Chapter 15
750words
He walked onto the stage and stood firm.
Those deep, cold eyes swept across the entire venue, and finally, precisely landed on me.
Our eyes met.
Separated by a sea of people, separated by worlds apart.
His gaze remained as calm as ever, as devoid of warmth as always.
As if we were just two strangers who had never met before.
My heart was pierced and left bleeding by that icy gaze.
So this was the reason he chose to leave.
Because he never belonged to my world.
Between us lay an entire galaxy.
The meeting ended in an eerie atmosphere.
I don't know how I managed to endure it. I only know that from beginning to end, Lucas Shaw never looked at me again.
After the meeting adjourned, I hid in the break room like a wandering soul, not wanting to see anyone.
Just then, the door of the break room was pushed open.
The person who walked in was none other than Lucas Shaw.
He closed the door and locked it.
In the spacious lounge, only the two of us remained.
"You..." I looked at him, my throat dry, unable to utter another word.
"Eve." He walked up to me, "Why didn't you send me the divorce agreement?"
I looked at him, tears falling down my face despite my best efforts.
"Lucas," I looked at him, asking one word at a time, "Did you ever have even a little bit of genuine feeling for me?"
He fell silent.
In those unfathomably deep eyes, intense emotions I couldn't understand were churning.
After a long while, he finally spoke slowly:
"Yes."
"Then why did you leave?"
"Because staying would have harmed you."
"What do you mean?"
He looked at me, and for the first time, his eyes revealed that same deep pain I had once seen when he looked at photos of his sister.
"My sister, Lu Chengxue." He said slowly, "She was once like you, falling in love with an ordinary person of vastly different status. To be with him, she gave up everything from the Lu family. But my enemies didn't spare her. They kidnapped her and used her to threaten me. In the end, to avoid being my burden, she jumped from a tall building."
My heart felt like it was being squeezed tightly by a giant hand.
"From that day on, I vowed that in this lifetime, I would never again let anyone become my weakness."
"So," he looked at me, his eyes full of struggle and pain, "I cannot love you. Because if I love you, I'm pushing you into the most dangerous situation. Eve Sullivan, do you understand?"
I understood everything.
It wasn't that he didn't love.
It was that he didn't dare to love.
He built a high wall with coldness and distance, locking himself out, and me as well.
He thought he was protecting me.
This fool.
This, the world's biggest fool.
I looked at him, at his pain-filled eyes, at his tightly pressed, stubborn thin lips.
I smiled.
As I continued smiling, tears began to stream down my face again.
I walked up to him, reached out my hand, and gently caressed his handsome face that was marked with scars of suffering.
"Lucas Shaw," I said, "listen carefully."
"I couldn't be part of your past. But your future, I'll be with you every step of the way."
"I don't care what enemies you have, and I don't care how dangerous the future might be. I only know that I, Eve Sullivan, have chosen you for this lifetime."
"So, don't try to push me away again. Otherwise, I'll tie you up if I have to and drag you back to our home, making you cook for me for the rest of your life."
After saying this, I stood on my tiptoes and kissed his lips once more.
This time he didn't stiffen.
Nor did he punish me.
He simply, with an almost trembling manner, held me tightly, so tightly in his arms.
As if he wanted to meld me into his very bones and blood.
"Evie..."
I heard him beside my ear, lost and found again, cherished and treasured, calling my name over and over.
The sunlight outside the window was just right.
Our story began with a cold agreement.
But this time, it will draw a never-ending period in the name of love.
