Scarlett’s POVI can’t answer Granny. I just stand there, watch Sebastian and Ava talk, laugh...hug. Granny, too. Quietly with no surprise. If Granny can accept Ava coming to her birthday, and showing her intimacy with Sebastian in public like this, then why would she even ask me that question?Ava IS the problem.“Is it because of Ava?” Granny suddenly asks, turning to face me.I pull my eyes back from the long, quiet, soulful hug Sebastian is sharing with her. He said he had the divorce papers ready. I guess I no longer have the right to judge. But it doesn’t mean the image is not stinging.I SHOULD be mad, when he pulls her into his arms like she is his most treasured precious, at a party he asked me to attend to “play the loving couple” one last time.But I’m not even mad. I just feel sad. A deep blue, overwhelming cloud of sadness flooded my world. At this moment, I do feel like the evil villain in a love story that separated a poor, loving couple, and yet their love is so strong
Scarlett’s POV“Your eyes are no longer following him around, and when they land on him, there is only a deep running sorrow in there. The worst finally happened...” Granny lets out a long sigh, “I didn’t want you to go through with the wedding because I didn’t want this for you, my poor poor child, I didn’t want you to get hurt so badly that the precious light in your eyes would dim...I guess in the end, I still failed to protect you.”“Granny...!” I murmur in shock. I never knew! Granny does see through everything, and to think we thought we were successful in tricking her.“He hurt you bad this time, didn’t he?” Granny asks me coldly, this time the coldness is directed at Sebastian.Somehow that warms me up more than anything.She is Sebastian’s family first, and she won’t even be mine if I didn't blackmail her grandson. Yet when things went wrong, she took my side without even a question. No family has ever done that for me.But Sebastian’s and my issue is not that simple. There is
Scarlett’s POVThe rest of the party went through smoothly.Sebastian lured me here with the divorcing papers, but I don’t know if I could count on his words when Ava is here to occupy his attention. But after I sent Granny off at the gate, I found not only Sebastian, but another unexpected surprise waiting for me there, too.“She’s not going with you,” Sebastian fires at Adrian the first thing after Granny’s car leaves.Why would Adrian even do that?? He is such a baby!“That’s her decision,” Adrian smirks. Compared to Sebastian’s sullen grumble, Adrian seems charmingly at ease, “even if you still are her husband...technically.”Okay, two babies.“I’m going with--” I try to explain, but Adrian curves his lips--“Miss Dawson and Miss Grey didn’t want to drag you to another taxi ride, and they trusted me with your safety after I got them a taxi a few minutes ago.”Did Aurora just abandon me to my new boss?! Seriously?!“I mean, I really appreciate that, Mr. Dunn, but--”“Also, we do nee
Sebastian’s POVI can barely recognize the woman I married in this new Scarlett.I feel like I killed that fierce girl, somehow.I never knew she could be so hard to talk to. Everything I say she has something sour waiting for me. I thought she wasn’t friendly with Ava, I was sourly mistaken. She proved that she could be a thousand times meaner to Ava if she wanted to.And what shocks me the most is, I can’t feel the burning anger that would got me to sign on those papers that I used to feel all the time.“Ava, please, can you go with Alfred today?” I pull my phone out to call Alfred. I don’t have the energy to deal with the both of them altogether today. I do not like it when I was forced into the marriage, and I would hate it if I’m forced out of it also.And Adrian is not helping. He is not the right man for Scar.Maybe it's just men’s ridiculous ego clouding my judgment. But I just don’t want to let him have Scarlett. I hate the idea of him touching her, or any man, to be honest.I
Scarlett’s POVIt’s a bit ridiculous to hear Ava accusing Sebastian of loving me, but in some way, I know where she’s coming from.Sebastian has always loved her, but she was far from his only girl.Ava is one year older than me and three years younger than Sebastion. To a teenager, three years is a long gap. For a very long time, Sebastian only saw Ava as a little sister that he wanted to protect, not a lover. I know because he had his share of girlfriends throughout highschool, even college.It wasn’t until I married him that I got to know: Sebastian broke up with those girls, often at Ava’s request.Apparently his girlfriends tend to grow a habit of bullying Ava. Being Ava’s “biggest bully”, I don’t know how much of those stories are true.I feel sorry for those girls dating a guy who doesn’t have a whole heart to give, but who am I feeling pity for? I chose myself a guy who had no sherd of his heart to spare for me.Still, even if Ava framed them on purpose, I sort of understand --
Sebastian’s POVShe doesn’t love me now. Still having a hard time getting used to it, but I can’t deny that anymore.It’s not supposed to be like this, but I feel like I lost something precious. How could you feel bad for losing something you never wanted in the first place? How is that fair?! I didn’t want it, but she forced her love into my hand, and now she is taking it back, still by force. I never had a chance to make a decision in this.Never in my life, have I ever felt what “unreachable desire” is until now.I never knew what I had until it was lost. But it was gone too fast. One second, it was as solid as the ground under my feet, and the next second it was just gone. How could someone shut down their love, so firm and decisive?She didn’t just take care of our house, she built a home for us. When I “go home”, she should be there. With a smile, in a lingerie, cooking. Anything. It was a place where no problem could penetrate, where I could rest and refresh for the next day. Sh
Scarlett’s POVI would have given everything for such a speech from him, five years ago.Hell. I did give everything, when I asked for exactly what he is offering me today. If only he had been less cruel to me anywhere in the past five years; if only he believed Granny and did not let his emotion cloud his judgment. But life has no “if only”. I’m not there anymore. I’m not excited, or happy. I’m just tired.I just want to live my own life without them keep on hurting me.I can’t go back, not for Granny’s wish, not for my coming baby, not for a Sebastian who still doesn’t see me.He still doesn’t know that it was me who he saved in the woods, not Ava.I only found out about this misunderstanding five years ago. When Ava came bragging to me with a recording of Sebastian saying the three scared words to her, promising that he would have no one but her as his wife in this lifetime.In the video, Sebastian looked into Ava’s eyes, and said that all he wanted to do was to protect the little g
Scarlett’s POVI turn to Adrian Dunn, and instantly Sebastian hastes: “Don’t go with him, please!”“I’m sorry I forced your hand five years ago,” Magically, I find myself able to talk to him with peace now, “But we both know you couldn’t have married Ava back then even if I didn’t. So, call it even? Now that Ava is cured, and Granny has given her the approval, too. You can go ahead and do what you want this time. Just...”I feel bad not telling him the truth, but I don’t want him to know about the mistake now. It would only drag on the tie between us that I no longer want, and it would ruin my only good memory of him.“Just, make sure this time it’s what you want...please.”I suddenly understood what Granny meant when she said she could only save him once. I could only save him once. He tries to marry Ava this time, I won’t be there to “speak up”.If Sebastian was going to say anything at all, he wouldn’t now, not with Adrian Dunn’s presence. He raises the folder slowly, reluctance wri