Chapter 77

Daniel.

On hearing Bella mention that she had feelings for me, it felt as though my entire world had lit up, and nothing else mattered at the moment, besides finding a way to get her to come to terms with her feelings, and accept me as a part of her life.

I wanted her to be a part of my life, and the only way I could show her how desperate I was to have her in my life, was by baring it all to her, and telling her everything she wanted to know without having to hold back.

“So, you want me to be completely honest about my past relationship?” she asked.

I sighed. “When it comes to you, Bella, your past relationship isn’t the only thing I’m curious about. I want to know everything there is to know about you, but I understand that opening up about things as deep, and as personal as your love life, family life, and everything else may be difficult for you. Which is why, I’m offering to be the one that says it all. I’ll answer all your questions, whatever they may be.”

I was willing to listen to whatever she had to say, and I was also more than willing to answer whatever questions she wanted to ask.

“And why would you do that, Daniel? I mean, I admit I have a few things that I’m curious about when it comes to you but, just because you have feelings for me doesn’t mean you owe me details to your personal life. That should be reserved for someone who is ready and willing to open up to you wholeheartedly,” she replied, and despite the fact that her words seemed to be pushing me away, I could sense that she wasn’t being genuine.

“Just because you haven’t accepted me completely doesn’t mean I can’t choose to be completely honest with you, Bella. If you’re thinking that my honesty is me trying to get you to talk to me about yourself, well, rest assured that I’m fine with you deciding to keep things to yourself. I’m willing to wait until you’re ready to bare it all with me, but in my case, I’m already at that place where I want to tell you everything, everything that you need, and want to know,” I told her, staring directly into her eyes, and hoping she would see how sincere I was being.

"Well, Daniel, now that you're telling me I can ask whatever question I want to know, there's something I've been curious about for a while now, and I want to know if you can be honest with me," she started.

"Ask whatever it is you want to ask, Bella. I promise to be honest with you," I assured her.

"Why exactly do you hate Christina so much? I mean, your family seems to think she's the perfect match for you, and even though I've seen firsthand that she has a nasty attitude, her reputation publicly seems good. So what is it she did so wrong that made you so against marrying her?" she asked.

I let out a deep sigh, bracing myself for the story I was about to share. It was a subject I hadn't spoken about in years, but since I wanted Bella to know everything about me, I knew I had to talk about it.

"Well, as much as I don't like to use the word hate, I have to admit that with Christina, it's really not easy to avoid using that word. I absolutely detest that woman, and there are a few good reasons why I can't even think of being with her,"

Bella looked at me curiously. "Like what?" she inquired.

I hesitated for a moment before speaking up. "For starters, I've always seen Christina as a younger sister. Since we got to know each other, she was like a sister to me, and I cared about it. But there's more to it than that. About three years ago, she betrayed me in the worst possible way, and since then, I haven't been able to see her in the same light," I started, trying to suppress the anger I felt as the memories flooded my mind again.

Bella looked at me with concern. "What do you mean? What did she do to betray you?" she asked.

I took a deep breath before launching into the story. "It was the day of my wedding. My ex-fiancee and I were supposed to walk down the aisle, but on the morning of our wedding, she walked into my room and saw me lying in bed with Christina completely passed out. Of course, when I woke and realized what had happened, I tried to tell her that I didn't understand what was happening and that nothing went on between us, but she refused to believe me. She called off the wedding, and that was how the day that was supposed to be my happiest day became my worst day," I explained.

Bella's eyes widened in shock. "Oh my gosh, Daniel, that's terrible."

"It gets worse," I said grimly. "After trying so hard to beg Rebecca and get her to forgive me to no avail, I ended up finding out that Christina had set me up. She drugged me and made it look like we had slept together, all in an elaborate scheme to ruin my wedding day. When I found she had done all that, I cut her off and haven't spoken to her since," I explained, recalling how betrayed I had felt on finding out that Christina had done such a thing to me.

Bella stayed quiet for a moment before speaking up again. "That's awful. Didn't you get the chance to talk to your ex-fiancee about what really happened? Did you explain this to her?" she asked.

I shook my head. "No, I didn't even get a chance to see her because she had blocked me everywhere and restricted me from having access to her. And by the time I managed to reach out to her, she had already moved on and agreed to marry someone else that her family had chosen for her." I answered.

As much as I have told myself that I moved on from the situation, talking about it still brought back negative memories that I'd rather forget.

And as if sensing that I was getting emotional, Bella wrapped her arms around me, giving me a compassionate hug.

"I'm so sorry, Daniel. That must have been really hard for you."

I felt a sudden sense of relief at her words. It was good to have someone to talk to about this, someone who I hoped understood my pain and someone I wanted to be able to share everything with.

"It was," I said softly. "It was the betrayal and the fact that Christina went to such great lengths to hurt me that I can never forget, much less forgive."

Bella looked at me sympathetically. "I understand, Daniel. You have every right to feel that way."

I nodded, feeling grateful for her support. "There's actually one more thing that bothers me about all of this. It's that my father knows about it but still insists that I marry Christina. It just doesn't make any sense to me that he'd be so selfish, and cruel to me after everything."

Bella looked at me incredulously. "Your father knows what happened? How could he still expect you to be with someone who did that to you?"

I shrugged helplessly. "I don't know. He thinks Christina is the perfect match for our family, and he doesn't seem to care about my feelings on the matter. He has always been selfish and insane, but to think he is this insane, is definitely beyond me," I replied, still shocked by how shameless and crazy my father was being.

“Well, I also have my own story, and it might be a little similar to yours in a way,” Bella mentioned suddenly, immediately piquing my interest.

“What do you mean?” I asked, wondering if I was really about to hear Bella talk about her past relationship.

“I was also supposed to get married about eight months ago, but a night before my wedding, I secretly followed my boyfriend to an hotel, and that was when I found out that he wasn’t who I thought he was,” she explained, and on hearing her mention the timeframe, and the word 'hotel,' my mind immediately went back to the first time I met her.

“What do you mean he wasn’t who you thought he was?” I asked.

She sighed. “Turns out that my boyfriend of three years was a gay man, who tried to use hide his sexuality from his family, by using me as a cover-up, and marrying me in order to protect himself,” she explained, and I immediately could not believe my ears.