"How do you think they would feel? Do you think they would make you leave him?" She mused with a satisfied grin plastered across her face. "Or do you think they would force him to divorce you then you would have to go crawling back to your ex-husband?" She taunted relentlessly as a smirk tugged at the corners of her lips.
I felt my heart sink to the pit of my stomach at that instant. How did she know? How did she find out?
It was only then did I realise that I have never met his parents ever since we got married, in fact, he hadn't mentioned them to me at all for whatever reason.
Doubt began to creep into my mind within the next second. Was there a reason that I haven't met them? Maybe he didn't think it was necessary, or maybe he wasn't close to his parents? Or maybe there was more to it and he was hiding something from me that I didn't even know.
My imagination started to run wild as a million thoughts swirled at the back of my mind. I felt as though my brain was going to burst with all the questions that started to pile up and fill up my mind. I was starting to scare myself with baseless thoughts and questions that kept popping into my mind, so I quickly shook off the unsettling feeling.
I didn't let my unease show as I kept my voice steady and let out a low chuckle which seemed to piss her off.
"Is that all you got?" I laughed as my heart hammered inside my chest. "What makes you think they don't already know? Come on… Evelyn… I thought you were better than this," I mocked and watched as her face turned red and an angry expression masked her features in a split second.
She sucked in a deep breath to calm herself down as the corners of her lips twitched upwards into a slight smile that stretched across her face. "You think you are so tough, huh?" She spat the words out like they were poison in her mouth. "Then what about your mum? She is still working in my house," she reminded with a smug look plastered across her face, changing the subject effortlessly when her initial threat did not successfully bother me like she hoped for.
I didn't say anything, letting her continue. "Aren't you afraid that I'm going to make her life a living hell? Aren't you scared of what we might do?" She warned, her sharp voice icy as her features hardened with a cold expression. "We could fire her and she would lose her job, you wouldn't like that, would you?"
"I don't care what you do to her. She doesn't consider me as her daughter so she's not my mother either," I declared resolutely with a distant look etched onto my face despite that slight ache I felt in my heart. "You can have her if you want. Do whatever you want, it won't affect me or change my mind."
She chuckled. "Damn, Aurelia…I didn't know you were that heartless. She's still your mother afterall," she commented as she leaned forward, her face barely inches away from mine. "Don't you care at all?"
"Call me heartless if you wish but you know nothing is going to make me sign that," I reiterated, my voice unwavering as I remained unbothered by her snide remarks. "I'm not going to put my company at risk."
She smiled. "Sure, don't sign it. But that wouldn't stop me," she said with an amused smile playing on her lips, already relishing in whatever she had planned in her mind. "I will see you again anyway," she taunted before spinning on her heels to leave.
***
I knocked on his office door.
"I'm coming in!" I announced.
I didn't wait for his reply before I pushed the door open with a small smile etched onto my face. The door flew open and my eyes landed on an empty dimmed room and he was nowhere to be seen. In an instant, my smile faltered and my brows furrowed together to form a tiny frown resting on my face.
Immediately, I reached for my phone and shot him a text.
"Hey, where are you? Did you forget about our dinner plans? >:("
A soft ding reached my ears shortly after and my eyes glanced down to scan his reply.
"Sorry babe, I'm outside with a client now. I will make it up to you, I promise."
I couldn't help but to let a small smile creep up to my face, he knew exactly what to say as always. The disappointment that was once swirling inside of me started to fade away in the next few seconds.
Just as I was about to tuck my phone away into my back pocket, I watched as the screen of my phone lit up brightly once again. Anticipation was evident on my face as I looked down at the text, thinking that he must have texted me something.
But instead, I was greeted with a text.
"Isn't that… your husband?" The text read, it was from an anonymous number.
Right under the text was a picture of a woman wrapping her arm around a man, seemingly looking close and intimate. They were clearly in a hotel lobby, the sign board visible at the back.
Recognition flashed past my eyes at that moment. That familiar back, that silhouette, I could recognise it from a mile away even if I didn't want to.
No… It couldn't be… he wouldn't lie to me right? There must be some kind of explanation.
I felt my heart drop and the world stopped spinning all at once as I couldn't tear my gaze off my phone screen as if my eyes were permanently glued to it. My mind was struggling to accept and comprehend the reality that I was faced with, as feelings of denial, betrayal and anger engulfed me entirely.
I wished I was seeing things. I wished I was wrong. But there was no denying now.
Xavier was with another woman.