“Do you really plan to leave?” Waylen asks.
“Yes,” she answers simply.
The single word crushes Waylen. The veins on the back of his hand burst out as he clenches his fists. He suddenly gets up and knocks the chair over. His eyes go dark, and his look turns murderous. He slowly approaches Leilani.
“So the child is Andrew’s?” he asks.
Leilani smiles coldly. There’s clearly no hope of convincing him. He’s a jealous and possessive man, and he’s become convinced that she cheated on him.
“If you say so,” Leilani says with a shrug.
Her response only enrages him further, and his face becomes even more vicious. He clenches his fists as hard as he can and tries to suppress his pain.
“I’ve tried everything to make her stay, but all she wants is to leave,” he thinks miserably, “Maybe I can try harder. But what’s the point? She’ll never actually fall for me.”
“Can’t you wait for six months?” he asks.
“I can’t,” she says, suppressing a small sigh.
“A clean break is the best,” Leilani thinks, “He assumes I have something with Andrew, and I’ll never be able to ease that suspicion. He’s such a hypocrite though for getting angry about Andrew when he blatantly cheated on me with Leonie.”
“Fine,” Waylen hisses.
He hoped there was room for compromise, but apparently, she can’t wait to go running to Andrew. Leilani looks at him with wide eyes, unable to believe that he’s really letting her go.
“If you want to leave so much, I’ll let you go,” Waylen says with great difficulty.
Each word costs him more strength than the last. He wants nothing more than the next six months with her, but he’s unwilling to force her to stay with him. Leilani moves her lips, but no words come out. Instead, they stare at each other in silence. His look is so intense; she finds it difficult to breathe.
She then realizes she’s been running from him for a while. Waylen once rebuked her, saying that she would abandon him as soon as anything happens. She realizes it’s come true, and she feels tears well in her eyes. She takes a deep breath to steady herself.
“When can I leave?” she asks.
“When do you want to leave?” Waylen replies.
“Now,” she whispers.
Waylen clenches his fists, “I’m afraid that won’t work.”
Leilani notices that his hand is bulky with gauze. She looks worriedly at the bandage.
“Were you hurt during the fight?” she asks, concerned.
Her concern cuts him, and he ignores the question. She looks at him in confusion and realizes he’s trying to cut her out. He looks at her with indifference, but something simmers just below the surface.
“Okay, why can’t I leave right now?” she asks.
“You owe me a gift,” he says cooly.
Leilani can’t believe he remembers that, and she thinks it’s very strange that something so trivial seems to be a deciding factor in her departure.
“Okay, I’ll give it to you as fast as possible,” she says.
“You’re in such a hurry?” Waylen asks, despair creeping into his voice, “Are you afraid I’ll change my mind?”
Leilani bites her lip but doesn’t answer. His pain seems to go straight to her heart. It’s agonizing to watch him suffer, and it hurts to know that she’s the cause.
“You don’t think a gift made in a hurry will be good enough, is that it?” she asks.
“The text message says five days. You still have three,” Waylen replies, “You have three days to make the gift now.”
Leilani is silent for a moment. Then she nods her head slowly in agreement. She takes another look at Waylen’s hand.
“What happened to your hand?” she asks again.
Robert begins to explain, but Waylen abruptly cuts him off.
“The gauze is loose,” Waylen says, “Wrap it again.”
Leilani nods, and Robert gives her scissors and fresh gauze. Waylen stands in front of her and gazes down at the top of her head as she inspects his injured palm. The fresh scent of her hair fills his nose, and overwhelms him.
Leilani concentrates on her work. The old knot is loose, so she easily unties the gauze. After she inspects the wound, she sees that the ring she drew on his finger is still there. The color has faded, but the blue marker still stains his skin.
Leilani washed Waylen’s ring off her finger a long time ago. Though Waylen has tried to preserve the drawing on his finger, the color is slowly fading. Leilani carefully disinfects the wound with alcohol. Before she can rewrap his hand, Waylen hands her a pen.
“Draw it again,” he commands.
Leilani shakes her head.
“It’s pointless,” she says, “It’ll fade away again.”
“The drawing is not the real thing, and the marriage is doomed to end anyway,” Leilani thinks, “What’s the point of drawing it over and over again? If it’s not meant to be, it’s not meant to be.”
Leilani swiftly wraps his hand in the thick white gauze. She ties it tightly but gently. Then she takes a pen and bends over the bandaged hand. When she moves her head, Waylen can see the drawing, and he stops breathing for a moment. She has drawn a heart.
“Why did you draw a heart?” he asks.
“Because I love you,” she thinks, “I can’t say it aloud, and even if I could, there’d be no point. I gave him my heart long ago, and now I have to take it back, piece by damaged piece.”
“It symbolizes happiness,” Leilani says with a sad little smile, “I hope that every day of your life is happy.”
Waylen forces a bitter smile. He can’t hate Leilani even though he thinks she’s betrayed him. He gets so jealous he wants to kill her, but he knows he never will. It would be hell for him to live knowing she’s not somewhere on the planet. Waylen suddenly holds Leilani tightly in his arms as if he wants to integrate her into his body. She can hear his heartbeat. After a long time, he lets go of her,
“In three days, you’ll be none of my concern,” Waylen warns, “No matter what happens to you.”
Then he gets up and leaves. Leilani can see the determination in his stride as he exits the room and closes the door. Not long after, some maids come to help her pack her things. Though she only has three days left at the Bamfords’ house, she can’t bear the thought of staying in the room where Waylen and Leonie made love.
Leilani packs some clothes and orders the maids to bring her items to the guest room furthest from Waylen’s room. She still has three days to prepare a gift for him. She unlocks her phone and searches the internet for inspiration. After a while, Dr. Walter comes in with his kit.
“Mrs. Bamford, Mr. Bamford asked me to give you a physical exam,” the doctor announces.
“Why? I don’t need one,” Leilani objects.
“Mr. Bamford says you’ve been emotionally volatile today,” he explains, “That could affect the fetus.”
Leilani bites her lip as hard as she can. She knows Waylen believes that the baby is Andrew’s. She finds it hard to believe that a possessive man like Waylen would allow her to continue with the pregnancy. She finds it even stranger that he’d ask his personal doctor to examine her as if he’s concerned about the baby’s health. She sits down and allows the doctor to begin his exam.
“Dr. Walter, when you checked my pulse the other day, I was really pregnant?” she asks.
She’s been meaning to ask him, but she hasn’t gotten the chance. Dr. Walters opens his medical kit and wraps the blood pressure cuff around her arm.
“It seemed possible, but I wasn’t entirely sure,” he responds, “I didn’t have enough time to make the most accurate judgment, but based on what I saw, you did appear to be pregnant.”
Leilani nods and extends her arm.
“There is nothing seriously wrong with you,” Dr. Walters announces, “But try to avoid mood swings. Keep as calm as possible.”
Dr. Walters removes the cuff from her arm and returns it to his bag. Leilani rubs her arm and looks thoughtfully at the doctor.
“I’ve heard that paternity tests for the baby are typically done after 11 weeks,” she says, “Is it possible to do one before then?”
The doctor shakes his head, destroying her last hope. She was hoping there was a way to prove to Waylen that the child is his.
“Is there some way to find out how many s.e.x.u.a.l partners a woman has had?” she asks, hoping she can prove she’s never been with anyone besides Waylen.
Dr. Walters frowns in deep contemplation. Then he carefully removes a business card from his medical kit. Leilani slides it into her pocket.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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