Chapter 88 Chapter Eighty Eight
Sydney’s POV
I frowned when I checked the time. I hadn’t thought that Lucas would be involved in the family matters discussion until the door was jammed close with Lucas‘ back at me.
I decided to wait at the door of the conference room. I paced up and down the hallway, loitered at the door but he still was not outside yet.
Suddenly, the door was forcefully pushed open and Lucas stomped out. He seemed angry as he was walking with so much force.
“Lucas,” I called but he didn’t stop.
I ran after him. When I was at an arm’s length behind him, I reached out and grabbed his shoulder. “Come on, stop walking. “He
He stopped walking and I quickly walked around him to stand before him. He had an indifferent gaze as he looked down at him and my heart skipped a bit in fear. Fear of what?
I’m sorry. I didn’t choose to support you.”
“I told you to remain silent and we agreed that you would,” his voice was tinged with a mix of betrayal and confusion.
Well, I did not agree to remain silent, he instructed me to do it. I wanted to tell him that but whatever. It wasn’t like it would make him forgive me. So I said instead, “I’m sorry. It’s jus
that I promised Doris first, you know, she asked me to watch Mark’s back and I promised him that I would.”
“And when is that?” He asked irritably.
The time we went to the hospital together.”
He didn’t say anything for a while, he just regarded me until I was starting to think there was something on my face. And I had to toy with my fingers to keep my hands busy. I wanted to pull him to me and k*ss him and tell him that he didn’t need to bother himself with anything but I’m pretty sure he’d push me away if I tried to touch him or go closer to him.
My heart squeezed in my ch*st at the way he looked at me and I had to swallow to stop the tears from falling. The tenderness in his eyes when he looked down at me, the warmth..they weren’t there.
“Lucas?” I whispered.
As he continued to give me that long look, something that I couldn’t quite decipher flashed in his eyes, then it was gone as soon as it came. Then he smiled and my heart broke even more because the smile didn’t reach his eyes; his eyes didn’t twinkle like they usually do. The smile was bland and I wished I could just wipe it off his face.
“It’s okay, Syd.” He shrugged nonchalantly, “Maybe this is the helplessness in the business world.” His smile twitched and he added, “I often wonder though, if our childhood memories can ever match your marriage with Mark.”
“What?” My brows creased in confusion. When did we migrate from business to childhood. memories and marriage?
“Even before now, you always seemed so concerned about Mark. You claim that the divorce was what you wanted, yet you kept tabs on the man who made your marriage life miserable.”
I felt the V on my forehead deepened, “I never kept tabs on Mark. I don’t keep tabs on –” “Maybe, we should take a break.”
My heart skipped a beat and my words froze in my m*uth. Now where’s that coming from?
I tried to calm my fast beating heart. He said maybe, so it was still negotiable.
“Why would we do that?”
Chapter 58 Chapter Fighty Light
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He shrugged and opened his m*uth to speak but I interrupted him. “You don’t love met
anymore, is that it? The love you always proclaim you have for me us gone so now you want to break up with me?”
He gave me another look then smiled again. I swear I wanted to slap that smile off his face. “Sydney, Mark wants me back to Italy, maybe this is a good opportunity for us to think about this question.”
I took a step back and looked at him. I mean I seriously looked at him. I was so shocked by his words that everything flew out of my head.
“Mark wants you, I finally blurted out. “Tell me Lucas, when did Mark start telling you what he wants you to do and when did you start listening to him?” Because all of these weren’t making
any sense.
“Okay. I have to go back to Italy.”
I looked at him incredulously. “Why?”
“Because I want to?”
“Lucas,” I hated that my voice quivered but I went on anyway, “Are you saying that you’re going back to Italy alone?”
I remembered the countless times he had asked me to come with him whenever he was going back. I had always told him to give me time. Eventually, he promised to take me to Italy to see where he lived all these years that we weren’t together, and now he wanted to go back alone. What does this mean? Am I being abandoned again? I finally found the man of my dreams, now this? So much for ‘I’ll never ever let you go again.
He stuck his hand in his pocket. Even though he was standing a few feet from me, I could see him drifting far away from me.
He nodded and looked into my eye as he responded, “Yes, I am going back alone. If I figure it out, I’ll contact you.”
“If!” I said incredulously. “What’s this, Lucas?” My voice trembled, “Some kind of business deal?” He threw his face away and I wanted to hold his face and look into his eyes and see that he was joking. He’d laugh out loud and I would too. Then he’d k*ss me and we’d go home. But I couldn’t hold his face and look into his eyes because all the latter would not happen unless I wanted to be delusional.
I swallowed and took a step forward. Even though my heart was sinking and all I wanted to do was run down the hallway, find a restroom and bawl out my eyes there, I managed to croak out,
Then I… can I go to the airport to see you off?” I stammered.
“No need.” Lucas immediately answered in a cl*pped tone. His response was definite.
And with that, he walked past me and walked down the hallway in long strides without a backward glance.
A lone tear slid down my cheeks as I watched his retreating figure. Just like that, he was gone again. It felt like I was hit on the face with a metal bucket and I shuffled closer to the wall to steady myself, thankful that I was alone in the hallway.
I leaned my head against the wall and sniffed quietly, unable to stop the tears from dropping. For the umpteenth time, I regretted my decision in coming for this stupid meeting. If I had. listened to Grace, all of these would not have happened; I wouldn’t have witnessed this foreign side to Lucas; the side that made me now wonder if it was Lucas that just broke up with me or someone else.
My hands shook as I unlocked my phone, sniffing. My sniffs were getting louder and I didn’t want anyone seeing me like this. My fingers trembled as I dialed Grace’s phone number. Suddenly, someone cleared their throat. I looked up, my vision slightly blurred by the tears that clouded in my eyes to see Mark leaning against the doorframe of the conference room. How long has he been there?
I stood upright. “What now?” I folded my arms across my ch*st to hide my trembling hands.
Chapter 88 Chapter Eighty Light
“How satisfying do you find watching me make a fool of myself? I bet you’ve been waiting to mock me I tried to make my voice sound clear and calm, angry even. Maybe I could pour out all the anger I couldn’t direct towards Lucas for dumping him into whatever stupid conversation he was about to have with me.
Instead of a snarky comeback, Mark surprised me when he sighed. His eyes didn’t hold that mocking or mischievous glint I expected to find there.
There was a lazy aura to the way he looked at me, a tenderness that confused me was directed at
me
“How could I mock you?” With a serious expression, he said, I’ve completely fallen in love with you. In this game of love, you’ve completely won. From now on, I have no deception, no trickery for you, only complete submission.”
Okay! He definitely lost his memory and I just pitied him more. I just hope he doesn’t go about flamboyantly declaring his love to random girls and women.
He pushed himself away from the doorframe and awkwardly remained before the door. I thought the silence that descended made this even weirder until he started to fiddle with his fingers.
Okay. What?
Realizing his unusual action, he quickly stopped fiddling with his fingers and dug them into his pocket. As if he didn’t know what to do with his hands and himself, he removed his hands from his pocket before he dug one of his hands back in and took out a cigarette and a lighter.
I watched as he prepared to light the cigarette. He laughed nervously and said jokingly, his words slightly muffled because of the cigarette between his l*ps. “Say something, your silence makes my confession sound like a joke.”
“Don’t smoke, the doctor just told me I’m pregnant.”
