Chapter 84
Ciara was hastily walking out of the venue as if she were running away from the danger. But then, when she remembered that she had guards watching for her and Shane was still in jail, she slowed down a bit, as she could even feel herself tensing
“Ciara,” a familiar voice called.
She swallowed hard. She could hear his voice nearing her as she was now walking slowly.
She stopped and glanced at the back and saw Callum’s steps slow down as well when Clara’s guards showed up, like thunders flocking in front of her, and one of them even blocked Callum from approaching.
“Step backward, sir. You are now overstepping her boundary,” the guard warned.
Callum raised his hand to show that he meant no harm.
“I won’t do anything,” he said assuringly, his head tilting to the side and looking at Clara to send a signal “Can we talk? For a bit
Ciara gritted her teeth. She felt like Callum knew she was donating to the orphanage, and she was coming today; that is why he came as well, so they would collide.
But then, her name wasn’t exposed in donating, and her decision to go to the event was a last–minute decision as well. So it was impossible that Callum knew about it.
They hold their gazes again. Ciara has a long silence while the guards are also waiting for her decision
“Just a moment, under your condition. Wherever you like,” he added, letting her know that he wouldn’t force things.
Ciara’s mind was screaming no, and she just ran. But her therapist’s words would always ring in her ear to stabilize her tangled emotions, which would create another disaster in her head.
Callum has given her space for years. He didn’t contact her, and he didn’t bother her as well. Though Callum’s desperation sometimes to see her and their daughter was at its peak, instead of coming near them, he would rather write them a letter.
Clara sighed and gestured to her bodyguards to let her talk to him for a while. They nodded, but then they would still keep an eye on them from a distance to monitor them, which is the main protocol that they should not take their eyes off of Ciara, especially when she’s in public.
Callum was a bit relieved that Ciara had let him talk to her for a while as he guided her to the private restaurant near the event, where they dined in for a while as Ciara’s guards could be seen from the distance watching them critically.
“Order anything you want. I’ll pay,” Callum insisted as he handed the menu.
Ciara shook her head. “I’m still full. Water will do
“Are you sure?” Callum asked and called for the waiter.
“Yes.
Callum still ordered something for them unless Ciara would be starving, and she wasn’t just saying it to him because she was having a major trust issue.
When the waiter left them two, Callum cleared his throat and looked at her gently,
“How are you? “He asked.
Fine,” she shrugged.
She wasn’t.
He has memorized her from the past so that even though she was hard to read sometimes, he would still get that small amount of hope in him that he could at least read her through her body language, as he has been practicing because he couldn’t read what’s on her
mind.
And to see the difference–the lifelessness in her eyes–made Callum a bit sad that he was seeing the aftermath of what she had been through and the trauma she wore till that day as it reflected in her eyes.
“Do you w
you want to talk about it?” He opened up.
Chapter 84
Clara looked at him critically. The last time they talked was during the confrontation in the hospital, where she forced him to leave and told him that he killed their baby.
Remembering it now, she realized Callum wasn’t part of the plan to abduct her and he was just set up by Shane to make her believe that Callum doesn’t love her and he was just using her for power or the position in the company. It made her a bit apologetic for the painful words she threw at him.
But then, that was the moment she was manipulated by Shane’s words. She showed her evidence, and the harassment and torture, including the death of her baby, were already too much for her, so she saw Callum as her own displacement to release her
anger
“That day, I’m sorry for…accusing you,” she started.
Callum was a bit shocked by the kind words that Ciara had chosen, as he wasn’t expecting them from her. Knowing how mad she was at him and how she blamed him, he thought she would be forever hating on him.
Callum shook his head. “No, Ciara. I’m sorry for what happened to you. I will forever regret that I wasn’t there by your side. That was the reason why Shane did that to you.”
Ciara remembered how much she blamed Callum for it over the past few years. She blamed him for everything, and she regrets giving him a chance again. She regrets lowering her walls and letting him climb up and reach her again.
But as she was slowly healing, that side of her saw Callum’s own point of view. She realized it wasn’t just her who was mourning, and it wasn’t just her who was also the victim of Shane’s cunningness.
“When I proposed, I meant it, Ciara. I don’t need the validation of the power to be at the top through surpassing the Sullivans when all I wanted at that moment was to have a family with you. That is my pure success.”
Her heart clutched. She was blinded by the pain that she had forgotten her feelings for him, as it was loomed by hatred and betrayal. The only thing that was on her mind was that Callum was desperate for the power, just like she remembered him from the past.
“I would never ever put you in a place where you’d be with those monsters,” he said in a thick voice.
Ciara already knew the truth, as Gwen showed her the recovered evidence. He was already proven innocent, and it was all Shane’s plan.
The sad part is that they were both victims of the wickedness of Shane, who was envious and who wanted to have Callum so badly.
“I’m really sorry,” he apologized sincerely, his eyes twinkling with hope.
Ciara slowly nodded. “Ive been scarred. I’ve seen your name on the paper, and all I could think was that you were part of it. Knowing that it was only you whom I also told about it.”
“She heard about it since her father has a connection from somewhere about the Royale. So, when she asked me about it, I mentioned it to her, Ciara. Yes, but I told her that I did not want it anymore. I am fine with not having it. It was the exact words I told her about,” he explained briefly.
“She completely lost it,” Ciara said, gritting her teeth when she remembered how Shane tortured her.
“If keeping a distance from you will help your fast healing. I will submit to it, Ciara. I will continue watching you from afar,” he said gently.
Ciara was stunned for a bit. The meaningful words were just so intimate that her heart melted.
“I could wait,” he whispered, hopefully. “Until you’re fully healed…Until I could freely visit you and… our daughter. I could wait.”
Clara looked at him, as he had seen how persistent he looked
“Those I said in the letters were all true. I don’t mind wasting my lifetime waiting for that moment until you are ready to welcome me again
She swallowed hard. “I don’t think we’d still work the way we want”
He nodded. “I know. I am not asking for anything deep. Just this. I want to visit you sometimes, to check on you, to check on our daughter. It’s quite tiresome to watch from the distance, he chuckled as the slight pain mingled with it.
Ciara calmed down a bit when she realized that Callum only wanted one thing, while she thought he was asking for deeper relationships again.
“W–Why? Aren’t you still married? It’s been what? Four years..”
Chapter 84
Callum shook his head. “How am I supposed to marry when my fiancee refused?”
Ciara looked at him meaningfully. They locked gazes for a while.
“There were a lot of girls out there. You’re of age to marry and start another family. You should,” she urged.
“It’s hard to fall in love with someone else when you haven’t fallen out of love with your past lover, he shrugged.
Ciara gulped. She has been hearing things about Callum Haynes, saying that he was only busy with his own business that wasn’t in the line of his family anymore.
“You don’t need to fall out of love with your past to start over again with someone else. You just need to move forward, Ciara stated.
They locked gazes for a while.
That’s what I have been doing to move on.
Maybe this love has never been ours, Callum. We are only meant to collide, to share paths, but never to be intertwined.
This lifetime isn’t ours. But I hope, there were versions of us in another lifetime that made it. Because I know, somehow, we both deserve it.
