SOME THINGS ARE MEANT TO BE

CHAPTER 7

“I know.” Still, there was no anger in her voice. Julianna merely looked outside but, in reality, Evelyn was beginning to feel like a stranger to her.

The corner of her lips curled up in sarcasm. She would rather they gave up this kind of life.

As she watched a thin and cold smile appear on Julianna’s face, Evelyn could not stop herself from an unfound feeling of guilt. She hastened to remove her hand from Julianna’s hair, it felt as if her fingers were being pricked by her hair.

That’s right. Even if her hands were not pricked, she could feel the pain from the sensation that filled her heart.

The door closed once more. No one would even know that she had been crying, for the tears that rolled down her cheeks were almost translucent, and they blended well with the look of despair in her eyes. As more tears streaked down her cheeks, it evoked a sheer sense of despair and regret within her.

She gathered up her emotions carefully and hid them—her heart and her feelings. She watched Diego and Diana in silence. Yes, the mother was right. Only a princess like Diana was worthy and deserving of him. But with every glance, she came to the realization that her feelings for Little Brother had become a habit that she built bit by bit over the years. She could not stop herself from thinking about him, from loving him. And now, with each day, she was suffering.

Diego held Diana ’s slim waist, his gaze darkened. He quickly leaned down and, before Diana regained her composure, kissed her heavily on her lips. The way he treated her was different from the other women he knew. Because she was the bride. The one he had chosen in his childhood.

“Brother Diego...” Diana ’s eyelashes misted, her vision blurred a little. She liked the feeling, and she realized how much she loved Diego.

“You must grow up faster. By then, you can marry me.” He reached out and stroked lovingly at Diana ’s face. It wasn’t until he saw a silhouette at a distance that his gaze gradually changed to a frosty glance.

“She again.”

Julianna.

Julianna’s hand went to her chest, her face turned ashen. So, the reality of everything did hurt. But it hurts, even more, to have witnessed it. She thought she had gotten used to pain, but no, she never thought that such pain felt as if she was being ripped apart.

She turned around. A dark shadow fell over her face. She looked up abruptly. Diego was leaning casually on the wall. His aloof features hinted at a little rivalry.

“Do you like me?” His haughty voice was cold as the wind on a winter’s day. His tone made Julianna feel like her body had split down the middle into two. She was in misery from the chilled, cold tone in his voice.

Julianna simply evaded his gaze because she was at a loss about what she should do next.

Yes, she liked him. No. She loved him. She could deceive everyone around her, but she could not deceive herself.

Diego straightened his frame and walked closer to Julianna. He grabbed her chin abruptly, “I am warning you. Keep your unreciprocated love to yourself. If you dare to even harm Diana a tiny bit, I will make your life a living hell. Do you know what hell is? You hurt even one strand of her hair: I will destroy your whole head of hair.”

He said it in such a cruel and heartless manner that Julianna could only lightly nod her head. A teardrop had fallen on the back of his hand but he shook his chin up. The smudged tear stain on the back of his hand had particularly caused him to feel discomfort.

He hated it when women cried. Especially this woman’s breathless crying.

He strode out on broad steps, leaving behind a heartbroken woman who watched his silhouette in despair. It was as if she wanted to etch his life in her eyes and deeply in her soul.

She turned around and put the back of her hand against her lips. She bit on her hand but it tasted bitter—like her tears. So, she really liked to cry.

———

The maid stood up. There was a glint of sympathy in her eyes. However, it quickly vanished as a look of contempt replaced it. It was a look solely reserved for a person who had caused her own sister’s death. No matter how kind she was, if it wasn’t for her, their master would not have turned into an unpredictable, moody person like he was now.

The door loudly closed with a bang. Julianna lowered her head. A fog had gathered in her eyes. He could really find ways and means to humiliate her every minute.

Dressed in a maid’s attire, she was a maid in status. She might have married him, but this was his warning to her that she would never be his wife. To him, she was only a servant.

With trembling hands, she took the clothes from the bed and wore them. Her quiet and exquisite face would never find happiness again. Maybe she never had happiness to begin with!

She walked out of the room. The pain from the previous night still lingered between her legs. It kept reminding her every minute of how the man had abused her the night before.

“Madam, from now on, at this time, you will do all the chores in this house. This Master’s instruction,” she solemnly said, with barely any expression on her face. Even the maid in the mansion treated her like she was not a mistress. The maid had addressed her as a madam, but did she really look like she was one?

She nodded her head dumbly and dragged her cumbersome body to begin a new day in her life. Here, her status could not compare to a maid—she was worse than a maid.

She held her swollen hands tight and kept rubbing them together. She hoped it would bring warmth to herself, but soon she realized it had not helped at all.

For half a day, she towed herself away as she worked in the two-story luxurious villa. After a grueling day’s work, she let herself rest. As she looked at the huge villa, it only amplified her emptiness and it frightened her even more.

This was still her newlywed period.

A faint sound rang at the door and her body turned rigid in reflex. As she was about to walk away, she heard a cold and chilling voice.

“Why? You don’t enjoy seeing me? I thought you wanted to marry me to the extent that you would even murder your own sister. So, you do not have the courage.”

He did not leave her any type of retreat as he spat out every word. In his eyes, she was a murderer and nothing else.

“I’m not...” She gently pressed her lips and finally managed a bitter laugh. It didn’t matter whether she was a murderer, because no one would believe her. They were all convinced that she had caused Diana ’s death. Was it because she loved him?

She suddenly felt her jaw snapping upwards. The cracking sound of her bones resounded, and it appeared he had the intention of breaking her jaw. She looked up and saw the blushing red veins in Diego’s eyes. She could see the look of pure, unhidden hatred.

He hated her. He loathed her to the core.

“Get in the room,” he sneered. All the while, Julianna’s body violently shuddered and her face turned a shade of a ghastly pale.

“Don’t you forget, since I married you, it’s your duty to provide your body to me.” He saw the fear in her eyes, and he understood that. It made him sneer even more, since smiling really didn’t suit him—it made him look even more heartless and cruel.

He was determined to make everyone suffer, especially the ones he hated.

As she followed him from behind, her steps were very heavy. Julianna gently shut her eyes. Under her pale complexion, a few drops of tears rolled down, but the rest she held them in her eyes. As tears fogged her eyes, she realized they were so close and yet, so far away. If only she could hold him, but she could not even hold on to the corner of his clothes.