Chapter 44 Paranoid Kiss
"Friends! Business relationship! Is that good enough?" Aria struggled hard, and seeing that Arthur still had no intention of letting go, she panicked.
"Arthur, what right do you have to control me? When you were all lovey-dovey with Sophie, did you ever think about your position?"
Arthur was indeed left speechless.
"That's different!"
"How is it different?" Aria's eyes reddened. "You can stay tangled up with your ex, but I can't have normal social interactions? Are you even being reasonable?"
Arthur practically shouted, "I just can't stand seeing you with another man!"
Aria froze.
She looked at the obsession in his eyes.
Connecting all of Arthur's strange behavior these past days, Aria suddenly realized the truth.
Although she kept thinking it was impossible, there really was no other explanation.
"What can't you stand?" She looked at him. "Haven't you always wanted to divorce me? Don't you want to marry Sophie? Why do you keep interfering with me, getting close to me?"
"What exactly do you want?"
Arthur couldn't find words for a moment.
Actually, he didn't know what he wanted either.
He only knew that when he saw that photo, he wanted to smash the whole world.
Just thinking about her standing next to Charles and smiling made his heart feel like someone had ripped out a piece of it.
"I..." his voice was hoarse, "I don't want to see you with him."
Aria laughed.
She was laughing at herself for being so delusional, actually thinking he had fallen in love with her.
Turns out, it was just a man's possessiveness at work.
"Arthur, you're so selfish."
"Yes, I'm selfish." Arthur admitted it. "I am selfish. I don't care which man you end up with in the future, but not Charles!"
"Why not?"
"Because—" Arthur couldn't continue.
Maybe because Charles was too outstanding? Even he had to admit that in every way, Charles was no worse than him.
And his personality was almost the complete opposite of his own.
Maybe it was because he hadn't seen Aria look at him the way she looked at Charles in a very, very long time.
He didn't want to admit it, but he was scared.
Scared that Aria would really fall in love with someone else, scared that he could no longer be as fearless as before, able to squander her love however he wanted.
He stood there in a daze.
"Arthur." Aria decided to make things even clearer. "Ask yourself, who do you really love?"
"I..."
"Do you love Sophie?" Aria asked again. "If you really love her, why do you keep entangling yourself with me? If you don't love her, why do you keep things unclear with her?"
"Is this question really that hard for you to answer?"
Arthur opened his mouth, his face already showing embarrassment.
But Aria continued pressing, "Do you love me?"
Arthur's heart contracted sharply.
"I don't know." He shook his head, his tone flustered. "I don't know who I love. Sophie is the one I've always wanted to marry, but you..."
You are my wife.
The moment this thought appeared, he completely lost control.
He pulled Aria into his arms and kissed her.
This kiss came too suddenly, too unreasonably.
Aria didn't react at all.
Her eyes widened, her mind went blank.
Arthur's lips were burning hot, carrying intense anger and jealousy. He kissed her forcefully, as if he wanted to swallow her tongue whole.
When Aria came to her senses, she pushed him desperately, but Arthur held her extremely tight. Left with no choice, Aria bit him hard!
A trickle of blood ran down from the corners of both their lips, but Arthur didn't loosen his grip at all.
Arthur kissed her fiercely until his anger was spent, then released her—only to get a hard slap across the face from the tearful Aria.
The crisp sound left Aria's hand numb.
Arthur's head turned to the side, his face stinging with pain.
Aria's lips trembled, her eyes red. "Arthur, you bastard!"
"Yes, I am a bastard." Arthur touched his swollen, painful cheek and laughed. "What I'm doing now is exactly what a bastard would do!"
He moved to kiss her again.
This time Aria didn't hesitate. She kicked and hit him. When he grabbed her waist, she turned her head and bit down on his shoulder.
The taste of blood spread in her mouth.
Arthur frowned, but his breathing grew heavier.
After a long while, Aria finally let go, gasping for breath, her mouth full of the taste of blood.
"Arthur!" Aria's voice shook. "What exactly do you mean? Why won't you say it?"
Arthur smiled. "Right, it's exactly what you're thinking. I don't want to divorce anymore."
Aria stared at him. "You don't want to divorce?"
"Yes, you heard right." Arthur said word by word, "Let's not get divorced, okay?"
Aria was slightly stunned, then asked again, "What about Sophie? What are you going to do about her?"
Arthur's eyes darkened, and he turned his face slightly away. "I also... I can't wrong her either. I have a responsibility to her, I owe her. She almost lost her life because of me. If you want me to never see her again..."
"I'm sorry, I can't do that."
Aria was speechless, as if she couldn't believe her ears.
"You mean... you don't want to divorce me, but you also want to keep a relationship with her? You love me, but you can't let her go either, is that it?"
Arthur's lips moved, and after a long time he finally said, "Yes."
Aria shook her head.
How could there be such an absurd thing in this world, such a shameless person?
"Arthur, do you think you're still living in the nineteenth century?" Her voice was shaky, so weak it was almost inaudible.
"What do you take me for? What do you take a wife for? A pet you hug when you like and kick when you don't?"
"I'm not—"
"You are!" Seeing him about to defend himself, about to make excuses for his shamelessness, Aria cut him off sharply.
"When you need me, I'm your wife. When you don't need me, I should get lost and stay out of your sight! Now you see me getting close to someone else and you're uncomfortable again, you want to tie me down again—isn't that exactly it?"
Arthur couldn't speak.
Aria wiped the blood from her lips.
"You draft the divorce agreement, I'll sign it." She said. "Arthur, don't let me see you again. You disgust me."
She turned and walked toward the bedroom.
Arthur wanted to follow, but couldn't move a single step.
He watched her close the door, listened to the sounds of her packing inside.