The dead fish argument ended rather quickly and both of them ended up further on bad terms as Elvina defeated Archer with her shamelessness.
It was not that she did not see where the problem was but her cat had already eaten the fish. Archer wasn't expecting her to thrust her fingers inside his mouth and ask him to spout some alive and kicking goldfishes out of his mouth, was he?
And throwing Gold out of this house was not included in the option for her. She would have left Gold at Claire's place had he asked her politely. She could have given him an excuse that she met her Aunt when he was at work and she took Gold with her.
But with that stubborn tone of his, he was better off dealing with her child.
Both the parties being as stubborn as they were went in their different ways without looking back at each other.
...
Elvina closed the file in her hand before placing it in the suitcase and locking it. The file contained almost all the information they had gathered about those murderers in the past few years.
She added their recent findings in it that included the hand which had vitiligo, and the person who worked in Cardale Empires.
As the clock struck 12, she climbed on the bed and placed her head on the pillow.
She glanced at the pearl bracelet in her hand.
Elvina closed her eyes and the memories of their childhood flashed in her mind.
Her lips parted as she started humming the lullaby that her father used to sing for her.
...
Archer's eyes snapped open.
He sat up on the bed and leaned back on the headboard, pressing his palm on his racing heart.
He closed his eyes after a moment, trying to listen to that voice once more.
Was it an illusion? Was he dreaming about that voice once again?
This time, he could not hear anything.
Archer pushed himself out of the bed and walked out of the room.
He stood near the grand staircase, looking at the living room which seemed to be faintly sparkling under the dim lights of the glass chandelier.
Archer massaged his forehead. Letting out a soft sigh, he turned around to go back to his room but his footsteps came to a halt.
His gaze shifted to the half ajar door of the room which was two rooms away from his.
And before he knew it, he was already making his way towards Elvina's room.
That voice... Was she possibly singing? Or did she play some song?
Did she hear it too?
He raised his hand to knock on the door.
He hesitated.
Putting his hand down, he turned around to leave.
It wasn't that polite to knock on her door in the middle of the night nor was it necessary.
It was absolutely unnecessary given that they ended on a bad note after their previous 'goldfish' argument.
And after their earlier confrontation which was barely a few moments away from turning brutal, knocking on her door to ask her if she heard a beautifully incomprehensible song earlier didn't sound like the best idea.
But just as he had taken a step away from her room, he heard a sound.
His footsteps came to a halt.
There, he heard it again.
He turned around and glanced at the half-ajar door quietly.
One sob followed by another.
The sound of those muffled sobs rooted him to his spot.
And it took him a moment to come back to his senses.
It might just be a personal moment to her but she was his wife. Though their wedding was not legit in many ways, but she was still his wife.
And he deserved to know if it was this relationship that got her crying like that because for as far as he could remember, since the day she came clean about the kind of person she was, he had not seen her crying.
Then what was this again? Which side of her was this?
He pushed open the door. All she loved was money. Hell, he promised her that then what's the matter with her?
Today, he was going to get an explanation from her.
But his expressions shifted the moment his gaze landed on her.
It was not a sight that he expected to witness. Not in his wildest imagination.
The blanket was lying down on the floor and Elvina was sleeping on the round bed.
Her body was curled up like that of a child as she hugged her knees, her long dark hair framing her face.
The sight of her tear-stained face invoked something complicated in his chest that he did not want to dwell on. Nothing good would come out of delving into it.
The sound of her muffled sobs resounded in the room.
Her lips moved as if she was trying to speak something but no words came out of her mouth.
Without giving it a second thought, Archer strode towards her, his steps hurried yet powerful.