Paper Rings (English)

Chapter 21

“Did you find anything odd?” He mouthed as the door of the study room shut behind him. His fast footsteps led him to his desk, where he flipped his laptop open. “I’m looking at the mail you sent me right now.” 

“Yes,” Elisha confirmed at the other end of the line. “As you can see in the document, she filed a s****l assault case against Nicolas Mendez almost two years ago. However, it was dropped a week later as both parties reached an agreement.” 

There was a sinking feeling in his stomach upon hearing the words his assistant had spouted. As he scanned the detailed report containing the same information she said, all he could think of at the back of his mind was the fear in his wife's face when Nicolas showed up on the day of their wedding. 

“Is this information verified?”

“Absolutely. We got it from our contacts.” She heaved a deep sigh before continuing her report. “Because of that, I got curious about the rumors and asked around.” 

“Rumors?” His brows furrowed. “You didn’t dig more than what I asked for, right?” 

As soon as she went silent, the man reached for his nape and shook his head. He shut his eyes momentarily to keep his discernment intact. For the record, invading Primrose’s privacy was never his intention from the get-go. All he wanted to know was to know the brief context behind what Wednesday Curtis said about the man who crashed their wedding. 

“I’m sorry, sir. I know I was out of line. ” Elisha’s voice was low and apologetic, unlike her usual perked-up demeanor. “However, I still think you have every right to know this since you’re her husband. Most especially because every slander about her was false.” 

“What do you mean?” It was a sign of surrender. Hearing how eager his hard-headed secretary sounded, there was no way he could keep his nose out of this now. “What slander?”

“The rumors of her sleeping around, only seeing adventurous men, and spending all night at clubs.”

Sander averted his gaze to the door. “Ah, those rumors.” 

There wasn't really a time that he believed those. In fact, he already had a hunch long before the marriage agreement that those rumors going around their social circle wasn’t true. Now that he spent time with her, everything he had witnessed was enough to reaffirm his perception of her.

“Every time she’d go to a bar, she would book a private room,” Elisha continued to speak, not minding his silence. “When we asked the staff, they said she would stay there for hours, order some wine, and leave without any company. They also tried offering hosts to spend time with her, but she would always decline.”  

“I see.” 

“And the men she has dated….” 

He cleared his throat to interrupt her. “Let’s stop here. I think I already got the info I wanted. I don’t need to know that.” 

“But…” 

“I’ll call you back later. Thank you for your hard work,” the man paused and bit his lips. “And Elisha?” 

“Yes, sir?” she asked. 

“Whatever it is you found out about her, I hope it doesn’t show on your face whenever you two meet. Okay?” 

Elisha took a deep breath, “Of course, sir. I’ll keep that in mind.”

After he ended the call, the tightness on his chest didn't go away. He placed the phone down the tabletop and ran a hand through the strands of his hair. It took him a few seconds to shrug the lingering anger in his system. 

When he managed to regain his composure, he stepped out of the study room with a blank visage. As if the phone call didn't happen.

"Where is she?" He mumbled to himself after finding the living room empty. 

His gaze circled back and forth until he halted at the sight of the slightly opened door of the guest room. The burn tingling in his limbs only got fiercer as he approached closer. 

Primrose was there. Although she wasn't facing his way, her reflection on the mirror clearly showed the thing he had been avoiding. The bottle of medicine in her grip and the ray of confusion in her eyes were enough for him to grasp the current situation. 

“What are you doing here?” 

She didn’t respond right away and remained frozen on her spot. As their gazes finally met through the vanity mirror, he tried not to show the shock on his face by pursing his lips into a thin line. 

“I-I’m sorry,” the red-haired lady mouthed and immediately placed the bottle back in the drawer. “I was just looking for the first aid kit because I cut my finger with….”

He interrupted her frantic explanation by striding in front of her and grabbing her bloodied finger. No words emerged from his mouth. Instead, the man sat her gently at the feet of the bed and started to mend her wound. 

“Are you angry?” she asked, still wary of the blank expression on his face. 

“No,” he briefly replied while carefully dabbing drops of disinfectant on her finger. When he tilted his head up, worry remained apparent on her visage. All he could do was sigh and halt what he was doing. “I’m not angry. Why would I be angry with you?”

“Because I entered this room without permission,” she paused and glanced over the drawer she opened earlier. “And went through your things?”

“We’re legally married. So technically, this whole place is yours as well. You don’t need permission to do anything.” 

“But…” 

“It was mine,” Sander confirmed. As soon as her attention returned to him, he nodded and drew a small smile. “The medicine bottle. I was the one taking that.” 

He expected her to be horrified. After all, she was blind-sided. Who would be delighted to find out that you’ve married a man with a drinking problem in the past? Some people even distanced themselves from him upon learning that fact, so he wouldn’t be surprised if she’d do that from this point forward. 

However, he was wrong this time around. Nothing but continued calmness was radiating from the woman seated in front of him. No trace of disgust or fright like he was so used to seeing.  

“I see. Are you still on medication?”

He shook his head and pulled out a band-aid from the box. “No, I was advised long ago to stop taking it. I just keep it with me because it’s not something that goes away forever.” 

“I know,” her voice was faint but full of warm affirmation. “Thank you for being honest with me. I know it’s not easy to talk about that.” 

“No, it’s okay. It’s not a secret, anyway.” He wrapped the band-aid around her wounded finger. 

“If it’s not a hard topic to talk about, can I ask another question?” 

All of a sudden, the tension engulfing the room earlier was off the wall like it never happened at all. Her wariness was nowhere to be found, and all that was left was her spirit of inquiry. He smirked and folded his arms across his broad chest, but that didn’t faze the curious lady.  

“Fine. What do you wanna know?” 

“When did it happen?” 

“Late teens,” he replied and stared at the window to think back. “No, I think I was around 20 when I got treated.”  

“Around the time of your fake marriage with Cecilia?” Her brave query and the brazen look on her face made him clear his throat. Because of it, she shyly shifted her gaze away from him. “I mean, you said I could ask anything.” 

“You already knew that it was her?”

“Well,” she pouted and placed a hand to her nape. “You’re not known for keeping close female friendships, and she calls you Waddles, so I kind of figured?” 

 Sander shook his head amid his low and amused snorting. “So this is how you naturally put her into the conversation. How clever.” 

“H-hey, I’m just curious. That’s all.” When his eyes squinted, her ears automatically turned red. “Stop it.” 

He nodded in defeat. “Anyway, no. It happened after that….”

Their conversation was put on hold when the doorbell rang. Both of them exchanged glances. There was no way it was Tyler or the helpers because they would only drop by to clean the house and prepare the breakfast because of the protocols. 

It also wouldn’t be the security team as they would call him on the phone first before barging in. With that thought, he dug his hand inside his pocket only to find out that his phone wasn’t there.

“Are you expecting a visitor?” Primrose asked. 

“No,” his brows furrowed. “I’ll go get it. Stay here.” 

“Okay.”