Chapter 21 Furious Confrontations
“This.. This… can’t be…”
A miserable whimper along with a screen of tears formed in Luke’s eyes, staring at the couple before him shakily.
His mind pushed into a turmoil, turning his senses hazy.
“I must be stuck in a nightmare from the past, right?... Right?”
He took a step forth, fearing him, Arabella flinched slightly and moved back, holding the hem of her dress worried as he stared.
At her, then at William and back at them again like a loop. Wanting them to shout ‘It’s a prank!’- they didn’t.
Praying it to be a nightmare as he whispered desperately, releasing a tear.
“Tell me this is a lie, please, tell me. Say they were only rumors, that it’s nothing like this,”
Her jaw clenched at his display of anguish, glaring at him and stepped forth as William stood behind her silently to see what she would speak.
“No, it’s not, I have chosen William over you,”
“W.. What?”
Moving away, his fingers pulled his messy hair, state worsened with three buttons opened and roughly rolled sleeves.
Even his shirt was tucked out of his pants to indicate the hurry he arrived in only to face the undeniable reality of finding them as spouses.
The room went silent, like a calm before a terrifying storm.
Breaking the gaze, he looked everywhere, endeavoring to find reasonings.
But, the second the depth of these words sank in, Luke clutched his heart, narrowing his eyes in grief and lost himself, yelling furiously at her.
“How could you do this to me, Arabella?!”
She snapped back, “How could I?! You are the one who forced me to that point! You failed as a fucking lover! You turned out to be an insincere asshole!”
“Don’t blame me for your selfish desires, woman!”
Scowling, he stopped before her, sharing a competitive look.
Panting, eyes flowing with tears as all those words he spoke rang in Arabella’s mind, hurting her badly.
“You…”
He paused, scanning them once again.
And to double her ache, Luke swallowed his pain and flashed a dark, trembling and questionable smirk.
“...You wanted him, right?”
Her heart skipped a beat in horror, expecting she heard him wrong.
“What?”
Pointing his finger contemptibly at her, he hissed, “You have always desired my brother… you were not loyal to me.”
“Not.. loyal?” She repeated because she gave all loyalty to him.
“I see now. I was being blind in love to notice that happening right before me. Even after keeping a close eye on you, you still managed to slip away huh?”
And those words killed the embers that were flaring.
The desire of him to chase her back abruptly died as she could feel a numbness in her body.
“How-” Quivering with tears brimming in her silver eyes, she forced the lump in her throat, “How can you say this, Luke?”
“You took his mother’s pendant too. For how long was this going on behind my back? When did your affair start?”
She spared a glance at William desperately to speak in her defense as a witness that she had rejected him all the time until he showed his true reality.
William understood and stepped forth.
“Luke, this isn’t what you think. I get it you are angry but don’t use false statements. Don’t create assumptions,”
“How can I not? If she was oh-so loyal to me then why did she cheat on me with you?” He glared harshly at her.
“She had always been a cheater, I was wrong to give her a chance after all,”
To hear the word ‘cheat’ pierced her heart terribly as if all her blind devotion towards him became meaningless with a question-
‘What did I gain from our relationship? Nothing but a false claim in the end?’
“S-Stop trying to place the blame on me, Luke,” She whimpered, steps retreating, “I gave my ‘all’ to our relationship, just to convince you,”
“Shut up!”
Refusing to believe in anything, Luke continued to accuse her.
“I have seen the way you look at him, you thought I wouldn’t notice? You saw my departure as an opportunity to have him… huh?”
Snarling, he was about to grab Arabella hurtfully but William came in between, holding his wrist with a warning stare to not touch her anymore.
“Luke, enough. Just because you are heartbroken, that doesn’t give you the right to disrespect, Arabella,”
The second William growled, Luke lost his strengths with sorrow.
His shoulders loosened, eyes shrinking in agony as he yanked his hand away.
“And you, William…”
Another painful tear rolled down, his hardest ache was that of all the people, she decided to marry his brother, too much to his heartache.
“How could you do this to me?! Aren’t I your brother?! How could you possibly think of stealing my woman?!” He shouted.
Voice breaking while speaking and unable to bear the pain, he ended up sobbing.
“Didn’t your heart tremble!? Why did you two do this to me!?”
Shattering into a sobbing, posture slipped through the cracks because finding them together was piercing his very soul.
Not in his right senses, he pushed William away outrageously.
No longer thinking straight and enraged by the sound of his cries, Arabella stepped forth.
“Stop acting like a saint, dammit! Do you think your fake tears will have any effect? Stop acting like you love me!” She scowled, pointing her finger at him furiously.
His eyes widened in disbelief, “Arabella… you,”
And his pain converted into rage, curling his hand in a fist, staring at her with tears and glaring at them with inexplicable fury.
“I should have expected this from you, you were never worthy!”
A tear rolled down her cheek, extremely disappointed in him when he placed the blame all on her, shattering her heart endlessly.
“Luke, enough, what happened has happened, no one can change. It would be better if you could accept our marriage.” William whispered.
“Accept..?” Luke paused for a moment before breaking.
“ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MIND?!”
Arabella jumped in fright and William placed his hand slightly over her shoulder to support her as her whole being was stiffened.
“NEVER!”
William could see she was on the verge of sobbing miserably, Luke’s words were piercing her heart, his allegation was too much for her.
“You hear? Never. Both of you can go to hell,”
And in a hopeless attempt to soothe her, he gave her an assuring squeeze that made Luke infuriated, cursing both of them from the bottom of his heart.
“I won’t forgive you, none of you… may your marriage never be successful!”
Wiping his tears roughly, he walked away, carrying the heftiness of watching them as a couple that hurt him unfathomably, he went to his room outrageously.
…To watch her leave might be bearable… but to watch her as his brother’s wife was not...