Chapter 47 ENGAGEMENT PARTY XII

          Adrian stood outside the garden and watched El walk out of the place. Everything she had said to him was the truth, even if it wasn't the complete truth. He had no right to do what he did to her, and he could see it from the way she looked at him that she hated him for what he did to her. 

         Looking at her sad eyes hurt even more than hearing those words from her. She wasn't happy, he knew that and she also didn't like it here, but she was still here because she doesn't have a choice. He cursed himself inwardly as he looked at the sky when she was no more in sight. This was all his fault, he never should have made her sign those papers, even if Antonio had blackmailed him into doing so.

        Now, all he could do was regret his actions because there was nothing he could do now to save her from this marriage. Everything she had said to him earlier played in his mind, and he cursed himself even more. She had never addressed him as Mr. Welsh before because she knows very well that he hated to be addressed that way. 

         He had heard resentment in her voice when she had addressed him in that name, and he knew he deserved it because of what he did to her, but from the way she sounded, he was afraid. Afraid to think of the fact that she may never be able to forgive him for what he did to her.

.

          El stared into the eyes of the man in front of her, holding her shoulders. For some seconds, she thought her mind played tricks on her when she saw Ethan through her teary eyes, but when she heard his voice, she knew what she was seeing was real. Ethan was standing in front of her, and she hated it.

       He was never supposed to see her in this vulnerable state. She never wanted him to see her as a weak person who got really emotional over petty things, this was how he would describe her situation with Adrian if he comes to find out about it. 

            As she stared at his face which she swore she could see a little bit of anger on, she saw the silhouette of a person behind him, and when she turned to see who was there, she saw Isabella and she frowned. She had forgotten what she had seen transpire between them earlier. She removed his hand from her shoulders and stepped away from him, immediately she saw Isabella.

          "Why are you out here, looking like this?"

        She looked at his face and dried her eyes with her palm. Why was he suddenly asking her this kind of question like he didn't enjoy seeing her this way? Why was everybody suddenly asking her questions like they aren't among the ones making her this way? It was upsetting.

         She turned to look at Isabella behind Ethan who seemed even more interested in what she was going to say, and she sighed. "Nothing," she said blandly as she dried the remaining tears on her face with her palm.

          Even if she was angry at what Ethan did with Isabella, and also at Adrian, she wouldn't allow her to derive pleasure in her pain, because she knew very well that this was what this girl wanted. To see her in a miserable state.

            "Are you mentally deranged that you just start crying without any cause, Eleanor?"

            She bit her cheeks inwardly at his words as she tried to suppress her anger. This man really does know how to provoke her anytime he spoke with those mean words he always used on her. She tried hard not to say anything to him as she stared at him because whatever she was going to say now, was going to be provocative to him and she didn't want to be hurt more than she already was now.

          "Ethan please, you can't say words like this to her right now," Isabella butted in, walking close to them as she stared at El's face. "Can't you see she's hurting already?" She paused and smiled faintly with the sides of her lips. "At least, let's know what's wrong with her first."

           El narrowed her eyes at Isabella, wondering what game she was suddenly playing by acting all nice to her. Why was she suddenly pretending to be all nice all of a sudden? This girl doesn't like her, and according to her, she had said she finds her suffocating, so who was she trying to fool by acting this way? Ethan?

           Of course! It was for Ethan she was acting to be this good. How could she not have guessed this from the start? She wanted Ethan to see her in a good light, but for how long is she going to pretend? 

        She turned to look at Ethan who was looking at someone behind her, and she sighed. She didn't need to look at who he was staring at to know who the person was. It was obviously Adrian and right now, she couldn't stand to see another fake person.

        She walked away from them all to her room, closing the door behind her, her back resting against the door. She took deep breaths as everything that happened a while ago played in her mind like it was happening now.

        She should have known that this evening was going to turn out this way. Every time she feels good a little at the start of an evening, things that'll always ruin her mood happens. It felt like she was cursed never to have a good time in this place.

         Walking to the bathroom to wash her teary face, a knock on her door stopped her from entering it. "Come in."

        Her maids walked into the room and bowed on seeing her face. "Miss Eleanor," one of the girls started, "the young master asked us to fix your makeup."

        On hearing Ethan's name, she sighed and walked into the bathroom to wash her face. She knew why he asked them to fix her makeup, it was probably because her presence is needed downstairs.  

            As she turned on the water to wash her face, the shiny bracelet Ethan gifted her caught her attention. She looked at it for a while, before taking it off to wash her face. She dropped it on the sink in front of the bathroom mirror and washed her face without even bothering to look at it in the mirror in front of her because she knew she looked terrible.

        Without wasting any more time, she walked out of the bathroom into the room to the maids who fixed her makeup, before going downstairs to meet the rest of the family.

          After some smothered hours of sitting among Ethan's family members and her family, the meeting they had after their lunch was finally over. Antonio and Adrian were escorted out of the mansion by the butler, while everyone else went to the respective places they wanted to be.

           El went straight to her room to get some sleep. It was already some minutes past ten by the time they were done with the meeting, and she felt exhausted. But that wasn't the main reason why she wanted to get some sleep, she couldn't bear to see Ethan after what he did with Isabella.

        Every time she looked at him as they sat opposite each other at the meeting, she couldn't unsee what they had, and it made her angry. What got her upset even more was the fact that he never took his eyes off her in the meeting.

        Why was he doing things that made her start feeling things she wasn't supposed to feel? If he wants Isabella so much, why couldn't he let her go? Why was she put in a situation like this?

        She closed her eyes and lay on her back, trying to make herself forget everything that happened. Sleep was her only escape from the mess her life was in, so she tried to force herself into doing so. But every time she tried to think about things that make her sleep, her mind somehow wanders back to the kiss between Ethan and Isabella.

          She sat up on her bed annoyed and stared at random things in the room to distract herself from what her mind kept thinking about. 

           As she sat there, the door of the room opened without anyone knocking on it, and Ethan walked in with his hand in his pockets.

         She turned to look at him staring at her and she moaned under her breath. He had walked in just when she was trying to forget him. As she stared at his face, everything she had tried to forget came back whirling in her head. Maybe the reason she couldn't forget about what happened was that she had not confronted him on the matter.

       Even if her guts were warning her not to do so, she decided to confront him. "Ethan," she called out determined as she stared at the man who stood a few feet away from where she sat. "We need to talk."

        She watched him narrow his eyes, and she swallowed unconsciously.