Chapter 23

The news spread like a bombshell.

Ethan left to work early in the morning before I even got the chance to meet him, so we couldn’t talk about how people took the news.

All I knew about was a million likes and comments the post got on Instagram, and how our pictures were displayed on almost every website.

Without my consent or knowledge, Ethan also uploaded a picture of me in high school which showed my tattoo along with the one taken yesterday. The news that we’ve been supposedly dating for seven years now was given proof.

I also received thousands of messages from our friends, especially from Jen who almost had a fit knowing about our little stunt last night.

I have ignored Jess’s calls for a long time, but I had to talk to her at one point. She sounded mad but she was also pleased with the outcome. I’m not sure about all but a lot of people now believe that our love is real. I think the fact that I’ve had the tattoo for seven years now proofs that we were together all the while.

But I couldn’t answer my own question about what that tattoo was doing on my back for so long after we broke up. That is one of the things I can’t answer myself.

Following the response that we got from the media, Jess suggested one of her very crappy ideas. Since I didn’t have to cover my back now, she suggested I proudly wear a backless dress with my hair tied up in a chignon.

That’s what I did.

I sat in my car in the back seat whilst wearing the backless white dress, tapping my foot against the seat before me.

“I think we should get going now, ma’am.” The driver suggested.

I heaved a sigh of frustration and clamped my eyes close. This was the day that is supposedly very important and special to me.

Today is the movie premiere. And it was totally not what I expected it to be.

Since I have a husband now, I’m expected to make an appearance with Ethan. But I haven’t spoken to him all day.

I left millions of messages and calls, but I got no reply from him. I called his office, but they kept dodging me from having a valid reason for his absence.

It was getting on my nerves. I’m expected to be there in the next ten minutes. And I don’t know what to do.

Tears almost formed Inn my eyes when I realized how helpless I was. Why was this happening to me? I thought Ethan was a little more mature and cared about me.

I called Jess.

“Where the hell are you?” She asked in a hurry.

“You should ask that to my husband,” I replied.

“Dammit, he isn’t there yet?”

“No,” I said. “And he still didn’t call me back.”

“Let him go to hell,” Jess said. “This is important, Skylar. You can leave him and come here.”

“That would only just raise more speculations,” I said. “People think we’re in love. The husband makes time for his wife if he’s in love with her.”

“Don’t care about what people think,” Jess said. “This is an important night for you, Skylar. Don’t ruin it for him. I’ll cover up for you.”

“You can’t cover up, Jess. That’s not easy.”

“Then what are you planning to do?”

“I’ll skip it. At least then we can say I was sick, and Ethan couldn’t show up because he was taking care of me.”

“Don’t be stupid, Skylar. You can’t miss out on your premiere.”

“I can. I don’t have a choice.” I said, sighing.

Without listening to what she had to say, I cut the call. I sighed and glanced at the driver.

“You can go home now. I’m going up.”

He looked back in surprise. “The premiere.”

“I’m not going. You can take my pass if you want to watch it.” I said and tossed a few passes in his way and got out.

I wiped the strands of hair from my face and made my way to my room. I was frozen on my step when camera flashes showed on my face.

I stumbled back when I noticed the reporters and the media at the entrance. I suddenly started to sweat in confusion.

What am I going to do now? I don’t have any bodyguards to control them.

I felt helpless all over again. What am I supposed to do? Tears formed in my eyes in frustration. It was too much for me to handle in one day. Everything was overwhelming and I’m all alone!

Before the media could reach me, few men in black suits stopped them. A chill ran down my spine when someone placed their hand on my waist. The adrenaline rush crept through my body as I looked up to find him staring at the media.

“Ethan.” I almost sighed in relief.

“Get inside. I’ll take care of it.” He said as a car came to stop beside me. He opened the door and assisted me inside.

I got into it and watched as he closed the door and headed to the media. He spoke for a good five minutes before he waved them goodbye and walked towards me. I scooted inside and gave him a place to sit.

His face revealed almost nothing, except the fact that he wasn’t in his cool mood. His expression was stern with a frown on his forehead. When he noticed my stare, he looked to my side.

“Are you alright?” He asked, his frown smoothing from his forehead.

I didn’t answer his question. “Where were you?”

He broke the gaze and turned to look outside the window. “I had work.”

“Then what are you doing here now?” I asked, mocking him.

He looked at me again, but this time, his expression wasn’t soft. “I’m here to watch the premiere with you. I couldn’t skip it.”

“You can go back to the office. It doesn’t matter to me if you go with me.” I said, being absolutely blunt and showing my anger in every word I spoke.

“I’d love to go back but that won’t do any good to any of us.” He said, giving me one of his stern looks.

Although my words deserved the equally blunt reply, I somehow was surprised to hear him speak like that. I hoped he would be a little soft with me and try to make an attempt of apologizing to me for what he did. But nothing of that sort happened.

I spoke no further and just sat silently in the quietness. None of us broke the ice until we reached the venue.

The chauffeur jumped out of the car and rushed to open the door to Ethan’s side. Ethan cleared his throat and got out and offered his hand for me to take.

I didn’t have the time to hesitate, so I stepped out with my hand in his. I flashed them a wide smile and walked inside. We were already running late so we couldn’t answer any questions.

We just posed for a minute and left.

I bumped into Jen on the way. “Thank god you’re here. We were waiting for you for so long!”

“Shall we go now, we’re late already.” I heard Drake’s voice.

I turned to him and pinned him with an accusing look. “Where’s your date?”

“Right here.” Lucy walked from behind him and smiled at me.

My jaw dropped as I looked at them. Okay... I totally didn’t expect this. I looked at Jen and her expression were almost similar to mine. We exchanged knowing looks and decided to leave the matter for some time later.

***

I couldn’t make it to the after-party.

I loved watching the movie not because it was my own, but because it genuinely felt good. But I also can’t trust my own opinion on this because my mind can be biased in a situation like this.

But I loved watching Zac on screen more than I liked watching myself. I also noticed how my friends paid attention throughout the movie and how appreciative they were after the movie was over. The movie had a sad ending where I end up dying, the whole purpose was to make the movie lasting in everyone’s mind. I think it went pretty well as most of the audience left the theatre with teary eyes.

Everything went well, except for the part where Ethan and I were pulled to a side by the media to answer some of their questions. Ethan helped me throughout the interview as they asked about my tattoo and our relationship which was seven years old supposedly.

“How was the movie?” Asked one of the reporters, putting the microphone towards Ethan.

He grinned and planted a kiss on my forehead. “It was just like how I expected it to be - brilliant. I knew this would be a great movie because we both loved the script and Skylar put in a lot of effort for it. She believed that it will be a huge success and I can’t wait for the movie to hit the cinemas.”

I looked away when he was speaking about, appreciating my works as there seemed no sincerity in his words. He spoke nothing to me after he watched the movie although he was very enthusiastic to find Zac and congratulate him on the terrific performance. Not that I didn’t see that coming, but still yearned for him to at least speak something about me. It was pure disappointment that he has given me and all the appraisal that I got from the others just vanished.

We headed back home in silence. We made absolutely no noise as we comfortably changed and headed to the bed. Before we could, Ethan broke the ice.

“There’s a fundraiser that we got to attend tomorrow,” Ethan said. “Be ready by 7.”

“I’m busy tomorrow,” I said, ignoring his gaze on me.

“Cancel all your plans. This is more important.”

I gave him an incredulous look, “You can’t tell me what’s important to me. I have a career to take care of.”

“A career no one gives a damn about?” He said, sarcasm dripping from his core.

I gave him a stern look, but that didn’t remove the wicked look out of his face, nor did it manage to bring out some remorseful look on his face. I brought my hand up and slapped him.

Ethan stumbled back a step with the impact. He looked up with a murderous look on his face, and for a tiny moment, I let his expression scare me.

“What do you think of yourself?” He asked me, as he took my wrist and pinned it behind me.

I grimaced, “Let me go.”

“You don’t get to keep hitting me and expect me to not do anything.”

“What would you do?” I asked him. “Apart from abandoning me to a bunch of guys and trust some dick head over me?”

“Do not drag Jake into this-”

“Of course I will.” I huffed out. “I will also drag Luke into this. And even his wreck of a daughter. And the commotion she created to bring the old misery back to my life that I, fortunately, got rid of seven years ago.”

“Misery, you say. That’s what I meant to you seven years ago?” He asked as his face fell.

“Yes,” I said, giving him a glare. “Nothing more. nothing less.”

“I thought maybe you deserved a better treatment this time because I thought you were in love back then, just like how I was.”

“Don’t you dare say you were in love,” I said. “You wouldn’t have done that to Nick if you loved me and cared about me.”

“I did everything I could to stop that from happening,” he said. “If only you gave me the chance to explain.”

“You trusted Jake over me. You didn’t believe me when I said he roofied me!” I accused.

“You didn’t believe me either when I was-”

“How could I believe you and not what I saw in front of my eyes? Nick lay on the ground in a pool of blood and you did nothing about it. He almost died. He was all I had, Ethan. How could you let your rivalry drive you to do things that almost took the little family I had left?”

He sighed. “I can’t explain anything to you right now, Skylar. You wouldn’t believe me!”

“I tried to, Ethan. I really did. Jordan wanted me to hear your side of the story, and I did come to speak to you.” I said, falling to my knees as I replayed that night. Tears kept running out of my eyes as the buried feeling rose up.

He looked at me in surprise, “You didn’t come to me-”

“I did! You didn’t know, but I did come to you that night.” I said. “I knew you wouldn’t do that horrible thing to me, so I came, but you. you were screwing Cassidy in your room.”

“Is that what you believe?” He asked, his own eyes becoming moist.

“That’s what I saw that night. You and her. you guys.” I couldn’t complete the sentence. It was overwhelming me again to think of that night. How that betrayal almost broke my heart.

“Right. You’re right, Skylar. I did fuck around with her.” He shook his head in vain and walked across the room. “But you know what? I can fix this problem.”

I watched him pull out the drawer beside his side of the bed and pull out some papers and a pen. He walked to me and handed me the pile. I blinked my eyes several times to see if I’m interpreting them wrong. But no, they were what I thought they were.

Divorce papers.

I looked up at him in surprise. I tried to read his expression, but it gave away nothing.

“This is what was bound to happen ultimately.” He said, eyeing the papers. “Sign them and I’m out of your life for good.”

“Why don’t you just say you’ve longed for this more than I did?” I said. “Considering how you got the papers ready.”

“I know it’s the best way out. We were never meant to be together. Every time we tried to stick together; we sprang apart farther. I don’t want to waste any more of my time on this relationship.”

“You’re right.” I said, a tear falling down my cheek. “We were never meant for each other.”

Tears brimmed in my eyes and flowed down my cheek as I penned the papers. Taking a deep breath, I signed the divorce papers, without letting anything stop me from doing that.

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