Chapter 145 Reality Of Their Marriage
‘When love isn’t the only painful thing in the world, why has it become the worst of all for me?’ Peach wondered, dejection overflowing when they returned to their hotel.
Followed by an empty gaze, afraid to know the answers that could crash her delusional world.
“Peach, what was that?” Luke asked sternly, disliking her sudden outburst, holding his sides in frustration.
“What happened? Or is it an attempt to embarrass me?” Luke asked strictly as she stood in the middle of the room, fingers fidgeting around her dress.
"Luke," she whispered, her voice trembling, glancing over her shoulder, "Why did you marry me?"
The softness on Luke’s features faltered, replaced with a strenuous expression. Curling his lips downward, he stepped closer.
"What kind of question is that? Because we’re starting over. Isn't this what we wanted?"
"Is it?!" Peach’s voice rose, cracking with the weight of her realization.
She recalled William, who stood behind Arabella like a shadow, his entire existence tethered to his wife’s silhouette. Their moment, despite the lack of ‘love’, she found them absolutely flawless.
Then she looked back at Luke. Love was absent between them too. But, the difference was agonizing, substantial.
"Arabella said our marriage is baseless," Peach said, her eyes searching his face for a lie.
Luke’s expression shifted, the warmth draining out of it, replaced by a guarded, weary stiffness. His expressions were hardening.
"Don't listen to her, Peach. She’s trying to get into your head. She’s manipulating the situation, just like she manipulated William."
"But she’s right about one thing,"
Peach choked out, a single tear spilling over. Her hand began to tremble, suddenly, her own life converted into a suffocation.
"She doesn't have to look at William to know he's there. That’s what ten years of love does to you. You dwell in their soul.” She whispered wretchedly.
“I don’t want to hear you praising the love she used me for.” Luke warned her sternly, his patience was fraying.
The mention of her devotion only made Luke sour. Resting his hands in his pockets, Luke rolled his eyes off, resenting when they appeared between their conversation.
“There is nothing good about love that hurts and uses others.” He muttered.
"But, she’s right," Peach hissed, losing her composure when Luke failed to comprehend the context of her talk- or, rather ‘avoided’ it.
"I was just a way for you to prove you were over her. I’m not your 'second chance,' Luke."
Tears began to form a screen in her pretty eyes, she was shaking as an unbearable amount of disappointment emerged. She was utterly heartbroken.
“Whether it’s you or Papa, I have never been a priority to anyone in my life.”
When a sobbed emitted, Luke reacted and held his hand out to her. To induce such a perception was never his intention.
“That’s not it, Peach. You are my wife. I didn’t marry you to neglect you.”
Stepping closer, Luke held her shoulder, thumb digging onto her skin to provide comfort and eradicate her doubts.
But, she kept her head low, muting tears rolling down. The sensation of being ‘incomplete’ began to agonize her.
“But you also didn’t marry me to love me either, Luke,”
Sniffling, she removed his hands, maintaining a fair distance from him because the closeness only indicated a wall between them.
“Peach, snap out of it… you are not in your senses.” Luke tried to make her listen softly at first.
“I’m your distraction. Someone you are using to get rid of Arabella. To punish her.”
Declaring the harsh reality, she pushed her hair back, pacing around the room. Her lifeless steps stumble before glaring at the man to throw reality on his face like a slap.
“But, you might not see it, she doesn’t give a fuck. All Arabella cares about is the existence of the love of her life.”
Luke breathed out, his eyes averted, breaths coming out sharp, “I said stop it, Peach. Don’t go there.”
“You hate it! You are jealous!” She yelled, tears rolling down wretchedly when the purpose of her marriage was clear before her.
“That is why you tried to get the girl who can give you the same dedication she gives to William and who can be better than me who is fucking begging for a chance, huh!?”
“Enough. Peach.” Luke stepped closer, glaring at her to watch her words.
“It hurts you that she never held this level of blind devotion for you so you are using me to fill this void!” She shouted nonetheless, sobbing releasing from the back of throat, done with the anguish in her life.
“You never intend to give us a chance!”
“Yes, You are my fucking distraction!”
She flinched when Luke raised his voice, posture finally snapping when the reality struck him like a slap.
“It’s all to make her jealous! I can’t fucking get her out of my mind! She is running in my veins like some damn poison!"
Utterly outraged, he grabbed her elbow and pressed her hardily into him, hovering over her intimidated form, sealing her voice.
“Yes, I am using you!”
Without a single resonance, a stream of silent tears rolled down her cheek, staring at him in disbelief, with inexplicable heartbreak. The world of dreams she created began to blur between the lines of reality.
“Because I know if there is anyone that can eradicate her sting, it’s you. I am using you to save my damn self from my ultimate heartbreak!”
When Luke enunciated the piercing truth, pushing her back, Peach stood still for the next few seconds, contemplating the heft depth of his words.
Tears flowed powerlessly. Once again, she was disheartened with the people she called her own.
“.... I thought you were different from my father, Luke. I thought you understood bonds and their values…” Her shattered voice came, unable to stand another second in his proximity and get her remaining fragments of her heart crushed.
“I am not a thing, Luke.”
Her composure slipped, the pain of negligence and never being the priority overwhelmed her. A wretched sobbing escaped her lips,
“I am not an asset for people to use over and over again. I am done with being used! Stop it! Just stop it!”
Crying painfully, she turned to leave, to run away from her disheartening life, to vanish in the night and not return again.
But, Luke grabbed her arm harshly, hovering over her, his chest back pressing against her back, encasing her in his toned body.
“Where will you go huh?” He whispered, using the most piercing statement that stiff her for a heartbeat. Only to double her dismal and pain.
“What other purpose do you think you have in your pathetic life, Peach?” He growled in her ear, she shivered violently, glancing at him in disbelief.
“Is there truly anywhere in these grounds for an unlovable person like you-” Impotent to carry the anguish anymore, Peach turned and slapped him across his face.
“ENOUGH!” With a final scream, she ran away.