Everlastingly Loving You - Chapter 153

“Who were you calling?” Louis asked Clarisse.

Clarisse’s eyes rounded.

“Sophia,” she answered.

“Oh, what did you talk about?” Louis asked curiously.

Clarisse stared at him.

Why did he have to be Sophia’s brother?

It’s a small world. Imagine her surprise when she realized Sophia was her dear friend’s younger sister who was exactly her age. She’d only figured it out after Sophia began talking about her family.

“Nothing too important,” Clarisse shrugged it off, hoping Louis wouldn’t try prying into things further since this wouldn’t end well.

“Sure,” Louis said, unconvinced.

“So how is Sophia doing?” Louis asked next, giving Clarisse a look of curiosity.

Clarisse froze.

‘Crap,’ she cursed under her breath.

“She’s doing okay. Misses you dearly but relatively okay,” Clarisse answered.

Louis raised his brow, “She misses me dearly?”

Clarisse bit her lip, prompting Louis to pry into things.

“What happened?” Louis questioned.

‘Nothing,’ Clarisse dismissed.

“I promise you, you won’t find this interesting,” Clarisse said.

Louis asked, “Really?”

“You promise I won’t want to know?” He questioned, curiosity creeping in his tone.

“Now that you’ve said that I’m even more curious,” Louis admitted.

“Just tell me already, it’s not like it’s that inappropriate for you to choose not to tell me or anything.”

Louis took a sip of water.

“Sophia just called me to discuss her sex life,” Clarisse blurted out.

Louis spat out the water he’d just drank and cringed. It was instinct.

“WHY WOULD YOU TELL ME THAT?” He nearly yelled, startling a couple of maids outside.

“You should’ve kept that secret,” Louis winced.

He felt like gagging. Goodness, Sophia’s sex life was the last thing he thought she called Clarisse about.

Clarisse sputtered, “You told me to tell you–”

“About everything other than Sophia’s sex life!” Louis retorted just as loudly.

Clarisse huffed in annoyance.

One second, he wanted her to tell him.

The other, he was staring at her in disgust.

“I’ve lost my appetite,” he admitted.

Clarisse scoffed, “That makes the two of us.”

“So, now that you’ve ruined my breakfast, what do you want to do next?” Louis asked.

Clarisse narrowed her eyes, ‘Tch, it was you who insisted I tell you, and now you’re placing the blame on me.’

__

Husband and wife had finished their breakfasts, both on the way to the exit, when Emilia didn’t notice a small lump in the carpet and tripped.

She was less than a meter from the ground when Raymond who was right beside her, caught her.

He supported her with his arm, staring at her face as his chest heaved upwards and downwards.

They stayed there, unmoving and still. Like time had stopped and they were two statues stuck in place.

She got up, perfectly fine.

He drew back his arm, asking, “Are you alright?”

Emilia dusted her dress.

“I’m fine, thanks for asking,” she said matter-of-factly.

She took a deep breath, trying to regain her composure as she said, “And thank you for catching me before I fell.”

“I best get going,” she declared before she left swiftly after.

Raymond looked downwards. His heart was beating much faster. Was it because of how fast he swooped down to catch her?

Or was it something else?

Meanwhile, with Emilia, she was panicking. She was a mini-Sophia essentially, except older and had a bigger ego.

“What the hell just happened?” She asked herself.

Her chest felt… warm.

Her heart, if she were to get into specifics.

She shook her head.

‘Snap out of it, Emile,’ she convinced herself.

‘Men like him don’t change, they repeat their mistakes and falling for them won’t help or change anything,’ she said, taking one last glance at the doors before she left for her private study.

She had better things to do than ponder about whether or not she should trust her husband again. Work was waiting for her in her study. Breakfast was simply something she agreed to join since Raymond couldn’t do anything there – he was powerless.

‘He’s going to come back and leave again,’ a voice in her head whispered.

‘Don’t trust him, don’t risk it.’

‘You’ll only hurt yourself again, and it’ll hurt more this time.’

She clutched her head as she made her way to her study. She passed the palace infirmary, and enjoyed the views of the palace gardens from the windows she happened to pass by.

Breathing ragged, she entered her study and slid down to the carpet.

‘I’m going insane,’ she mumbled under her breath.

Under a thick layer of makeup were dark eye bags from Emilia staying up all night wondering Raymond’s intentions, and also…

If he still loved her.

Concluding he was only here to steal the throne from her and his own daughter, she had managed to get a blink of sleep before being awakened by Beldovia’s sunrise.

Resting her face in her palms, she sighed.

How could she be so tempted?

It’d been a year and she still thought the same things she did a year ago.

Her heart still raced for him whenever he was close.

She still envisioned crazy scenarios including her and him.

And most horrible, she still considered giving him a second chance.

That second chance would lead to disaster – even she knew it would.

She didn’t want to be the person who took back her husband and tried to fix things only for it not to work out.

Figuring she was overthinking the entire situation, she returned to work so as to distract her mind from her personal affairs.

She then wondered, ‘What if he’s trying to get to me so he can steal the throne from right under me?’

“Argh!” She yelled frustratedly, taking her all her willpower so she wouldn’t throw everything on her desk away.

“Screw this,” she cursed.

She was better off not thinking about her husband.

Speaking of significant others…

“So, round 3?” Nicholas joked.

Sophia groaned, “I can’t, it hurts everywhere.”

“Goodness,” she squirmed, covering herself with the comforter so she felt less exposed.

Then again… there was nothing that Nicholas hadn’t already seen.

She grimaced at the thought, still not used to this.

Reaching for the mini blanket at the edge of the bed, Sophia made it off covered.

She stuttered, “I-I’m just going to go and t-take a shower.”

‘Want me to join you?’ The look Nicholas gave her asked.

He bit his lip.

Sophia’s eyes widened. Not another round, she was exhausted already.

“Next time,” she winked.

Nicholas turned flustered as he watched her leave.

Sophia had forgotten to close the bathroom door – or did she?

The blanket was thrown out the bathroom.

Nicholas narrowed his eyes – she was doing this on purpose to tempt him.

He was fully clothed by then.

Nicholas crossed his arms and huffed in annoyance.

“I KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOING!” He exclaimed.

Sophia shouted all the way from the shower, “TOOK YOU LONG ENOUGH!”

They continued bickering before Sophia finished showering.

She exited the bathroom covered in a towel, her hair wrapped up in a towel.

__

Marcus asked, “So when am I meeting your father?”

Louis furrowed his brow, “My father?”

“Why would you want to meet him?” He questioned.

“It’s best you stay far, far away from him,” Louis suggested.

“For god’s sake, he’s going against Sophia,” he grumbled, crossing his arms in annoyance.

He stuck with his sister, no matter what. Not even his father he’d side with – then again no one sane would side with Raymond either.

If he could, he’d kick Raymond from the Beldovian Palace. Ban him from the palace permanently, even. He didn’t bother to give Raymond a second chance – that was understandable. All the pain his father had caused him, all because they were blood-related and Raymond refused to leave until he happily sat on his throne.

Neither Sophia nor Louis had discussed Raymond returning to their lives. It was a huge, unexpected change. Like their reality had shifted completely.

They were better off thinking Raymond was dead, as horrible as it sounded.

Raymond was an absent father, a horrible husband and a greedy ruler.

There was no reason for him to stay other than the throne.

He didn’t bother hiding it.

There was no misconception – that perhaps he stayed to fix his relationship with his children and wife. There was only facts, over facts over facts.

“He’s your father,” Marcus reasoned.

Louis shot Marcus a deadly glare – Marcus had never seen Louis like this before.

Louis said, frighteningly calm, “He’s also the man who abandoned me simply because he needed a break from ruling.”

“So let’s not bring this up,” Louis said, hoping Marcus really wouldn’t try bringing up the topic again.

“I’m sorry,” Marcus apologized.

Louis leaned over to kiss Marcus on the cheek.

“It’s alright, babe,” Louis managed an assuring smile.

Marcus didn’t feel any better. In his stomach was a gnawing pit of guilt that grew by the moment.

He completely saw through Louis acting fine with him. He wasn’t without intelligence, he knew what Louis was actually thinking, he just wondered why he hadn’t thought of that before asking the question.