I looked up at him with wide eyes, shocked by his sudden accusation as hurt flashed past my eyes for a fleeting second. Although I was the one who mentioned divorce, he was still once the man I loved with all my heart. I couldn't help but feel a small wave of hurt wash over me after he accused me of infidelity when I have been nothing but faithful and loving to him after all these years.
But I quickly suppressed it, hiding it with an angry expression that masked my features instead, not mentioning a word about it.
There was a brief pause as my mind continued to buzz with thoughts but I raised my arms to forcefully push him away from me, creating a small distance between us.
"What the hell are you talking about?! I didn't cheat on you, I wasn't the one bringing another woman home," I muttered bitterly, the words leaving a sour taste in my mouth.
He scoffed loudly, rolling his eyes dramatically in response.
"Don't lie to me Aurelia," he said through gritted teeth as he clenched his jaw tightly. He leaned in closer to me, his face barely inches away from mine. "I know what you have been up to."
A cold chuckle left my parted lips as I looked at him with a distant expression that masked my features. "What exactly have I been up to, huh?" I questioned with a raised brow, my tone carrying a sharp edge to it.
"Fucking around and getting pregnant," he spat the words out like they were poison in his mouth as he looked at me with a mixture of contempt and disdain swimming in his eyes. "Yeah, your mum called to tell me. I know you are pregnant with some other man's child!"
I half-expected it to be my mum who probably told him out of pure spite. I didn't react, unfazed by the insults and crude remarks he hurled at me mercilessly. Instead, silence stretched between the two of us for a moment as I looked at him dead in his eyes, the corners of my lips slowly curling upwards into a small smile of defiance.
"I don't know what she told you but I'm pregnant with your baby," I announced and within a split second, I watched as his face fell as if his world had collapsed before his very own eyes. I could see the way his mind struggled to comprehend the words that had just left my lips but alas, another scoff left his lips.
"No, there's no way, the baby isn't mine. It must be the new guy's child, that's why you were so eager to get married, right?" He sneered, clearly in denial as he spoke, shaking his head lightly. "You are lying to me!" He yelled, his voice dripping with accusation as he slammed his clenched fist on the wall behind me, landing next to my head.
My breath hitched in my throat at the sudden movement and escalation but I appeared calm as I looked up at him, not moving an inch. "I'm not lying," I insisted, remaining adamant as I balled my fists tightly beside me, adrenaline pumping in every single vein inside of me.
"It can't be…" his voice trailed off as he lowered his hand, falling back to his side. "We used protection every time, and I always make sure to be extra careful. Besides, we haven't been sleeping together for some time, so it's not mine."
A humourless chuckle emerged from my throat as tension continued to crackle in the air between us while we stared at one another.
"You are right… we did," I muttered under my breath with my head hung low before I lifted my head to meet his gaze. "Guess I'm just that unlucky, huh," I commented curtly, my sharp words piercing right through his chest and stabbing at his ego.
His eyes widened with rage as a fiery blaze burned in the depths of his eyes.
"You!" He snarled and slammed his palm onto the wall behind me without a single warning. "Well, I'm telling you right now that I'm not interested in raising someone else's child. Either get a paternity test or abort it or put it up for adoption, I don't care! Don't expect me to pay a single cent for this kid," he said, each word that rolled off the tip of his tongue was coated with a thick layer of venom.
A smirk tugged at the corners of my lips as I looked at him, a knowing look twinkling in my dark brown eyes.
"Don't worry. I wasn't planning on raising my child with someone like you," I declared confidently as I straightened my posture and my features hardened. "I found someone much better than you are," I said intentionally, knowing how much that would hurt his fragile ego.
He scoffed loudly and his face was now flushed red, he was clearly affected by whatever I had just said. He narrowed his eyes into thin slits as he glared at me intensely, so much so that he could burn holes right through my skull.
"Xavier? That piece of trash? Just because he's rich doesn't mean anything. Trust me, he's not going to stick around for long," he uttered bitterly with a disdainful scorn.
"Are you just saying that because you yourself can't stick around for long?" I retorted as defiance glimmered in my dark eyes.
He looked as though he wanted to scream and shout at me, but he quickly held his tongue when he realised the walls of this meeting room weren't as thick as he thought. He sucked in a deep breath and glared at me with an intense gaze.
"Good luck raising the kid alone then."
***
Words spread faster than the wildfire.
"Did you see? I saw them walk out together."
Laughter filled the air as a few of them stood together at the pantry area, casually gossiping.
"Yeah, I saw Blake stomped out of the meeting room before and a few seconds later, Aurelia came walking out of that very same room!"
They started to nod in agreement, anticipation swirling in their eyes as a smile graced their lips.
"I heard that Aurelia and Blake divorced and she immediately married Xavier," another woman chimed in enthusiastically. "How shameless, she must have seduced or slept with him to become the company's vice president!"
They burst into another round of laughter once again.
"Are you guys done yet?"