He was tapping his feet against the tiles rapidly as he peeled off the seal of a brown envelope delivered from the hospital to his doorstep a while ago. His heart was racing, and he began to sweat profusely. His shivering body was telling the whole story.
Glancing through the white sheet, he read every single word. He felt his stomach twist when reading the conclusion. This was his worst fear, and it came to reality– he was Anastatia's biological father. He wished he never witnessed a day like that.
He was doomed. His entire life was full of ups and downs, but he never imagined himself stranded in such difficult situation.
…
"We were supposed to have lunch together. But what did you do? You left without informing me. Then all you could do was ignore my texts and calls? Like what the heck has come over you? You got me worried all night, and now you're acting like I don't matter."
"I've told you, there's nothing to worry about. I just want to be left alone. I need time to crack my head, don't you get?"
"Can you stop being a dick, and tell me what is going on? I'm your fiancee–"
He clenched his fist, raised his voice and suddenly slammed his hands on the table. "Just leave!"
Her heart almost jumped out.
"So… sorry," she stammered, her whole body trembling in fear as she walked shakily to the door. She didn't dare look back at him. She held the tears in her eyes as she ran towards the washroom where she cried out a river.
The lights in the washroom flickered, and went off when a pair of masculine arms wrapped around her, the sweet staleness of tobacco enveloped her, and she shivered, staring at the shadow of the dark figure with her blurry vision.
"Don't touch me," she pushed him away, but his grip was firm.
"I didn't give up on finding you," he whispered in her ears.
"Ja… Jasper?" she gasped, turning around to face him. His grey eyes met hers. The same eyes she had longed to see in ages.
"Right." His voice, sweet as ever. He tucked in strands of her hair behind her ears.
"Wh–"
"I need to go. He is coming."
"Who? Jasper, please wait." She looked around, but he was no more. He vanished, and power was restored.
"Amore, are you alright?" A voice came from behind.
It was that of Adrian. She ran over and threw her arms around him.
"He has to be somewhere close," she kept on saying, with a rapid increase in her heartbeat.
He shook his head in disbelief. "There's no one here, except us. Don't be scared. I'll always protect you, I promise."
Was she hallucinating?
She was quite sure she wasn't imagining things some minutes ago, but now, she was left with doubts, not knowing what to believe. Nevertheless, there was possibly one way she could figure everything out and be convinced by the truth.
…
"Tell me that you don't love me and I mean nothing to you."
"Of course, you mean the entire world to me. I'm sorry for pulling up an act, but I couldn't help it. I was mad at myself, then I lost it. You know, I do care a lot about your feelings–"
"No, you don't. This is nonsense! It's obvious that you're hiding something from me. But why? Why do you choose to keep things away from me?" she ranted.
"Yes, you deserve to know the truth, but currently, you wouldn't be able to handle it. Trust me, the truth hurts–"
"Stop it, Adrian! You're creeping the hell outta me. Tell me everything, or we're ending this."
"It won't matter, Zoey. Either ways, the fucking truth will end us."
"Are you having an affair outside our relationship?"
"No, babe. It's beyond that."
"Fucking say it!"
"You want to hear the truth, right? Well, I had a daughter all these years. And you know what? I never had an idea until this day, and I didn't know how to tell you because I was scared. It has ruined the plans I had for us in the future. Me, you and our future kids. Everything is ruined now. We were supposed to have a happy home, but this happened. I know saying sorry and having regrets won't change a thing, but I don't know what else to do…"
He went on his knees before her, staring into her teary eyes. "Will you ever forgive me?"
"Yeah, sure. I mean, why not?" She smiled, holding back the tears that threatened to fall. "But I would never forgive myself for loving you."
Those words broke him apart.