Chapter 39
Chapter 39
It had started to rain again outside the window. There were tiny ripples where the persistent droplets fell on the surface of the river. The weather in Eldham was much too similar to Bryxton. The air in both cities was constantly moist and humid because of the snow and rain.
Nicholas lifted his chin and arrogantly said, "You say that you love Christopher, Renee?"
"Yes, I love Christopher, which is why I am sick of you pestering me."
Upon hearing this, he snapped, "Shut up, Renee!"
"What's wrong? I can't talk about him now? I can't say that I love him?" I mockingly asked before continuing, "The Forger Corporation only grew to where it is today because of the Felix Corporation. Who the hell do you think you are using? You only got the things you have because you are a fake! You also squandered and trampled on a love that wasn't yours in the first place, so what makes you think you have the right to come to me and ask for a remarriage?"
I was carelessly going off at him in order to get rid of him.
Screw him and his wanting to remarry! Did he really think I was a pushover that couldn't feel pain?
He wanted to marry me again, but that was never going to happen!
I might have been too sharp with my words, as Nicholas swayed as he weakly plopped down beside the bed. With his fingers gently holding his forehead, he asked in an unusually hoarse voice, "Even if I
don't remember any of this, but for you to deny my existence like this..."
He suddenly came to a pause as a devastated look appeared on his face. "Renee, you are really good at poking me where it hurts, aren't you? Does this feel like revenge to you? Does doing this make you feel good?"
The words he uttered gave me the false illusion that he remembered our past.
I couldn't bear seeing him like this, and so I closed my eyes before I said, "I am not taking any revenge on you."
I was just saying things as they were.
What he was feeling now wasn't even an ounce of the hurt he used to inflict on me.
"My brother Christopher," he suddenly mentioned. Nicholas parted his thin lips again and uttered coldly, "He might appear gentle to everyone but the fact is, he is indifferent. He is too aloof and arrogant to treat others like his equal. Just look at my mother's foster daughter Olivia. That lady has liked him for many years. She even followed him around the world everywhere he went. But him? He sent her back here after coldly rejecting her. He would make sure to send her back to the Forger's Residence whenever she mentioned something slightly out of line. He wouldn't contact her at all for the following years."
I couldn't contain my shock when I heard that, and I asked, "You are saying that Olivia likes Christopher?"
He must have been heartbroken when she saw him hug me the other day, then!
After all, the cold man she was in love with had voluntarily hugged another woman.
Him taking a pity on her might even be worse than him rejecting her.
Nicholas lowered his eyes and said in a tired voice. "Her liking him is a fact that everyone knows. Even my mother is supportive of it but no matter how much outsiders try to say something to him on Olivia's behalf, no one can touch that cold heart of his. Do you really think he treated you warmly nine years ago because he loved you?"
I was frozen in place, but still I listened to the cruel words Nicholas had to say. "He only pitied you, Renee."
After a short pause, he snickered as he added, "It might not even have been sympathy."
I fell on the bed when I lost the strength in my legs. My mind was a mess at this point.
"What is wrong? Do you feel sad?" he asked with his eyebrows raised as he looked at me.
"Go, Nicholas." I shut my eyes and chased him off. "You don't have to bother yourself with the past anymore. We never had a past together anyway. Even if we did, it was all because I mistook you for Christopher."
The room fell silent then, as neither of us said anything else after that. After a moment, I suddenly blew a gasket and yelled, "Are you leaving or not? Do you really have to make me spit venomous words? Or is it your intention to make me jump from here?!"
He still stubbornly stood there looking at me.
My hatred for him in the past was too deep for me to not have biased opinions about him now.
Even if he had forgotten about our past and he was innocent after all, I couldn't help but feel annoyed at his mere existence.
All I wanted now was for him to completely disappear from my life.
What I didn't know was that Nicholas was pretending to have lost his memories. In fact, he remembered both our past and how he loved me.
He was only doing this to get to know me in a different way.
But me?
I told him to his face that he was nothing but a fake.
I had directly denied his existence.
He was exactly like how I used to be. We both tried to keep our nonchalant faces on no matter what kind of storm was brewing inside us. Not only that, we were constantly rejected by the person we loved despite how we had brainstormed for ways to get closer to them. And even though we were on the receiving end of harsh words, we refused to give up on our love.
The Nicholas then was a man unmoving and stubborn in love.
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As Nicholas continued to refuse to leave, I started to drag my suitcase downstairs. I was about to step under the rain when he suddenly grabbed my arm and instructed in an indifferent tone, "Stay. I will go."
After saying that, he marched into the drizzle with his long legs, his back looking as lonely as it was determined.
My eyes had become wet at some point as I looked at him walk away.
I closed my eyes to calm myself, and I eventually turned around and went upstairs again.
It was probably because I had spent half a day quarelling with Nicholas that I was exhausted by the time I returned to my room. I went straight to bed after taking my anticancer drugs. I proceeded to have a fitful night of rest riddled with nightmares. It couldn't even be considered a 'rest' with the amount of times I had woken up in the middle of it.
I was lying in bed the next morning, letting fatigue take over me when Merlin gave me a call.
"Babe, do you have time later?" he asked as he wanted to spend time with me.
I would have told him that I did if it was before, but I couldn't help feeling uneasy after our conversation last night. Worried that our entanglement would only get more complicated from this point on, I quickly rejected him. "I will be leaving Eldham soon."
"But you have only just arrived! Why are you suddenly leaving?" I could tell that he was confused.
I could only make up an excuse to brush him off. "The company is still under my name. I have a lot of things I need to take care of. I am also planning to make a trip to Sundew for a body checkup. Clair has been pestering me about it."
Anything concerning me was a priority to Clair.
He forbade himself from making any careless mistakes, and he was even more stern about me ruining my own body.
Merlin gave me a reminder again before I departed from the city, "Ree, our only responsibility now is to heal you. Everything else can wait. I hope you cherish yourself, or else—"
He pulled me into a hug. With an emotionless expression on his face, he continued threateningly, "I am not a kind man. I will kill the people you care about if you are gone. Take it as my repayment to your Mom for saving my life. You better take good care of yourself after you leave here."
He must have thought that I cared about the Forger brothers.
I knew that he had said all those harsh words because he was worried I would bring harm to myself.
Just as I was starting to fall into my thoughts, Merlin's voice rang out again. "Are you doing this because of last night—"
"I really have something to do," I quickly interrupted him. "I will come and meet you again when I find time."
"Alright, it is all up to you," he carefreely answered.
After the call ended, I was bored out of my mind when I decided to go on Twitter for a quick scroll. The third trending topic—Renee Felix's New Boo—immediately caught my eyes then.
Confused, I clicked into the link, only to freeze when I saw the video embedded under the article.