EXPLANATIONS

And that had to be the precise day we met? What a perfectly cliched encounter! Fate is a big joke sometimes, you know. I mean, come on!


"The bitch you always talk about? I am that bitch. You hate me. You despise me, just like I do," I say, looking into his grinning, dark orbs.

He shakes his head countless times. "I hated my ghost fiance, but everything changed when I met you, Ellie. My perception of her altered when I knew who you really were. My whole opinion of this arranged marriage changed when I knew you."

"But you kept it a secret from me all this while," I brat out with so much rage, peeking up at his eyes. 'You had a thousand opportunities to tell me the truth, but you chose to keep me in the dark. And now you stand before me right now, expecting that I will believe you? After all we had, Damian, just this little truth, you couldn't open up to me? Do you know how I feel right now?" My cracky voice is so low as I speak, a huge chunk clogging my throat.


He takes a long blink and peels his tormented eyes, boring them into mine as he speaks, "Nothing has to change, Ellie, come on! You and I are."

"Nothing! We are absolutely nothing!" I am glad I was able to suppress the words from coming out as a loud yell. I don't want to alert the people inside about this fight. And he better not provoke me. "We are nothing but strangers who just met for the first time and have absolutely nothing in common. Call it hate at first sight if possible, because this is what this is. Don't you even dare bring up the subject of love here, Damian, because love doesn't lie. Love does not betray. Love does not hurt like this. Love is never built on lies. You betrayed me, and for that, I can't forgive you." I tear drops, but I scrub it off as soon as it leave my eye and suck the rest back.


I can't afford to break down before him. I can't show him how much damage he has caused me. I won't give him the contentment of seeing me wrecked. Never! I am Ellie Marrie Riccaford. There isn't anything I can't handle. If love wasn't meant for me, so fucking be it!

"I didn't betray you, love. I..."

"Call me that one more time and I swear I will slap your disgusting face!" I warn between gritted teeth. 'I am not your love. You and I don't know each other. You are nothing to me, Damian Almeda Riccaforte!"

He shuts his eyes for a moment, as if that hurt a bit. But he wont fool me. "I am not justifying my actions," he says, peeling his eyes again, and they lock with my venomous ones, 'but I had a good reason for doing so."

Ooh, great, right? He has a fucking good reason for his betrayal. Just wow!

"How sweet, right?" I take a few steps closer, sealing the nothingness of the gap between us as I gaze into his orbs intently. Our lips are brushing, but today I don't even remember how it felt to kiss them. That desire is no longer in me. "One minute and the truth alone should come out of your lying mouth, Mr. Riccaforte Jr. Because after this, the chapter between you and I will be closed and dusted," I state, and his eyes darken with a spark that I can't decipher.

Why? Is he hurt? No, he isn't. hurt is what his betrayal has done to me. My heart is once again shuttered, this time even worse than before. He knows no pain at all.

"I saw how you despised the story of this betrothal, Ellie. I saw in your eyes how much you loathed your betrothed. I understood your pain and wrath because we exuded the same sentiments. By the time I got to know who you really were, that you were actually my betrothed, I was already so much in love with you."

Ahem! I had to melt at that, a flicker of all he did to me in the name of love squinting under my skin. But not for long, because I am reminded of this betrayal.

'The idea that it was me whom you obliviously loathed with so much passion was enough torture for me, and seeing the wrath in your eyes after discovering the truth was something that I couldn't handle. I couldn't handle the rejection."

Really? That was all? Fear of being rejected? And he thought he could hide this forever, or what? Why didn't his smut brain tell him that I was bound to know the truth eventually?

'I am sorry I was selfish, but I did what was best for both you and me, because none of us merited to go through that hurt of knowing our real identities without being prepared. I am sorry for being selfish and for betraying you, Ellie. But I am not apologizing for loving you so much to the point of keeping this information from you. I wanted you to at least enjoy your newfound happiness before I could ruin it all by revealing to you that I was the man that you loathed. I did it all for love. For our love. Because aside from my insecurities about losing you, which made me conceal this from you, everything else that I showed you—every word, every touch, every moment that we shared—was real."

What a sweet, justifiable reason, right? And he had to remind me of the moments we shared just to make me buy this? Oh, come on!

"You had absolutely no freaking right to hide this from me. It was my right to know the real identity of the man I loved because I didn't hide my identity from you, Damian. Sorry, but your sorry doesn't make any amends. The damage is already done because I hate you so much for this, Damian Almeda. Riccaforte!"