Chapter 64

Soren

“Good morning, Celia, I am attempting to make breakfast but I may need your help,” I say with a semblance of a smile on my face. A few eggs sit in the pan before me, the gas stove quickly heating the eggs up, the borders of the eggs browning.

Celia slowly enters the small area behind the counter, her hands hidden behind her back. She looks between me and the pan, her eyes irritated and red as if she has been crying.

“What happened? Is...everything okay?” I quietly ask. I drop the spatula onto the counter and look down at her. I take a step in her direction but she is quick to stop me.

Celia holds out an envelope in her hands. It is big and orange and I immediately recognize Bianca’s family’s wax seal on the back of the material. I fall silent, unable to form any kind of sentence or words to ask what it is that Bianca has sent for us.

Is it another threat? Has Bianca purposefully attacked Celia to the point where she looks like a zombie, completely dead inside and unable to make any kind of big reaction?

The silence is deafening. Her hands tremble and I have to fight the urge to reach out and help her calm down. Whatever it is that Bianca has done, I will make her pay for it.

Celia clears her throat as she pulls out the stack of papers that sit on the inside of the envelope. My eyes widen at the sight, the crackling sound from the eggs suddenly increasing in my ears.

A frown overtakes Celia’s face. Anger is now prominent in her actions as she slams down the papers onto the counter. I do not flinch and instead turn my head to look at the papers that sit before us.

I recognize Bianca’s messy cursive, her handwriting just barely legible enough to decipher. The lazy strokes catch my attention but it is her words that make me pause.

You deserve to know the truth about who he is.

I turn and look at Celia, my mouth and throat going as dry as the desert.

“What…what is this?” I ask and point to the papers.

Celia crosses her arms over her chest. She scowls at me and glares. My heart races inside my chest, my hears burning hot from her sudden confrontation.

“You tell me, Soren,” Celia spits the words out. They are like venom against my skin, seeping into my muscles, causing them to ache and burn.

“Celia, what are you talking about?” I let out a huff of air and grab the papers, moving Bianca’s note out of the way.

I freeze. Bianca and I’s text messages are now in my hands, the screenshots printed out and plastered across the pages. There is no way she could have edited these, showing the entirety of my messages with my sadistic ex.

Soren: She means nothing to me. You know that I love you and not her.

Soren: She could die for all I care.

Soren: Celia is trash in comparison to you, Bianca, you know that. There is no way for her to compete when you are the most gorgeous woman known to man.

I slowly read over my words and silently flip through the pages. Each and every single one of my messages are cruel towards Celia.

I have been so degrading of her. Many of the text messages are pure evil as I tried to uplift Bianca’s jealous spirit. I can’t even believe how badly I have spoken about Celia to Bianca, the way I tear her down just to uplift a woman who I do not even care about anymore.

“Gold digger…bitch…materialistic…pathetic…” Celia slowly recites back to me some of the nasty labels that I have placed onto her.

A sharp pain strikes my heart. My eyes begin to fill up with water as I continue to read the messages, unable to come to the realization that I am the person who put myself in this position, not Bianca. I am the one who said these cruel things about Celia, nobody else.

“I can explain this,” I breathe out, finally setting the papers down and looking back at Celia.

“Oh? Can you now?” Celia’s words are sharp and sarcastic. Her voice is filled with all of the anger she is rightfully feeling right now.

All I can do is nod and hope that she can find it within herself to accept my explanation.

I want her to know that I never meant a single one of these words that I had typed out and sent in the past and if I did mean them, they came out a dark place of my heart, one that was desperately trying to cling to the idea that Celia and I were never meant to be.

“Why would I listen to what you have to say, Soren?” Celia’s voice cracks but she is quick to recover and hides it underneath her anger. “Why would you even waste your precious oxygen on a waste of space like me?”

I shake my head and step forward but she immediately takes a step back, keeping the distance between us. My heart aches inside of my chest. I open my mouth to speak but nothing comes out.

“Because that is all I am, right? A substitute? Someone for you to play with until you get tired of me and can throw me away like I am a piece of trash?” Celia turns around and begins to walk away.

I follow her and reach out for her hand, grabbing it. Celia snaps to look at me and she yanks her hand away, a look of disgust and resentment flashing across her face.

“Celia, please — I’m so sorry!” I finally speak up, forcing the words out of my mouth instead of remaining deep within the frozen state my body is in.

“Shut up, Soren! Just shut up!” Celia yells at me.

Tears begin to fall from her eyes and she does not wipe them away, allowing them to fall. Oh, how I wish I could reach out and wipe away the tears for her.

The scent of storm wind fills my nose, overwhelming me. There is no sweetness to combat it, no honeysuckle to permeate the air between us. It is disturbing to experience to say the least.

“I hate you, Soren,” Celia says.

“No…you don’t mean that. You couldn’t possibly mean that—” I stammer.

“I do,” Celia interrupts me. Her fists are balled at her sides and her glare is like a knife to the heart. “I hate you and I want nothing to do with you anymore.”

She begins to walk for the door and I stop her, getting in the way before she can slip out of the door.

“Stop that! Let’s talk about this, yeah? I can explain,” I try to reason with her but she shoves me out of the way.

“Leave me alone, Soren!” Celia yells from over her shoulder, “And stay the fuck out of my life! I wouldn’t want my status to bring you down more than it already has!”

I stand in the doorway, my feet unable to move. Celia disappears when she turns the corner around the villa’s fence.

Go after her! My wold howls from inside of me.

But I can’t move. I cannot bring myself to chase after her. All I can do is watch as she walks away, giving up on everything that we have built together.

#Chapter