her love has always been a bother to me. If she didn’t love me, she wouldn’t have blackmailed me, and I wouldn’t have hated her. I wouldn’t have been locked into a marriage I didn’t want, and I would have been with Ava!If she didn’t love me, none of this would have happened. She would save Ava just like the sister she should be, and I would have been with Ava, just like how I wanted since the first time I met her.But she did give her love to me. She gave it, and now she is taking it back. And I feel at a loss.It’s not fair.
Scarlett’s POVCrushing at Aurora’s place, I slept - more like, blacked out - for three whole days due to a low fever after that horrible fallout with my, well, ex-family.I no longer have a home.Of course, Sebastian didn’t reach out. Surprisingly though, nor did the divorce papers that he said I could expect in two to three days.“Back to life, sleeping beauty?” A big smile crawls onto Aurora’s face when she comes in with a glass in her hand, “How do you feel?”Numb. So, better than most days.“Ginger honey water,” Aurora settles down by my side as I rub my face to try to wake up more, “It helps with the fever. No argument.”I hate ginger, she knows! But I also know I can’t afford to joke with my body, now more than ever. I have a little thing in my womb to take care of.“I guess that means you are keeping the baby?” Aurora’s eyes land on my belly, where I’m stroking subconsciously.“Ohh, I didn’t know I had a choice,” I roll my eyes at her.“We can find you a state that allows--”“N