Elara looked at the man before her in utter shock. His black tailored suit was soaked from the rain outside.
But it wasn’t his drenched state that shocked her; it was the fact that he was supposed to be at his engagement, not here.
Heck, she was going to attend his engagement. But would there be any ceremony if the protagonist were here?
The man kept looking at her before he sighed. He extended his hand towards her before he remembered what he did to her and lost the right to touch her like that, and let his hands fall freely.
"Elara," Andrew whispered before he got on his knees, his actions shocking Antonio, who was about to ask Elara if she wanted this man thrown out of the apartment.
"I don’t know what to say," Andrew whispered, looking at his hands like a defeated man.
Elara arched her brows.
"If you don’t know why you are, why are you here in the first place?" She asked.
The man smiled before he chuckled, a laugh that didn’t reach his eyes. The voice sounded more like an agonizing plea of a man who was defeated and didn’t know what to say, what to do, or where to go.
"I would like to start by apologizing sincerely. This is something I have said a few times before, too, but I don’t know if you ever felt the genuineness behind it. I am sorry, Elara Frost. For everything I put you through," Andrew looked up at her with teary eyes.
Elara looked into his remorseful eyes and felt her own eyes tear up.
Maybe it was because the photo from the media reopened her old wounds and she finally received the much-awaited apology that she deserved from the man who ruined her life, she didn’t know what it was.
All she knew was that this wasn’t right, not for her, not for her revenge.
"Get out," Elara said, her voice barely above a whisper.
Andrew nodded.
"I deserve it. Your anger, your hatred, and your disgust, I deserve it all for what I did. But please... give me at least one chance to be your friend. I know you hate the word after what I put you through. But... I don’t know how to put it," Andrew covered his face with his hands, his shoulders trembling from fatigue and frustration.
"Beatrice, she isn’t the right person for me. Just not alone as a wife but as a friend either. She has been selling the company secrets outside to God knows who. The truth is coming out slowly. You were always right about her. She was a manipulative woman that I failed to see," Andrew whispered.
Elara finally realized what this was about.
The moron finally saw the truth in Beatrice. It was a shame he did it before the marriage. She really wanted him destroyed by the woman he always picked over her.
"I don’t see why it has anything to do with me. You found out the truth I had been screaming in your face and faced the backlash for it. So what? Should I take you back, thinking that now you know the truth?" Elara asked.
Andrew opened his mouth to retort, but Elara chuckled harshly.
"Do you not see it, Andrew Lloyd? It was never about her. It was you who broke our relationship. Someone could come between us because you let it happen. You allowed your friends to hunt me down. Same with your family. She was a stranger to me. You were everything," Elara said, a rogue tear rolling down her cheeks.
Andrew looked at Elara’s tears and clenched his fists over his heart.
"I know it’s my fault. That’s why I am asking you for one chance. Please. I beg you, Elara. I’ll make it right. I’ll improve myself. Please just trust me once," Andrew said.
Elara’s lips trembled, not because his words moved her, but because of how easily he thought he could get that chance if he begged.
"Leave, Andrew," Elara said.
"No. Please, Elara. At least think about it. We can have a sweet and nice family. Just like how you wanted," Andrew said.
Elara looked at Antonio, who nodded in return before pulling Andrew up and out of the apartment.
Andrew kept begging Elara to give him a chance,e but didn’t fight back against Antonio, knowing it would only infuriate the woman more.
Antonio closed the door once Andrew was out, then looked at Elara.
"Are you okay?" He asked.
Elara walked to the dining table, poured herself a glass of water, and drank it to calm her emotions.
The more she thought about what was happening, the more absurd it looked.
"I am fine," she said before walking into her bedroom and changing back into comfortable clothes.
There was no need to go to any engagement. Antonio was right. It wasn’t worth the trouble. Besides what it looked like, there wouldn’t be an engagement either.
She walked to the balcony to relax with the cold wind when her gaze fell on the familiar car parked behind the left wall of the society.
The man still sat inside the car, looking as if he had no intention of leaving, and Elara pressed her lips into a thin line before walking back to the living room and turning on the television to distract herself.
At the same time, in the Victorian Banquet hall where the engagement was held, the guests began to leave one by one as the man didn’t show up.
"Where is this fool?! Is this engagement for someone else? How can he not appear at his own engagement?" Heather raised his voice angrily while Beatrice sat on one of the tables, drinking juice with her eyes closed.
The commotion around her made her both furious and laugh at herself in mockery.
It was funny how, no matter how hard she tried, the moment she felt something good was about to happen to her, it got ruined.
She was really happy to get engaged to the love of her life, the person she worked so hard for. But the man didn’t come.
She was sure it was because of Elara, too. Their last call replayed in her head, and she smiled at how the girl ruined her happy day even without appearing.
"Beatrice, you should go and get changed. The guests have already left. Till when will you keep waiting?" Sophia said to her in a soft voice.
Beatrice opened her eyes and looked around. The Lloyd family members and the staff working for them were the only ones remaining. The two sides of the stage were funny.
While Andrew’s entire family was here, there was no one from her side.
But did it matter? After all, the engagement didn’t even happen.
It was as if the realization wasn’t enough; she saw a few starting to gossip, all looking at something on their phones.
She furrowed her brows and pulled out her phone to see what it was.
The moment her gaze landed on the photos, her body froze for a second.
It was a photo of Andrew sitting inside the car, drenched. The name of the society was clear in the photo, and Beatrice suppressed a mocking chuckle when she realized it was Elara’s society.
So he was indeed there. She scoffed inwardly.