CHAPTER 17
1522 Words
“She’s getting married in a month, Earl,” Kennah said, her voice rising again as she tried to press her point deeper into him. “Now you think her husband would tolerate you being just her mistress!?”
Her words were sharp and meant to wound.
She stepped closer to him, her heels clicking softly against the marble floor. The elegant living room of the Muller residence suddenly felt smaller, filled with tension that neither of them could ignore.
Kennah crossed her arms, tilting her head slightly as she looked at him with a mixture of disbelief and mockery.
“You really are delusional,” she added. “You think so little to me, Kennah.”
Earl finally lifted his gaze from the invitation card he was holding.
His eyes were calm.
Too calm.
“And you know what?” he continued quietly. “I don’t care about your reminder.”
Kennah scoffed.
She walked past him slowly, circling him as if he was someone she needed to study.
“You don’t even know what kind of person Meave Castillon is,” she said. “They’re one of the oldest families in this very city.”
She stopped in front of him again.
Her voice lowered, but it became more serious.
“Even the wealth of the Muller family combined with other families in this city would only be a tenth of her wealth.”
The weight of her words filled the room.
But Earl did not flinch.
He simply stood there, still holding the invitation in his hand.
“I know Meave Castillon better than anyone else,” he said.
His tone was not loud.
But it was firm.
Confident.
Kennah blinked.
Then she laughed again, her sarcasm returning.
“Oh really?” she said. “If you really want to be with her, no one in this city will accept you if she breaks you.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“You’re not even welcome in the Muller family,” she added. “You will become nothing but a poor little boy.”
Earl took a slow breath.
He looked at her, not with anger, but with something deeper.
Clarity.
“Listen, Kennah,” he said.
“I’m not here because I want anybody’s pity.”
His voice remained steady.
“I don’t need your reminder.”
Kennah’s expression hardened.
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
The silence between them was heavy, filled with everything they had gone through in the past.
Then Kennah suddenly laughed again.
“Fine… fine… fine…” she said, waving her hand dismissively.
She walked away from him and picked up her glass of wine again.
She took a slow sip, then turned back to face him.
“In the end,” she said, “you’re just a gold digger, Earl.”
Her words came out cold.
“You took advantage of her,” she continued. “You saw her with all the wealth and now you want to cling to her?”
She shook her head slightly.
“What a shame.”
Earl did not respond immediately.
He slowly looked down at the invitation card again.
The elegant design.
The gold letters.
The date.
One month.
It felt unreal.
Everything felt like it was moving too fast.
Too complicated.
But then—
He remembered something.
Meave’s voice.
“Just talk to me.”
The way she listened to him.
The way she did not judge him.
The way she helped his father without asking anything in return.
Earl’s grip on the card tightened slightly.
Was that the kind of person who would treat him like a toy?
No.
He slowly raised his head again.
His eyes met Kennah’s.
“You can call me whatever you want,” he said calmly.
“But don’t pretend like you understand everything.”
Kennah’s brows furrowed.
“What is that supposed to mean?” she asked.
Earl took a step forward.
“For years, I stayed with you,” he said. “Not because of your money. Not because of your name.”
His voice grew slightly deeper.
“I stayed because I thought you needed me.”
Kennah’s lips parted slightly.
“But I was wrong,” Earl continued.
“You didn’t need me.”
His words were not angry.
They were simply honest.
“You needed someone to control,” he added quietly.
Kennah’s expression changed again.
Her grip on the wine glass tightened.
“And now?” she asked, her voice sharper.
“Now you think she’s different?”
Earl did not hesitate.
“Yes.”
That single word made the room feel heavier.
Kennah stared at him.
For a moment, she had no immediate reply.
Earl looked down at the invitation one last time.
Then slowly, he folded it.
Carefully.
As if it was something important.
Or something painful.
“I don’t know what will happen,” he admitted.
His voice softened slightly.
“I don’t know if she will really marry someone else.”
He paused.
“But I know one thing.”
He looked back at Kennah.
“I won’t run away anymore.”
Kennah laughed again, but this time it sounded weaker.
“You’re really serious about this,” she said.
Earl did not answer.
Because his silence already was an answer.
Kennah took another sip from her wine.
Then she turned away from him.
“You’ll regret this,” she said quietly.
Earl stood still.
He did not argue.
He did not defend himself.
Because deep inside…
He already knew.
This path he was choosing would not be easy.
It would not be safe.
And it would not guarantee happiness.
But for the first time in a long while—
It felt like his choice.
Not forced.
Not controlled.
Just his.
And as he stood there in the middle of the Muller residence, holding onto that fragile sense of decision…
He knew that whatever comes next—
He would have to face it.
Earl did not argue anymore.
There was nothing left to say.
Kennah’s voice followed him as he walked toward the door, sharp and filled with pride.
“If she breaks up with you,” she shouted, “even if you come back to me begging on your knees, I won’t accept you!”
Her words echoed through the grand halls of the Muller residence.
But Earl did not stop.
He did not turn his head.
Not even for a second.
His steps were steady as he walked forward, leaving behind the place that once felt like his home, but never truly was.
The large doors opened.
And just like that—
He stepped outside.
The air felt different.
Lighter.
But at the same time, heavier.
As if he had just removed something from his life, but also stepped into something unknown.
Earl walked down the path without looking back.
Because he knew…
If he turned even once, he might hesitate.
And he did not want to hesitate anymore.
The ride back to the Castillon mansion was quiet.
Earl sat by the window, staring outside as the city passed by.
Tall buildings.
Busy streets.
People living their own lives.
Everything looked normal.
But inside him, everything had changed.
He was no longer tied to Kennah.
No longer part of the Muller family.
No longer the man who stayed and endured everything for the sake of a broken relationship.
Now…
He was someone standing at the beginning of something new.
But he still did not fully understand what that “something” was.
When he arrived at the Castillon mansion, the large gates slowly opened for him.
The place was just as grand as before.
Quiet.
Elegant.
Almost untouched by chaos.
Earl stepped inside.
The servants greeted him respectfully, but he barely noticed.
His mind was focused on one person.
Meave.
He walked through the wide hallway, his footsteps soft against the polished floor.
Then he saw her.
Meave was sitting on the couch in the living room.
She was reading a book.
Her posture was straight and composed, her movements calm and controlled.
The soft light from the window beside her made her look almost unreal.
Elegant.
Distant.
Like someone who belonged to a different world.
Earl stopped for a moment.
Just looking at her.
For some reason, seeing her there made something inside him settle.
He took a breath.
Then he walked toward her.
“Thank you, Ms. Castillon,” he said.
His voice was calm, but there was sincerity in it.
“Me and Kennah Muller are now divorced.”
Meave slowly lifted her eyes from the book.
She looked at him.
Her expression did not change much.
“Good,” she replied simply.
Then she closed the book gently and placed it on the table beside her.
“Then prepare yourself for our wedding next month.”
Earl blinked.
For a moment, he thought he misheard her.
But her face remained calm.
As if she had just said something completely normal.
Earl smiled.
But it was not a confident smile.
It carried confusion.
Doubt.
“Between us, is marriage really necessary?” he asked.
- Writer
