Chapter 31 Who Is Hazel To Ethan?

Chapter 31 Who Is Hazel To Ethan?
Tears gathered in her eyes and she could not stop them streaming down.

Ethan looked down at his wife when he felt hot liquid trickling on his bare chest.

"Why are you crying?" He anxiously asked while he wiped her tears. "Did I hurt you?" He was a bit rough when he took her as he lost it.

"No," all she managed to say as she sobbed.

"Why are you crying then?" The sound of her soft sobbing was like a knife that cut through his heart.

"Moriah, please tell me," pacifying her, he stroked her back.

"Who who is - is she to you?" She said in bouts of her sobs.

"Who?"

"Hazel," she whispered.

A war waging inside her whether she should or not ask about his relationship with Hazel. But she refused this issue to remain there between them, a huge elephant in the room.

Moriah heard Ethan sighed after a long silence.

"Remember the time I left after our wedding?" he asked and Moriah nodded.

"There was a huge problem in our company in Canada. I was supposed to fly to Canada the night we got married, but I postponed it."

Ethan planned not to attend Shaun's and Moriah's wedding, he couldn't bear to see that he had forever completely lost her.

His flight to Canada was already scheduled a day before Shaun's and Moriah's wedding. He also planned to stay in Canada a year or so until he completely recovered and moved on.

However, considering that it was unbecoming of him if he was absent during his best friend's wedding. Moreover, the wedding was held in his estate.

Though his heart was utterly broken, he soldiered on and graced the wedding of his beloved woman with his presence. So, instead of flying before his best friend's wedding he rescheduled his flight and he would fly to Canada after the wedding.

He didn't expect that Shaun would leave Moriah at the altar. There was no hint from Shaun that he was having cold feet.

He was glad that he bravely attended the wedding and was early as he had time to ask Moriah's hand from her father when Shaun jilted her at the altar.

The woman he had always loved from afar and dreamed to hold until his last breath was finally his, except that she didn't love him. Well, actually, she loathes him so much.

"When I received the call from Honey, one of the executives, telling me that my presence was badly needed. It was really an urgent matter," guilt gnawed his heart knowing that he hurt her for leaving her just like that.

"I'm sorry that I left you without speaking to you about it." He desired to be one that drives her pain away, not the one that brings about it.

"The time we were dealing about the problem an assassin attacked me, but Hazel took the stab for me,"

"What?" Moriah shuddered at the thought that she nearly lost him.

Ethan was moved when Moriah hugged him tightly upon hearing that he almost died. A sliver of hope rose in his chest. He saw the light at the end of the dark tunnel.

Maybe, the hatred she had for him was beginning to fade away. And he hoped that she would love him back.

"She was one of the receptionists in the company and she spotted a man tailing me when I was about to leave the building but she shielded me. She almost died because of me. She was in a coma for a month. I'm indebted to her so when she woke up I took care of her," Ethan felt Moriah flinched at his last sentence.

He pinched her chin and lifted it, "Look at me..." his blue orbs imprisoned her green orbs, "I took care of her in the sense that I paid for her bills and gave her material things. And promoted her as my secretary. She isn't my mistress," he tilted his head to kiss her; however, Moriah buried her face in his chest.

"Do you believe me?" He shut his eyes when there was no response from her.

If his mom was having a hard time believing his explanation. Why would he expect his wife to believe him so easily, when she knew nothing about him except his being a jerk.

"Aren't we leaving yet?" Moriah spoke after a long silence.

"Let's have a shower toge -,"

"No!" Moriah objected, pulled the sheet, hurriedly wrapped herself, and scampered to the bathroom.

While travelling to Manchester, unthinkingly, Moriah, to allay the uneasiness, tried to start a conversation but was immediately aware of the pointlessness of the gesture.

Before the words had even properly formed, they already died in her throat. That led her to fidget her wedding band and after a few minutes of being like a cat on a hot tin roof, she jumped when his warm hand closed over her fingers.

"Are you alright?" Ethan sensed her uneasiness.

She looked at him for a long time, unable to form what to tell him.

"Come here," Ethan pulled her close to him, caging her in his strong arms and softly said, "I want you to talk to me and tell me what's in your mind."

Ethan kissed her temple when she remained silent. "Tell me."

"Will you promise me, you won't leave me again when you're mad?" Something vague flickered in her eyes that Ethan couldn't decipher.

"You miss me that much when I'm away? Do you?" He teased her, he never teased any of the women he dated nor did he do that to any woman around him.

"Of course not," she looked away and trained her eyes on the roadside, scared that her eyes would give her away.

"Alright, I promise, I won't leave you," he raised his hand.

"You better do what you promised, if you fail to do so, I'm going to leave you," she whispered.

Moriah thought he didn't hear her, but was startled when he practically exploded. "Don't ever dare say that again. No divorce and you're not leaving!"

She winced, understanding how he must have felt her threat to leave him.

"I'm sorry," she murmured softly before nodding her head down.

For nearly two hours the car was in complete silence. The thickness of the silence in the car is suffocating both Moriah and Ethan. Nevertheless, no one was brave enough to break the silence.

"Sir, we're here," the chauffeur announced which finally broke the silence.

Ethan didn't wait for the chauffeur to open the door for him. He immediately got out of the car. Moriah opened the door at her side and disembarked the car.

"Stay in a hotel near here as we are going to leave tomorrow," Ethan instructed the chauffeur.

"Yes, sir," he answered politely and went to get their luggage.

"Did you tell baba and mama that we are coming to visit them?" Ethan was baffled that his in-laws were not there to welcome them.

"I didn't," Moriah answered as she hugged her body.

He was right, she didn't tell her parents that they were coming.

"Are you cold?" He inched forward, closing the distance between them.

"Mm," she nodded.

"Let's go inside," he wrapped his arm on her shoulder and led her inside. As they climbed the stairs, Ethan's hand slid to her arm and held her waist. Her already red cheeks because of the biting cold air became more vivid.