Exposing the Charade of Deep Affection - Season 1 Episode 16

Walter was mad, and I felt no better than him. Right now, I wanted to vent all the grievances I had held in my heart for a long time. I looked at him with red eyes. “Walter, don’t you know why I want a divorce? Ashley’s pregnant. What do you want me to do? Do you want me to keep playing dumb and playing along with you? Or do you want me to wait for you to kick me out and bring shame on the Conner family?”

I roared at him, and the pain in my heart was killing me. I had fallen for him. I had fallen for him during those two years, and only I knew how hard and painful it was to try to get away from him.

He was stunned for a second and frowned. “Ashley is pregnant?” There was a surprise in his eyes, and he did not come back to his senses for a long time.

He didn’t know? Yet I was only dumbfounded for a few seconds. Ashley would tell him sooner or later, and I shouldn’t be surprised. I didn’t want to pry into his mood and turned to leave.

Yet he grabbed my wrist. “You want to divorce, because Ashley is pregnant?”

I frowned, looked back, and tried to shake his hand. “Isn’t that enough for me to divorce you?” I asked.

“No!” He pulled me into his arms and stared at me, his voice low and restrained. “If it is because of this, then hear me clearly, Tabatha. I will not agree to divorce you. I’ll deal with her and give you a reasonable explanation.”

“How?” I looked at him sarcastically. “You want her to hit you? Or do you want to form a family together with her and live with her and the baby?”

He frowned. “Can we talk nicely or what, Tabatha?”

I pushed him away. Now that he didn’t deny that the baby wasn’t his, we didn’t have to continue. I took a deep breath and looked at him, saying firmly, “I will divorce you, Walter. I am a neat freak, and I can’t stand stains. If Ashley wants you that badly, I won’t. I give you my blessings, and I hope everything goes smoothly till the day she gives birth.”

“Tabatha!” he squeezed my hand and said sternly and coldly. “Have I been too indulgent these last two years?”

He pinched my wrist, putting me in pain, and I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t help sneering when I met his cold eyes, “Indulgent? Mr. Hinton, you can talk. You and I are just a nominal couple. Don’t think of you as my husband, just because we’ve slept a few times. How ridiculous!”

His face grew more and more sullen under the moonlight. I knew he was holding back his anger, but so what? I didn’t care. I shook off his hand and just wanted to go down the hill.

Yet I overestimated an irritated man, and I failed to foresee how crazy and irrational he would become. The nights in the mountains were cold utterly and scary at the same time. I couldn’t describe Walter’s madness that night, and the greater feeling for me was desperation. Things didn’t work out, so he actually used a weapon that belonged exclusively to men to punish me. I never knew him to be like this.

The next day arrived.

When I woke up, it was early the next morning. There were clothes on me, and I was covered in a bespoke black suit that Walter wore last night.

I looked around and found myself in a stone-walled cave, with a faint fire burning in front of me. My position was sheltered from the wind, and coupled with the fire, I felt warm.

There was no sign of Walter. I got up and went out of the cave, and saw that the sunrise on the other side of the mountain had passed over countless mountain mists and slowly emerged with golden light, faintly staining half of the sky. It was too beautiful to be true.

Walter was sitting on the rock at the top of the hill. Between his chiseled index finger and middle finger was a cigarette butt that sparkled. He didn’t smoke. Instead, he just let the butt burn and left a pile of ash.

Perhaps sensing my gaze, he looked back at me. His handsome, dignified face was as obscure as ever, and he raised his hand, patted the spot next to him, and said, “Sorry.”