My Husband, My Secret Lover

Chapter 7 Damn You, Stela

Stela Walker POV

By then Hayden stepped into the shore at exactly 5 pm. I had spent three hours putting on my makeup to hide my paleness in front of the mirror. Finally, I looked a little better.

" There you are."

"Damn you, Stela!" Hayden growled as he strode toward me.

His harsh tenor and his mean words felt like a knife cutting through my soul. "What?"

"Florence had an miscarriage!"

Miscarriage? I was confused, but soon I realized what he meant. "You think she miscarried because I hurt her today?"

"Am I wrong?" he asked rhetorically,

"You can do what you want to me! Why did you hurt Florence? She had never hurt anyone!"

Never hurt anyone ? Don't make me laugh. Florence was a devil in the mask of a Saint. How come Hayden never noticed it? Maybe that Florence was too good at acting.

I shook my head. "Hayden, you don't understand women."

"I don't need to understand."

"Yes, you do." I stood up and faced him. "What a woman cares most about is her child. She'll try her best to protect them from any danger, and even sacrifice herself if necessary."  

" What? Says you. You've never been a mother. What makes you think you are eligible to say that?"  Hayden hissed at me.

I looked at him firmly. "No one is more eligible than me to say that, especially Florence White! If she knew she was pregnant, she wouldn't have tried so hard to get my address and said those words to provoke me into choking her!"

Hayden glared at me with venomous contempt. His eyes were honed with dark malice.

Pure unleashed indignation and madness clearly etched on his face.

Hayden suddenly grabbed me by my neck, squeezed my neck tightly and slammed me against the wall. "Stela Walker, I'll kill you if anything happens to Florence!"

My lungs balked against my chest. Out of breath, I felt nauseous and extremely pained but I just let out a faint smile. "Really?"

"I mean it."

"Oh," I pointed at the hand on my neck and said, "I see. Can you get your hands off me now?"

Hayden however did not let go, but just stared right through me. "What on earth do you want?" I stilled and the seconds ticked by as we watched each other, even though he looked at me with contempt and I, with sorrow.

Guit gnawed at me the more I looked at him. If I had not ran away to another country when he suffered alone, would he had changed by now?

Would he had looked at me in an adoring way?

A faint smile appeared on my face."I know you might not believe this, but all I want is you, Hayden."

Hearing that, he flung me mercilessly onto the sand. I coughed violently again and his biting words came into my ears, "Keep dreaming."

Blood welled up from my throat, but I struggled to swallow it back. Then, I climbed to my feet and held his hand, as if nothing had happened.

"Let's go and watch the sunset."

Hayden dodged at once with disgust. "I only agreed to watch the sunset with you. Don't touch me."

His words striked hard at me, but fortunately, the sun was so red and was about to set down, it pleased me very much.

It's just a matter of time, Stela. I clenched my fist and smiled again.

The sun was large and round, just like a red fruit. The faint clouds around it gave off a serene and peaceful atmosphere.

Hayden said, "I checked the weather forecast. It'll be cloudy or rainy from tomorrow to the end of this month."

I nodded. "So?"

"There won't be sun rays on cloudy days."

I disagreed. "They'll just be covered by dark clouds and won't disappear. All the time it is in the sky, though sometimes invisible."

I was like the stars, I was not as bright as the sun, but I was always there and never left.

I had been waiting right there for Hayden to come back to me.

Over these years, I had thought more than once that, as long as he smiled at me or said a word of concern, I would have come back to him without hesitation.

However, my wish was never fulfilled.

His eyes and heart were already occupied by another woman, and there was no longer any room for me.  

Hayden said, "I mean there's no need to watch the sunset on the following six nights."

"Don't you want to watch the sunset with me?"

He laughed sarcastically. "What are you thinking? My parents were killed by your father. If it weren't for Florence, do you think I would ever want to watch these stupid stars with a vile, vicious woman like you?"

It was quite windy on the sea shore. I sat precariously on the edge of the nearby cliff, with my legs dangling over the side. Both my dress and loose hair were floating in the air.

Standing right behind me, Hayden stretched out his right hand and was about to touch my thin back.

Just then, I spoke, as I had seen all his movements clearly, "Do you want to push me off the cliff?"

I could see Hayden's outreached hand stopped in mid-air.

I murmured to myself, "What a brilliant idea! Put everything to an end by pushing me down from here, and then nobody can stop you from living happily ever after with Florence White."  

Embarrassed, he withdrew his hand and turned his face away. "I'm not you, who viciously murdered those who loved you. As much as I hate you and want you to disappear for good, I won't choose such a despicable way."  

I turned around and looked up at his face with a sweet smile. The Hayden I fell in love with.

The old Hayden never harmed anyone. He was pure from inside out. But the current situation had turned him up and down. Our love was turned into venomous hatred.

"Hayden, I'll return your properties to you."  I cooed softly.

"What?"  Hayden looked at me with disbelief.

"Believe it or not, I've never wanted your properties, and I'm also sorry about the death of your parents," I explained. "Don't worry, 'cause I'll give you whatever you want."  

He interrupted with a sneer, "You won't."  

"What if I will?"  

"I want to marry Florence right now."  

I nodded. "You can fulfill your dream in seven days, no, six days to be exact."  

He continued, "What if I want to ruin the reputation of your family? I want you to kneel and bow down to ground in front of my parents' gravestones, too."  

Silent for a second, I nodded. "OK, I'll kneel for them, 'cause they loved me so much and their death had something to do with me."  

Well, to be frank it did have something to do with me.  

If I had not fallen for Hayden and accepted deep affection from his parents who deemed me as their future daughter-in-law, Florence would not have killed them so brutally and ruthlessly.  

It was all because of me. I wished I could turn back time and changed everything back to normal.

Thinking of the old couple's amiable faces, I felt a pang of sorrow. I think the pain in my heart would kill me before this cancer could.

"What else?" I asked in a sorrowful tone.  

Hayden's voice was weakened by the loud wind. "I want you to jump down from here. Can you?"  

I dangled my legs in mid-air and looked down at the five-story building. There was no doubt that I would die if I jumped down from this height.  

But I replied without hesitation. "I can, if this is what you want."  

"In a week, again?" Hayden crossed his arms and said coldly. "What are you up to? Do you think you can change anything by watching the sunset for a f*****g week?"  

I tucked my flyaway hair behind my ear and looked up at the sun setting slowly, where the darkness was slowly taking up the sky, creating a gorgeous view. However, I did not feel delighted as usual.  

"I know I can't change anything."  

Just because nothing could be changed, I wished to seize every moment while I was alive.  

Hayden's voice was frigid. "I've watched the sunset with you, and I don't want to spend one more second with you."  

After saying that, he left resolutely.  

I maintained my posture, watching his car running farther and farther. Suddenly, I vomited blood onto the ground.  

There was a pool of dark red, as big as a fist, more so than last time.

I felt a black twing flash before my eyes. Everything was faded. The last thing I thought before I lost consciousness was that the doctor did not lie to me — the pain of cancer was so sharp that, even with all my might, I could not hold on for longer.  

Thankfully, Hayden was not here to see this scene.  

Otherwise, he would think that I was acting again.  

Good for him… to leave so early.  

After what seemed like a long sleep, I was awakened by a familiar voice.  

"Stela, Stela? Wake up! Why are you sleeping on the roof? Oh, wake up…"  

Who was it?  

Was it Hayden?  

Was he finally willing to come back to me?  

Limp and exhausted, I opened my eyes and found that it was already dark. The sun had been replaced by torrential rain.  

The rain was pouring heavily as if the sky had collapsed down to earth.  

Layed in the water, I was drenched to the skin.

A gust of cold wind sent shivers down my spine. Then, I trembled violently, with my teeth chattering.  

Suddenly, I felt warm on my shoulders as a coat was taken off and wrapped around my body.  

Eventually, I saw the person next to me and struggled to give a wistful, bitter smile. "Here you are…"