His otherwise warm eyes, that had always reminded me of how much he loved me, had turned intolerably dark. Visibly paled, he breathed out in disbelief.
“Skylar?”
It almost felt like a dream. There was something inside of me that hoped for it all to be a one of all the other nightmares I had of I meeting him again in an absurd situation, and then waking up to reality where it would just vanish away like air. But it also was so hard to regard as a dream. I was so aware of all the things that were playing through my mind that I have confined to my heart to until this moment.
How could everything that happened around seven years ago just come crashing into my mind like it just happened yesterday? How could just one glance at him stir those deep buried emotions to come back to the surface, brimming with the same level of anticipation. I remained rooted in my place, unmoving.
My mind was constantly trying to escape to all the past times I’ve spent with him together, as though my entire life depended on reliving all the emotions and moments that I shared with him.
Was every break up in the world like this? Did everyone else feel the same that I was feeling when they met their former love of their life? Do people ever manage to recover from it?
“What the hell are you even doing here instead of my fiancé?” He asked, his voice recuperating from the shock that he received upon laying his eyes on me.
“Lindsay..” I stammered. Where was all the vocabulary inside of my head vanish to? “She ran away.”
It felt so ridiculous to even talk about it. Why was I here in the first place? Why was I being questioned on someone else’s behalf? Why did his looks seem so accusing?
“She ran away?” He widened his eyes at me, his jaw ticking. He approached me in hasty steps and came close enough for me to listen to him whisper in a dangerous tone. “What the hell do you mean by she ran away? We’re supposed to get married in fifteen minutes.”
“Why are you asking me?” I said, raising my voice at him . “Shouldn’t you be asking yourself how you failed to understand that she never wanted this marriage?”
“Her father made a deal with me in return of marrying his daughter off. She knew it and I thought she was on board.”
“She obviously wasn’t. And neither of you understood her.” I defended her. It was perhaps not the concern or love that I had for Lindsey that had me fighting for her. It was probably the urge and the wanting to contradict him that was making me oppose him in every thing he said.
“Why the hell are you even here?” He asked me. “Did you know I was getting married?”
“I would have never stepped in a mile radius if I knew you were the one who she was getting married to.” I spat on his face.
His face grew grim and I could sense him heating up. I wasn’t under the control when I was saying it. It took all of my energy to sustain my cool and talk to him like a civil person.
“You shouldn’t have helped her run away.” he said. “You put me in deep trouble.”
“I don’t care about it, you aren’t exactly a man without a tainted name in public opinion.” I said.
“This is not the time for me to fight with you.” he said. “I’m going to send my men to fetch Lindsay.”
“You wont find her.” I said to him. “I think you can never make it back with her even if you use every power within your reach to bring her back.”
The look on his face was murderous and I had to step back in an instinct. I never saw him this pissed and angry. Back when I knew him, he had his anger in control. He never let it on me in a way that would scare me. But I always heard how things changed him through the years.
I remembered my friends telling me how he turned into a ruthless business man that sees nothing but profit in everything. And that when he was angry, he was uncontrollable.
“Every time you came into my life, you absolutely wrecked me, Skylar.” He said. “You ruined everything that I had seven years ago. You ruined the little good inside of me, the part I preserved for someone I love and now you came back to ruin the only piece of hope I was clinging onto. You are at the verge of ruining my career with your stupid revenge plan on getting back at me for what I did to you years ago.”
“This is not a revenge.” I stated. “I would never waste a penny on you or on something that isn’t valuable for me.”
Hurt flashed across his eyes before he masked it quickly. “What a foolish woman you grew to be.”
“You left you’re impact on me before leaving.”
He tightened his jaw. “You certainly should be worried of the consequences of ruining my marriage.”
“I’m glad I stopped a friend from ruining her life.”
“Skylar, I cannot afford to have this right now. I have the most important business men waiting for me to get married at the altar. And if the news of the bride running away breaks out, my life will be ruined.”
“Are you listening to yourself?” I asked, “How can this be just about business for you?”
“It’s not just business for me, Skylar. It’s my entire career.” He said, “Everything I’ve built so far.”
“And why should a marriage decide it?”
He sighed, “You won’t understand. You’re relatively new to this business, you’ll soon realize how the world works. It’s a complex mess and I don’t have the time to explain it to you.”
“Well, what do you want me to do?” I asked, incredulously.
He heaved yet another sigh through his nose and looked at me with a frown. I realized that he wasn’t particularly going to enjoy what he was going to suggest next but also that it was necessary for him.
“I’ve got a favor to ask of you.”
I had no reason to cast myself another look in the mirror, but I did it anyway. And as I lingered there for a while, the reflection of my figure faded into thin air and instead, images from my life began to play before my eyes.If this was the universe that planned my life, then it did a bloody great job.I masked my face with the veil before Ethan could notice my tears. I knew for certain that nothing could change his mind. He absolutely hated me. Which led me to believe that, maybe, it wouldn’t matter to him if he called the wedding off, and perhaps, he was doing this because he had found an excuse to hurt me.Of course, he would never agree to that. But I knew for certain that he could go to an extent as that if he knew that getting married to him was the last thing I wanted.“Are you done?”I nodded in response. And there he stood in all his glory with not even a worried crease disturbing the calm aura around him. His nonchalance almost created a ripple of frustration within me.I
The news spread around like wildfire. After the wedding was over, Ethan cancelled all of the further events since he wanted to call for an important family meeting. There was not even a single soul that didn’t look surprised upon seeing the girl Ethan married.“Where the hell is my daughter?” Luke demanded from Ethan.“Shouldn’t I be asking you where my fiancé was when I went to fetch her from her room?” Ethan replied, shunning everyone with his dangerously low voice.“What are you talking about?”“She eloped with her lover.” He said, “Leaving me with no choice but to marry the first woman I could find in her room before this wedding could become a scandal.”“We had a deal that you’d marry my daughter!” Luke yelled at Ethan, looking at me with a disgust. “How could you marry this wench after giving me your word?”“Hey, watch your words.” Jen, my best friend, said to him, coming to stand beside.I was surprised to have her by my side at a situation like this. Although it was a complete
Ethan’s POV“You know you don’t have to be a jerk to her for what happened seven years ago, right?” Lexi asked me as I hugged her good bye. Skylar was talking privately with my parents while Lexi pulled me to a side for a quick chat.“Is that all you’ve got to say?” I asked her.“If you married someone else, I would’ve asked you to better be careful with your wife. But now, I insist on asking you to handle her with care and to not be a jerk.”“I’m old enough to know when to be a jerk.” I replied.“Exactly, but still you act like the most stupid person I ever knew in my life.” Lexi teased me.“Lexi..” I warned her.“See,” Lexi said, looking at me in the eye. Her voice became serious and gone was the playful tone she was using. “I know why you did what you did. I also know that you were forced to marry Skylar and that you can do nothing about it now. Even if you plan for a divorce, you still have plenty of time to spend alongside each other and fulfil your part. And if you’re just going
Skylar’s POVThe drive to his house was calm and boring, just like the flight journey that we took a few hours ago to come to LA. Most of the time, I was in conflict with my mind if I should turn the music on to lighten up the situation. Part of my mind told me that I should totally go for it, while the other told me how it is impossible to lighten a situation up if it involves my husband.I cringed at that thought. The word husband suddenly seemed so weird. It scared me for a moment. Now, I’ll be known as some else’s wife rather than by my own identity. People are probably going to know me better as someone that married Ethan than a good actress.But I know what people think is not always my thing to worry about. There are always going to be someone to talk about you. I can’t possibly lead a life giving a damn about everything.I blinked a few times and shook the thoughts away. We soon reached his house. I wasn’t surprised to know that he stays in a penthouse.His house smelled of wo
“You say you married one of your ex-boyfriends - scratch that- your only ex-boyfriend, against your wish?” Jessica exclaimed, her blue eyes narrowing at meI left out an irritated sigh. “For the tenth time, yes."“What is the century that we’re living in? Please don’t tell me it’s the twenty-first. Because that kind of stuff doesn’t happen here anymore!” Jess’s expression turned incredulous.“Well, it happened to me,” I said, shrugging. “I was defenceless against him.”“Oh, don’t say stuff like that. You’re never defenceless. You always have your way through with things.” Jess said.“He told me he would ruin my career.”"Wow."“He would. That's Ethan Parker we're talking about, he can do anything.” I said, the energy of fighting anymore draining away from my body like a deflated balloon.Jessica, my manager, sat across from me with her legs folded under her thighs, holding numerous news articles and magazines that posted about my wedding. Apparently, the news broke out in the morning,
“I want to talk to you,” I spoke as the wall clock binged with the completion of one round. Ethan spread himself in the study, going through a few of his files and making rough notes.“I’m busy.” His blunt reply crept into my ears.“It’s important,” I stated, tapping my fingers against the headrest of the chair that lay before the table. He let out a rough sigh and closed his laptop. Leaning back in the chair, with arms held folded, he waited for me to continue.“Jess was suggesting us to go on a honeymoon,” I said, clutching the rim of the chairs and gently digging my nails into them.He frowned. “Who’s that?”“The woman who just got kicked out of this house. You didn’t really have to be so rude to her, by the way. She was being nice to you. Anyways, back to it. I’m really worried about how my marriage is going to affect my career and you already know that people aren’t accepting what we are projecting. We need to be a little more-”“We are not going anywhere, Skylar. I have work to
A half-hour later, we sat down across from each other with our breakfast before us. I grabbed a cup of free yoghurt and pushed my spoon into it. Taking a spoonful of it into my mouth, I looked at him.“What are you up to?” I asked him.He stopped chowing his food and looked are me puzzled. “I was about to ask you if you wanted any syrup with that cereal-”I rolled my eyes. “Not that, like, in life.”His shoulder rose and fell back down in a shrug. “I don’t know. I’m going to sign a few projects soon, and I’ll be having a movie get out in the cinemas real soon-”“Zac,” I warned him. “Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about. I’m staying inside your house and having breakfast although I planned on showing myself off in the outside so that I can really talk to you about stuff that is important.”He sighed and looked up at me. “Tell me what you want to know.”“You do realise that Lana and Kyle are married right?” I said. “And there is a very slight possibility of them getting
There were very little people that noticed me when I walked inside. They were probably not used to women walking in with a pair of striped shorts and an off-shoulder top with a sling bag hanging loose at the side of the waist, while the free hand clutched the phone. As I passed by a few cubicles, my eyes couldn’t help but land on the many office notes that had their CEO’s and his wife’s (who unfortunately had to be me) pictures and congratulation messages.It made me wonder why people had a very confused look on their faces when they were aware of who I was. Or maybe, I indeed caught them off guard by making an abrupt appearance. I walked straight to the reception and shot the man behind the counter one of my brightest smiles.“Hi, I’m here to meet your CEO,” I said, tapping my nails against the desk.The man behind seemed irked by my casual behaviour and lack of professionalism. He frowned at my fingers that were playing against the desk and looked back up at me with an unappreciativ