Chapter 78 The Party
Eventually, they ended up starting things casually with no commitments.
She wasn’t prepared for one, he was ignorant if he could be sincere too.
So they started flirting, blooming emotions for the past two months, she began to flare a little emotion.
“Aren’t I beautiful?” Arabella grinned when they were at the club.
She was drunk, glancing at the few men that were giving her hints and she returned the look with a wink.
“Seeking praises from me, hmm?”
Luke smirked, standing behind her, raking his hand around her waist, turning her around as they danced.
“You are very beautiful,” Luke whispered,
Hands on her sides as they moved along the rhythm of the music, closing the distance.
His feelings bloomed, indulging in the closeness, hovering over her to stare properly in the dim lighting to his fullest extent.
As they were lost at the moment, a server of the club came.
“Excuse me, Miss, this is from the gentleman over there for you,” He was offering a drink with a rose.
Not in her proper senses, she was about to take it but Luke meddled with a frown.
“Can’t you see her with someone? Reject that so-called gentleman,”
“Okay,” He sighed and left as Arabella giggled, poking Luke’s chest at his jealousy.
“My, my, are you jealous?”
Without a warning, he pressed her body in his, inclining his lips against her ear, sending an unpredictable spark to her core as he whispered gently.
“These eyes have finally begun to notice me. How can I let them stray in another direction?”
Arabella laughed, wrapping her arms around his neck when the music changed to a romantic, spending a pleasant evening with him.
Forgetting their friends were present too, their moment, their time, nothing existed beyond that.
She thought they were just flirting, that it won’t go beyond… yet.
…. No man can take the place William did after all…
“Huff, can't change old habits, can I?” She spoke to herself when she was about to leave for the party where it all went downhill.
Incapable of controlling her heart, she went to see William, to cheer on him from afar.
Just a glimpse wouldn’t hurt, right?
She had absolutely no idea on the party where William became businessman of the year, he would propose.
If she had known…. Things wouldn’t be how they were today.
“Come with me,” Luke called sternly.
She whispered, “Where are you taking me? William is about to take the toast, I absolutely cannot miss it,”
Not parting her eyes from William, she yanked her wrist back, staring intensely at him.
“There is still time. This is equally important, come please,”
“Huff. Fine,”
Luke took her somewhere alone and asked her out, she had no idea about that.
On the other hand, William also decided to propose.
‘All these years of her attention, admiration, the smiles, they couldn’t be for naught, right? She must have felt something for me as well, right?’ William thought.
The merest cognition of speaking ‘Will you marry me?’ made him grin unstoppably.
‘She admires me, always around me, always grins, always cares for me. If it isn’t love then I don’t know what is,’
He rushed only to find her with… Luke.
“Will you be my girlfriend, Arabella?”
“Of course, Luke! I would love to!”
She thought she could finally move on.
“I felt horrible, I felt absolutely horrendous because when I said yes to Luke, the first thought that entered my mind was-
Now you will realize what you have lost, William…”
She knew it was selfish and wrong of her.
She didn’t know the one she always desired was… there, about to propose.
William’s eyes widened in appall, praying for it to be a nightmare but it was not, the ring in his pocket was left unattended.
The rose in his hand fell and was crushed under his own feet.
Everything, their moments, her lips chanting his name flashed in his mind and he couldn’t bear it anymore.
He thought it was obvious that they both were… interested.
‘I waited for you all these years to be ready… How could you do this to me, Arabella…?’
Completely heartbroken when after all these years of going around him, she ended up embracing his brother, he went back with an irrecoverable scar.
To avoid becoming an obstacle between his brother and her, for the betterment of his heart, he declared.
“After my success in America, I have set a new target goal, I am shifting to England!”
His decision without a doubt displeased his siblings but aware of his nature, he sheltered his heart.
He prioritized the peace of his mind and wanted to leave for good…
But when Arabella heard it, her mind went blank. Shaking her head in denial, she gripped Luke firmly, desperation brimming.
“No, no, no, why did he say that, Luke?”
‘I-I said yes to show him, if- if he wouldn’t be here… How- how am I supposed to convince my heart? He- he can’t do this to me,’
And her emotions flooded once again.
She wished her feelings would fade away in two years. The love she carried for years wasn’t that simple to erase.
Luke was just as shocked, “I-I had no idea, he wanted to build work there but he didn’t say he would shift…”
“What the fuck is wrong with him?”
“Wait. Let- let me talk to him,” Luke whispered.
He went to disclose the matter with William that almost ended in the brother’s unknown fight.
Dismayed that Luke didn’t return, Arabella didn’t know what to do.
With her heart, emotions, her very soul trembling… She did something very wrong.
She became fucking selfish.
Cutting off the power supply of the mansion, Arabella ran senselessly towards William’s room.
He stood in frustration, a glass of champagne thrown into the wall.
His hair was scattered. The button of shirt was opened, coat thrown away, exposing his muscular body.
Hair scattered to indicate his day was devastated, emitting rapid breaths to show he was infuriated.
But, powerless before emotions, he could shatter, he made a prayer from the bottom of his heart.
‘I wish you could become mine, even for a heartbeat-’
The second he could complete his deepest, darkest, prayer with a tear glistening in his eyes, the woman having the scent of jasmine stormed inside his room and hugged him from behind.
“Huh…?”
His very soul was immobilized, eyes widening, facing pale when her body was rigidly pressed against his with a beautiful begging.
“Don’t go, don’t leave me, please…! I beg you, stay.”
In the darkness, stiff, he swallowed hard and eventually turned around, losing composure on his existence, he murmured weakly.
“B-Bella?”
“Stay with me!”
And without a second thought, without hesitation, knowing this moment won’t arrive again, her hands clasped his face in her hands and ended up kissing him passionately.