Ivan's eyes widened, his face was written shocked all over it, his palm ball into a fist as anger surge through him.
"Who is he?" He asked in a calm voice.
"Who is the fucking bastard you're opening your legs to." Autumn wasn't shocked by the slightest, this was the same man who accused her of an affair and didn't believe their child was theirs.
Autumn tried to turn away, but Ivan's grip was unyielding. He grasped her arm, his fingers digging into her skin as he forced her to face him. His eyes, once warm and loving, now burned with a desperate intensity.
"Baby, please," he whispered, his voice laced with a hint of desperation.
Autumn's eyes widened in shock, but her primary focus was on escaping Ivan's suffocating hold. She tried to wriggle free, but he refused to release her.
"I-I'm sorry, Autumn," Ivan stammered, his words tumbling out in a rush. "Please, give me another chance. You don't need to lie to me about your affair."
Autumn's gaze narrowed, her eyes squinting as if asking Ivan why he would even suggest such a thing. Her mind raced with confusion and fear, unsure of how to respond.
Ivan's face twisted in a mixture of anger and sadness. "Look at you," he sneered, his voice dripping with malice. "Who would want you but me?"
With all her might Autumn pushed Ivan away from her. Her gaze burning with fury. "It doesn't matter who would want me Ivan. I don't love you anymore." A gasp left Autumn's lips, she finally said it.
Ivan looked at her searching for her face. "Then who is this man you're in love with?" Ivan asked Autumn who just shrugged not caring to explain. A smile spread across her lips.
"It's someone you know." She said but that wasn't enough to quench Ivan's curiosity. Infact he was more annoyed but he knew Autumn was just playing hard to get.
He had never seen her look at another man for the entirety of their marriage, no matter where he was as long as he was in the room she would always look at him and he purposely flirts with other women to piss her off.
"Alright Autumn, if you show me this man you speak of and I approve of him we can consensually get a divorce." Ivan smiled with his eyes. It was obvious to him that Autumn was just playing games, this was just his call to impress her and have her licking the very heel of his shoe like she always did. Autumn would never leave him even if she had another man, his father would never allow it.
"Consensually?" Autumn echoed, holding Ivan's gaze. "What's the difference if you were going to divorce me on our anniversary?" Autumn knew she had strike a nerve when his eyes simmered with confusion. How did she know about the divorce?
"You don't need to meet my lover, you have Iris and I have my lover. Let's just divorce." Autumn said which left Ivan feeling a bit blindsided.
"My father would never allow it, you know that Autumn unless he's six feet under." Ivan was right, when he proposed a divorce her father in law scolded her to save face and so she resulted to an open marriage. She knew her father in-law was the reason her husband was doing all this and not because Ivan suddenly loved her.
Because when Maverick Ashton died, the first thing he did was run to Iris to warm her bed.
"Alright then I suppose a divorce is too rash. We should settle on an open marriage then." Autumn could not believe she's settling on what she suggested in her past life. But she had no choice for now.
"Are you still going to be seeing your lover?" Ivan asked.
Autumn chuckled. "Isn't that what an open marriage is all about? We see other people while we're in a marriage." Autumn found it ridiculous she was explaining this simple rule to Ivan.
Ivan shove his hands in his pockets.
"But as a married woman you're not supposed to partake in such conduct. What would people think of you?" Ivan said as Autumn remained stunned.
"Are you going to see Iris during the entirety of the open marriage?" Autumn asked.
"Yes. She's the love of my life and since you suggested an open marriage it's only right if I see her, don't you think?" Ivan said boldly as if kicking her to the gut. She was furious and kept thinking how she came to be obsessed with the bastard.
Her eyes seemed to have betrayed her as a single tear stream down her cheek.
"So you can sleep around with my half sister but I can't see my lover because of some damn reputation?" Autumn's voice was shaking as the wet hot tears didn't seem to stop.
"Men are polygamous in nature, it's natural for me to want to sleep outside of marriage, a woman sleeping outside of marriage is just bringing shame to her family." Ivan said and Autumn felt as if her brain was lagging at his lecture.
It's as if every straw of hope she was hanging on to was being plucked one by one. Her stomach turned at the thought of her next question.
"During the entirety of our marriage... did you ever love me, Ivan?" Autumn's words hung in the air like a challenge, her voice barely above a whisper.
The silence that followed was oppressive, a heavy fog that suffocated the room. Autumn's gaze drifted to the rich wooden floor, her eyes searching for answers that seemed to be swallowed by the shadows.
Ivan's face remained frozen, his expression a mask of indecision. His lips parted, as if to speak, but the words refused to emerge. The silence stretched like a taut rubber band ready to snap.
And then, just as the tension seemed unbearable, Ivan's phone shattered the stillness, its shrill ring cutting through the air like a scream. He hesitated for a moment, his eyes darting towards Autumn before answering, his voice low and urgent. "What? Iris is at the hospital? I'll be right there."