women,
Chapter 7 – Answers in Plain Sight
Upon entering the hospital room and seeing the woman sitting next to Sebastian’s bed, Madeline’s eyes for towed. The way her palm rested on the bed’s edge seemed all too famill, and her presence was almost casual. Madeline’s presence equally surprised Sebastian, who lay there looking confused, his face flushed with surpalse,
“Uh, I’m sorry, who are you? the doctor asked, du ecting his question to Madeline. Just as Sebastian opened his mouth to speak, Madeline cut him off with a calm, try tone.
“I’m his fiancée” she replied, her engagement ring shining in the thaorescent hospital lights as she held up her left hand. She turned to look at the woman at his bed,
*Is this the “meeting you claimed to have?” she asked, het voice Deed with satrasm
Thinking she was talking to him, Sebastian blinked and tried to stammer out an explanation, but Madeline’s piercing paze made it clear the wasn’t.
She turned to face the woman next to him, whom Madeline secognized right away as the event planner who had left their office the previous day, saying she had another “meeting” to
attend
A wave of realizations swept over her at that moment. Sebastian had already departed without even waiting for her to awaken. Eager to meet this woman, he had hurled out so early in the morning that he didn’t care if it meant waiting for her.
Making Madeline wait didn’t bother him, but he woulkha’t date make this woman
nan wait, Madeline’s lace was a mask of control, and she forced a tight grin to hide the tempest that was building
“Ms. Graves?” the doctor’s voice interrupted gently, prepared to relay Sebastian’s medical condition,
She glanced at him, het polite smilewwavering
“Thank you, Doctor, but you don’t need to bother yourself. It seem to have a meeting to attend”
She gave Sebastian a sharp look while speaking in a sharp tone.
Madeline turned to go, and he started, obviously taken aback by her statement, trying to get her attention, but she looked right throught him. Pulling her shouldersback, Madeline left the room and strode down the hallway. When he saw her, Liam, who had been pacing the corridor uneasily, rushed over, his face flushed with worry,
“Maddie,” he began, but Madeline brushed past him without a word, shoving him out of her way as she exited the hospital
at her car. She struggled to control her
She arched the steering wheel as the tears she had suppressed began to pour down her cheeks and overwhel her vision as soon as she arrived at her car. 5 emotions, to suppress the hurt, uncertainty, and rage, but they weupted like an uncontrollable tsunami.
Her breathing became more deliberate and lower as the minutes went by, and she blinked the tears away, unwilling to cry any more. Alter gathering hersell, she started the car and deve home after she was at last calm enough to do so.
necessities and moved methodically back to the house. She changed into a more professional dress and wiped away
With a newfound feeling of purpose, she packed up her laptop and work necessiti the last of her team while loolding at her image in the glass.
Her expression had transmeton of quiet closure, she was drowning in doubt and questions, and she didn’t have to be here. She had always given her all to her profession, and at the
Madine herself grounded by immersing herself in articles and deadlines throughout the morning. She attended meetings, completed drafts, and answered emails
As she plunged herself into the duties at hand, her attention focused on things she could control, every second mattered, she was so engrossed in her work by noon that it was nearly possible to forget the treachery she had seen so vividly that morning
She remembered how exted she had previously been at the prospect of spending her life with him, but now, the ring on her finger felt heavier than ever when she glanced down at it, that enthusiasm had given way to a question that hung between them like a chasm, a frigid tread.
Throwing the thoughts to the side, Madeline went back to work eager to put her fears aside. She wasn’t going to allow her concentration to waver now that she had persevered through the
Every email the sent and every assignment she finished served as a reminder that she was still herself, competent, motivated, and in charge of her own life.
It had been a long and exhausting day at work, yet strangely rejuvenating for Madeline. She felt somewhat in control for the first time in days. She had lost herself in her job, putting an end to the uncertainties and concerns that had been bothering her all day.
As she gathered her belongings, she experienced an odd sense of calm, a coating of fatigue enveloping any residual anguish or rage. She had demonstrated today that she could get by without him, without his explanations or apologies.
But something dew her attention as she got closer to the building she knew well. She saw two figures standing by the building entrance in the weak light leaking from a streetlamp ahead. Her stomach fell when the realized it was Sebastian, whose towering figure was instantly recognizable. The event planner, the same woman from the hospital, was standing in front of him. Instinctively, Madeline slowed her car, her eyes narrowing as she took in the image. From the street, she could see them clearly, Sebastian and the woman were embroiled in what seemed
The glass of her car window obscured the precise words, but their faces were close and their voices were high. U
Unable to take her e
eyes off it, Madeline clamped her hands over the steering
The woman stepped away from him and turned, her face contorted with rage as she shook her head in exasperation. However, Sebastian grabbed her by the arm as the attempted to walk away, his hand gripping her tightly as he drew her back into him.
Watching him put his arms around the woman from behind, an intimate action that hurt even from a distance, made Madeling’s heart sink and she scoffed. For a sin, the woman leaned back into him as her shoulders sapped, perhaps giving into his grip.
caught a last sight of them wrapped in the embrace as she drove past them, glancing momentarily in the rearview mirror. They hadn’t even considered looking, let alone spotted her She seemed to be a ghost, moving down the street undetected, as though she were just another person.
She had an odd sensation of relief, and retained her attention to the road. Tonight, they would be no sobo frantic requests for an explanation, she didn’t need them. She was too worn out from the exhausting day toyen consider himes mustes the strength to confront h
There was no need for more questions, she’d been given the answer she’d been searching for, even if it was one she hadn’t wanted to find.
Chapter 8 – His First Love
Tarly in the morning, Madeline crept in the stood there observing blin with a slij
od in silence as the daylight prekedthen
reked through the custaim. Seba
ins. Sebastian’s chest was rising and falling steallly, still sound asleep. For a bilet period,
Even though his actions hadcausedher so much pain, he was still able to sleep soumilly next to her. Perhaps she would explain to him what it was like to be abandoned today.
Before he could wake up, the quieth pot dressed and got ready for work before sneaking out the door. She felt a sense of contuel that she hadn’t experienced in a long time, even though the satisfaction of leaving without saying anything to him was slight, Madeline ended up taking a diversion on hen drive, directing her vehicle in the direction of the event planners stoce
She didn’t intend to stir up trouble, but her curiosity, and perhaps a bit of sentment, made her want to visit this place. There was silence in the tiny shop when she entered, a flicket of ignition appeared on the face of the woman behind the counter, and the frore. Although she appeared to be about to sprak, Madeline was the first to speak as she interrupted her, “Close yonit minith, hun, belone a fly enters” she said abruptly.
trame here to get my wedding reservatios canceled, Put them out of your bookings. I’ll be taking my business elsewhere”
The woman’s strained, defensier voice halted her as she turned to go. A more smug grin apprated on the woman’s face as she stammered.
Madeline paused and looked at her,
e?” She said.
“Sebastian has already paid for everything”
Madeline squinted her eyes and calmly answered,
“Then keep the money. Scavenging around engaged men, you look like
As the woman’s face Hushed with rage, she sprang forward and grabbed a handful of Madeline’s hair before Madeline realized what was happening. Making use of her reflexes, Madeline pulled
the and reached out to give the mount a hard slap arous the face.
Altes a belef struggle, the other staff members heard the commotion and harried in to break up the altercation,
“Landly! “Tamily, please stop!” one of Emily’s friends shouted, restraining the woman. The name was like a shot to Madeline, Sebastian’s first love, Emily, whom he would never be able to
As Madeline’s suspicions coiled like a vice an end her heart, the felt the pieces come together in ind. This wasn’t just a passing fascination, this was the woman Sebastian had loved and talked about so lovingly when he was younger, she felt chilly and hollow after coming to this sealization.
She pulled herself together, straightened her hair, and þurried out of the building without saying another word, she could hardly control her feelings as her heart raced as she walked, she felt resentful at the thought that Sebastian halind only cheated on her but had also reignited a comantic interest with his first love
She was so angry and hust that she was barely alde to control it. Her knuckles were white on the steering wheel as she attived at her car and drove away. She realized she couldn’t go to work looking like this after noticing het messy appearance in the rearview mİLLDI
Shebetelly thought about returning home, but the last thing she wanted was to be by herself, where he thoughts would be consumed by everything she had just discovered.
Rather, she looked down at her list of things to do, focusing on the wedding gown fitting, her lips formed a parcastic solle. Was she even still interested in holding the wedding? Her feelings were so confused that she could hardly make sense of them, and the notion left her feeling numb.
Perhaps, though, she had to fish it, it only to feel somewhat at place, the arrived as the bridal boutique, entered, and smiled strainedly at the employees. They brought her to a dressing room with immaculate white dresses, which seemed oddly out of place given the flurry of feelings she was experiencing
Madeline put on a series of dresses, but none of them seemed quite right. As though she were staring at a stranger, her mirror gazed back at her with a cold, indifferent expression.
At last, the staff brought out a gown that was solter, simples, and devoid of the elaborate decorations and beading of the others, something changed in her as she slipped into it. The clath whispried about her as she walked, and it was subtle yet lovely. When the originally dreamed of this day, she had pictured hersell wearing a dress similar to this one.
She walked out to the big mirror and stated at her reflection as a strange silence descended upon her. This should have been a time of excitement and expectation, but instead she felt an though she was observing herself from a distance, as though someone else was wearing the dress she had once imagined.
She didn’t linges of allow heasell to become engrossed in the prospect of what could have been. An emptiness settled in her chest as she looked at herself, she had made an effort to exercise patience and to assume the best of Sebastian.
But all she fell was hollow as she stood here in a dress that ought to have represented a future with him. Despite its beauty, the gown had come to represent a promise that now
“That’s the one. That’s perfect” a deep voler said behind her.
Startled, Madeline kooked up in the minor to see a tall, familiar figure standing behind her.
