A frown immediately appeared on his face as he looked at me with a puzzled expression. But before he could open his mouth to utter another word, I threw the envelope onto the floor, watching it land right in front of his feet with a soft thud.
"What the hell? Why did you do that?" He sneered with a disdainful scorn. "What is this?" He asked as his gaze flickered down to examine the plain, unsuspecting envelope lying on the ground.
I forced my lips upwards into a smile as I shrugged casually before I leaned back into my chair. "I don't know. Open it."
He clicked his tongue in annoyance before sucking in a deep breath and bending over to pick it up. I watched with amusement twinkling in my eyes, seeing the way his fingers trembled slightly as he tore the envelope open frantically.
Anticipation hung on my face as a smirk started to tug at the corners of my lips. His eyes scanned the document in a hurry and realisation finally dawned upon him. His eyes shot wide open, a mixture of surprise and joy swirling in the depths of his eyes.
"The baby is mine?" He asked, his voice laced with a hint of excitement and hope as a surprise expression masked his features in a split second. "Why didn't you tell me?"
A cold chuckle emerged from my lips upon hearing the words that left his lips. "I told you. But you didn't believe me," I replied curtly, my voice carrying a sharp edge to it. "Do you finally believe me now?"
His features softened immediately, a hint of regret in his eyes as he walked up to me, closing the gap between us in a hurry.
"I believe you, Aurelia. Of course I believe you."
He tried to reach out to grab onto my arms but I pulled back almost immediately, recoiling at his touch. What was supposed to be happy news in the past was now a bitter one, forever tainted by the day he showed up over 2 hours late to our second wedding anniversary dinner.
"You do?" I asked, I was mostly emotionless, maybe numb would be a better word to describe how I was feeling at that moment. "I could have forged the paternity test results, you know?" I retorted bitterly, the words leaving a sour taste in my mouth as the memories from before came flooding my mind in an instant.
He smiled at me. "No, I know you wouldn't do that." He paused for a brief moment and I could almost hear the gears in his head shifting as we locked eyes. "You know how much I wanted to start a family with you. Why don't we get back together and make things work? We can try couples' therapy and we can raise our child together."
"Our child? By blood, I guess but you are not seeing this child," I spat.
"It's too late now," I continued to mutter under my breath. "I'm married to someone else now."
"You can always divorce him right? You barely know that man. Not like us, we have been together for years. You wouldn't want your child to grow up without his father right?"
I let out a loud scoff. "I'm not divorcing my husband. Did you really think I would just let you back into my life like that? After what you did? And what about Stella? Don't you want to be with her?"
"Stella? I told you many times, she's just a friend. She doesn't mean anything to me," he quickly explained as he placed his hand on my arm, only for me to shove him off within the next second. "Trust me, Aurelia. I promise I will take good care of you and our baby. I will make it up to you and Stella will be out of the picture."
I let out a breath and looked up to meet his soft gaze. For a moment there, I saw the old Blake I used to know, the man I fell for over 2 years ago and I felt my heart wavered a little but I quickly shook off the feeling. I cannot fall for this.
"No," I finally said after the silence stretched between us for what seemed like an eternity.
"There's nothing you can do to make it up to me. You had two years to make up to me but you never did anyway. How do you expect me to believe that you will change this time?" I questioned and the harsh reality of my words hit him like a brick falling from the sky.
"I promise, this time I will. I'm sorry I didn't believe you the first time," he apologised unexpectedly, taking me by surprise.
But I wouldn't listen, nothing he said was going to change my mind. I cannot forget the way he made me feel for the past two years, how I always come second to Stella. I'm probably only number one because of the baby I'm carrying, without the baby, I will only forever be number two.
"I don't need your apology," I said, my voice remained cold and unwavering as a distant expression masked my features. "Get out of my office," I demanded through gritted teeth.
"Aurelia, please…" he pleaded, desperation evident in his hoarse voice.
I wasn't planning on budging an inch though as I remained unfazed by his pleas.
"Get out, now."
***
Xavier had promised to make it up to me the other day, so here we are, sitting at the rooftop of this fancy restaurant on a chilly evening.
He had booked out the entire rooftop, leaving only the two of us sitting alone while everyone else was sitting indoors where the air was filled with chatter and the clinking of the utensils.
I glanced down to see the food on the table and the bouquet of flowers he had gotten me, they were my favourite flowers, tulips, basic I know. I don't remember telling him what my favourite flowers were, but maybe it slipped my tongue and I had just forgotten all about it.
The image from earlier popped into my head at this moment, him showing up at the door, in front of me, holding the bouquet of fresh tulips in his hand, with a bright smile plastered across his face.
"For you," he had said, the charming smile on his face could have melted my heart there and then.
"Aurelia?" I heard my name left his lips, his voice snapping me back to the present. I blinked a couple of times and looked at him with a blank look etched onto my face as I sat up straighter this time.
"Hmm?"
"What's on your mind?" He asked with a raised brow, amusement dancing in his dark eyes as his eyes held mine captive.
"Nothing," I answered much too quickly, eliciting a low chuckle from him.
"Anyway, I got a surprise for you," he announced as he let a smile fall on his face, a hint of excitement laced his deep voice.
My mind buzzed with thoughts. What surprise? I couldn't hold back the smile that was starting to appear on my lips. I watched as he reached into one of those fancy dark coloured paper bags with a shiny finish. Printed on it was the word "GRAFF".
Recognition flashed past my face but before I could say anything, I watched in surprise as he pulled out the box from inside and opened it to reveal a diamond necklace. It had a small diamond bow slightly off center, glistening under the moonlight. There was no doubt that this was definitely very expensive. Expensive was probably an understatement too.
I gasped in awe, my hands flew to cover my lips. "No… you shouldn't have…"
He smirked. "Well, what can I do? My wife said she expected nothing less than a diamond necklace," he reminded, shooting me a playful wink and I could feel the heat rush to my cheeks in an instant. He remembered.
I laughed as my cheeks were now tinged red. "I was just joking –"
He stood up from his seat and walked towards me, as I remained seated. He stood behind me, I could feel his body heat on the nape of my neck, radiating off every inch of his body. He carefully reached forward to help me wear the necklace.
I smiled. My hand was reaching up to gently touch the necklace that was resting against my exposed collarbones.
"Thank you –" the words barely left the tip of my tongue when an unfamiliar voice reached my ears.
"Sir, Ma'am, you are not allowed up here!" The voice warned desperately and hurried footsteps followed behind, interrupting the moment.
I whipped my head around in an instant and my eyes widened slightly as they landed on familiar faces.
It was then, a sharp voice pierced through the air, taunting us.
"Fancy seeing you two here. Are we interrupting your little date?!"