She Accepted Divorce, He Panicked

"Let me in! How dare you stop me?!" Ava shouts again, presumably at his secretary. But Mateo wouldn't let her in, not after Sebastian almost fired him the last time he did that.

The man finally moves. He stands up and goes for the door. A storm formed in his sullen eyes. The storm comes from the photo he was staring at, but the person in the photo is not here to take the heat. "Who was shouting?" Sebastian opens his door, asking in an almost gentle tone.

That shuts up Ava quite effectively. She pouts, but she dares not to raise her voice agian. Mateo bows at Sebastian, and Ava takes her chance to sneak around Mateo to Sebastian.

"Did you give my spot to her?!" Ava demands with tears in her eyes.

"I gave what spot to who?" Sebastian frowns, his tone already impatient and it distinguishes Ava's tiny flare of anger.

"I mean...I thought I was going to be the homecoming queen..." Ava's demand becomes murmur, "Adrian even agreed to rerelease the movie on that day, for me..."

Sebastian tilts his head slightly at the woman in front of him, wondering how she can be so thick at most of the time, yet successfully tricked him for so long. He hasn't been talking to Adrian since five years ago, but he knows Adrian. There is no way that man did this for Ava.

If Adrian really agreed to it, it's because Adrian caught the wind about Scar's return.

Scar never agreed to another visit from him no matter how hard he tried. Submitting a request for visit became his daily routine until one day he noticed that the inmate he required to visit had been transferred, to where he wasn't allowed to know. That was when he finally realized -- he had lost her, completely.

He wasn't even allowed to know her whereabouts. He has been looking for her ever since, yet with little fruit out of his effort. Until today. Yet Adrian got it so easily. That can only mean one thing--

Scar wanted Adrian to know. She only hid her whereabouts from him, and him alone.

Sebastian clenches his teeth, trying hard to ignore the sour sting in his chest at that thought.

All if fine so long as she is. So long as she is back. Nothing else matters.Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

"I'm not the one arranging the homecoming celebration at some local high," The pain in his chest makes Sebastian's words colder than usual, and Ava flinches at that.

"Sorry--"

Her apology barely lands before the man turns and shuts the door.

"Wait!" Ava blocks the door with her hand, and to her extreme happiness, the man doesn't let the door hit her fingers.

"What now?"

"I mean..." Ava tries to squeeze into his office, but Sebastian blocks her:

"If you want to talk, talk here like everyone else," The man's voice is strict, "My office is off-limit."

His office is only off-limit to her. Ava bites her lips, trying hard to hold back her tears. She knows for a fact that all his secretaries are allowed in there, and that doesn't include all his guests.

But she dare not complain. She

knows she doesn't have the same

e'

influence on this man as before. He is mad at her. That much she knows. She forced him to marry her, just like Scarlett did. She thought she could change his heart like Scarlett, too. But she hasn't seen the slightest hope for that to happen.

She has been living in fear of the other shoe dropping, and the return of Scarlett is pushing her over that edge.

"Okayyy," Ava puts up a tame smile, "You said you were having a business meeting today..."

"Is there a question in there somewhere?" Sebastian answers indifferently.

Ava's smile freezes for a second at his cold tone, "Just...I thought maybe we could go home together, now that your meeting is done...?" Ava hooks her fingers together, twisting her hip a little, playing cute.

Well, playing cute in the only way she knew that would work on this man. And it fails, like all the other tricks she used to pull on this man.

"I'm busy."

Not another word after that. Ava stares at the man, not recognizing the man who used to give her the gentlest words with the most caring tone. There is no emotion in his eyes for her now. Not care like they always were. Not even anger. Ever since he visited Scar that one time, it was like she turned a switch on him, and Ava could no longer stir up even a bit of emotion in him.

"But we haven't had dinner together in so long..." Ava pulls the corner of Sebastian's suit, only to let go tamely when his cold eyes land on her fingers as if he were to chop them off the next second.

It's not "in long". It's "never". Ever

since their "wedding", Sebastian has

née

never spent a second with her alone. Sometimes Ava feels like their marriage is just his revenge, but it's not like he has announced her as his enemy. So she would lie to herself that it's all just in her head.

After all, Sebastian has not even once asked about what happened five years ago. Not about Scar's

accident nor the baby. He even allowed Scar to get arrested. If Ava knew anything about Sebastian, it's that if he didn't want to, he wouldn't have let Scar go into prison.

He is just mad at her, because she did to him the one thing he hated the most: forced into a marriage.

He will forgive her in time...right?

"Tell you what," The man peels Ava's hand off the frame of his office door, "I'll go with you to the homecoming celebration."