Chapter 144 Abrupt Goodbye
William and Luke disappeared around a corner to get a gelato, the air between the two women turned frigid.
Peach stood with her arms crossed, her eyes scanning Arabella with a mix of pity and suspicion.
Arabella noticed, “What?”
“Do you… still want him? Even after you’re stuck with him?” Peach asked, her face filled with contempt, making a sour face.
“After everything William did? After how he manipulated you into that marriage?” Peach questioned, unable to understand.
Arabella didn't even look at her. She watched the spot where William had vanished, her expression one of a hauntingly calm devotion.
“I am not stuck with William, Peach. I choose to be with him.” She turned her head slowly, her gaze sharpening.
“He gave me an opportunity I once only dared to imagine in my darkest fantasies. So, I left Luke. It was that simple.” She responded nonchalantly.
“Even if that man lied to get you?” Peach pressed, stepping closer.
“That man is my husband, Peach.” Arabella replied sternly, returning a warning stare to watch her words.
“He is my last love, the destination of my path. I cannot abandon him because my entire world is dependent on him now.”
Enunciating, Arabella’s eyes moved on Peach whose lack of understanding only made her roll her eyes.
“It wasn’t the papers I signed, it was a sacred oath, it was an eternal vow I took to support him till my last breath.”
Arabella’s presence suddenly suffocating, tensing Peach who wasn’t taught or had ever seen how such bonding ever works.
It was beyond her comprehension.
“Sometimes those who have everything, they devalue it’s worth. You don’t know what a husband is, Peach,” Arabella taunted, piercing her sensitive spot, leaving her utterly vulnerable and she hated it.
“Don’t go there, Arabella.” Peach warned angrily, curling her hand in a fist when Arabella hit her sensitive spot.
“Do you think marriage is just a joke and I married him out of mere heartbreak?” Arabella chuckled mockingly.
She tilted her head, a cruel smile touching her lips, hitting Peach with an unbearable reality that shook her world with a strong magnitude.
“Just like Luke did with you? A baseless marriage with no clear objective?”
Peach flinched, glaring at her, resenting the taste of defeat, “No… you’re wrong. That’s not it. You know nothing, Arabella.”
“Hmm?”
“This- us- this is only out of heartbreak,” Peach stammered, jaw tightening, “This is our second chance. This is an attempt to forget our past and-”
“Ask your husband first, darling.” Arabella leaned in, her whisper like a poisoned blade that caused the unshakeable woman to tremble.
“Maybe he has some explaining to do regarding the real reasoning behind your marriage.”
Peach went pale, her breath hitching as Arabella’s wicked smile widened. The girl was left speechless, the romantic evening crumbling around her.
Before Peach could find her voice, Arabella turned and held her hand out toward the empty air.
A second later, William stepped out from the shadows of an alley, holding two cones of melting gelato. He froze, his eyes wide with a mix of shock and adoration.
“How did you…?”
“Your footsteps and your scent, William,” she grinned, her eyes glowing with a possessive, predatory light. She took the ice cream from his hand, her fingers lingering on his skin.
“I always know when you are near. Always.”
William stood there, utterly staggered, his breath hitching at her touch.
He didn't care about the conversation he had likely overheard; he only cared that she had sensed him.
He was a man drowning, and she was the only air he was allowed to breathe.
“Of course you did.”
“Thank you,” she murmured, taking a slow, deliberate bite of the gelato while watching Luke approach behind his brother.
Peach glared at the couple when Arabella explicitly showed the compelling power of her marriage and began to eat her gelato.
“Here,” Luke called, taking a bite of hers and offering her his first, “Just how you always like it,” He smiled.
What usually brought butterflies in her stomach, it felt cold and empty tonight. Nonetheless, she took a bite of his first before picking hers.
“Oh, so you guys like sharing?” William asked, hand draping over Arabella’s shoulder.
“Yeah. Peach always does it.”
The gelato began to melt, sticky droplets of cream running down the sides of the cones. She stood paralyzed, Arabella’s poisoned words echoing in her mind like a death knell.
‘Ask your husband first, darling.’
She looked at the way his eyes flickered toward Arabella for a split second, the way they stayed there inexplicable, before returning to her.
It was a habit she had mistaken for brotherly concern, but now, it felt like a suffocating glimpse that was falling out of the picture.
‘Why am I always unseen or unheard? Why be the sideline of my own damn life?’ Peach thought wretchedly, refusing to eat the cone.
Luke stepped up beside her, his face wearing a practiced, easy-going smile. When she didn't move, he laughed softly, “What? Where are you lost?”
"Luke," she whispered, her voice trembling. Her eyes back to the melting gelato, posture slipping and her inner brat emerging.
Without a warning, she threw the gelato away, staggering everyone.
“Peach? What happened?” Luke asked softly, sending an indirect glare to Arabella, “What did you say to her?”
“It’s not her.” Peach snarled, stomping her heel on the ground, unwanted tears welling in her eyes with retreating steps.
“I am exhausted. I want to go back to the hotel.” She demanded.
Luke opened his mouth to ask softly, worried about her sudden outburst but she refused to listen or express and began to walk away.
“Peach- Peach, listen,” Luke extended his hand, walking after her but stopped for a moment.
“Sorry about that. Goodbye.”
With an abrupt greeting, Luke went after his woman who left with an immense amount of ache brimming in her heart.
As the couple watched them leave, William took a big bite of his gelato and asked nonchalantly, having a comprehensive idea what might have happened.
“What did you do this time? What did you tell her?”
“Oh, come on, you think I am the one who did this?” Her mouth gaped.
“You are one who has managed to bring in the Spoiled Princess’s eyes twice.”
“She asked why I am still with you when you have manipulated me? Why not leave you? I said I want to. This is the life I have chosen.” She took a bite, not thinking deeply about it.
“Why do you have to be so honest with me? Sometimes, just lie to me. It will be easier to handle.” William sighed, finishing his cone.
His eyes were on her cone now. Tongue rolling over his lips but not moving an inch, observing what Arabella would do.
As expected, she lifted her cone and handed it to him before continuing the walk, “I lied once, dealt with the consequences.”
“I… never meant to hurt you.”
“I have forgiven you. I only said it to hurt you.” She grinned, clinging onto his arm while he was eating her gelato too, continuing their sweet walk and moment.