So it was all because of that. Oh… he already knew.
Paralyzed by an overwhelming sense of terror, Sasha was as still as a statue. Her mind was in such a mess she could not make heads or tails.
“Darling?”
Her catatonic state alarmed him, making his heart sink further.
Is there really something going on between them?
The man fell silent.
For a few seconds, the world was reduced to just the two of them sitting side by side in the dining carriage. It was a pin drop silence and definitely resembled the calm before the storm.
The silence was finally broken by the service staff who had returned with the hot chocolate. “Is everything okay?”
He, too, sensed the palpable tension in the air and felt a tingle in his scalp.
Fortunately for him, Sasha snapped back to reality upon his entrance.
“Oh… It’s all right. Is this hot chocolate? Thank you very much,” she said while taking over the cup with her icy cold hand.
Sasha was holding it as though it was not some steamy hot chocolate in a porcelain teacup.
Sebastian stood in front of her and studied her stupefied expression carefully. At that moment, he felt as though he had just fallen into an abyss.
“Darling?” he uttered softly.
“Yes?”
When Sasha glanced up and locked eyes with Sebastian, she tried but failed to conceal the frantic state that she was in.
Her mind went into a frenzy. She could not even look at the man in the eyes without feeling guilty.
For the past few days, she had been blaming Sebastian for behaving unreasonably and making her upset. It now dawned on her that she was the root problem. However, she was struggling to offer a good explanation for what had happened.
“Yes. He did come looking for me at the hospital the other day, but it wasn’t what you think.” Many thoughts rushed through her head in an instance. Still holding onto the hot chocolate, Sasha started to recount the incident.
The man continued to keep silent. He was holding his breath just so he would not miss a word.
“Apparently, Solomon’s mother had said something to him, that was why he came looking for me at the hospital to thank me for begging you to let him off.”
Seeing as Sebastian was still waiting for her to elaborate on the matter, Sasha continued, “I’ve already denied my involvement in that matter, but he insisted that his mother had told him everything, so I panicked. I was afraid that you’d be upset about his visit, that was why I’ve decided to keep this from you.”
Sasha lowered her head. Her eyes welled up as she recalled how worried and terrified she had felt on those days.
I didn’t lie about this part. Solomon did come looking for me because of that and Yancy was very much involved in that matter too.
“Yancy? You mean she’s aware of this incident?”
“Yes. She might have approached my dad. I’m not so sure. But my dad came looking for me regarding this matter. I thought I only needed to have a brief word with you about letting him go. But I didn’t expect her to turn around and did something so evil!” With a heavy heart, Sasha told him part of the truth. To make it more believable, she swapped over the part where Yancy had looked for her.
Just one lie. I need him to believe me this once. I have no other choice. I don’t want that woman to lay a finger on him. But at the same time, I cannot let him find out the secret about his identity.
Fortunately, the man started to believe her story.
“So, you’re saying that she has planned all these so that I’d let go of her son. And at the same time, she also tried to sow discord between both of us?”
“That’s exactly right!” Sasha nodded in assent as tears trickled down her cheeks.
“Why didn’t you tell me earlier? Do you still not trust me?”
“No… It’s not like that.” She looked into his eyes.
At that moment, the resentment she had been holding against him dissipated instantly. It was replaced by guilt and self-reproach.
Lowering her head, Sasha slowly explained, “I knew you’d get worked up over this. I understand you don’t want me to have anything to do with him. But I didn’t think he would go and see me at the hospital. I was afraid that you might misunderstand my motive in asking you to let him off, so I’ve decided to keep a lid on everything.”
Sebastian went quiet.
He finally felt a heavy weight lifted off his shoulder. He looked intently at the teary-eyed Sasha and only felt sorry for mistreating her in the past two days.
At that moment, his only wish was to hold her in his arms and make up for his mistakes.
“All right. Stop crying now. This is partly my fault too. I should have asked you about what I saw instead of keeping it in. Let’s us vow to always be honest and open to each other about everything, okay?”
Once again, Sasha stared into Sebastian’s eyes, which were shining with passionate glint.
She did that for a long while until she finally leaned into his strong chest and muttered, “Okay.”
I definitely will do that. This kind of thing won’t happen again.
The couple finally made up and got off the train together as it arrived at Avenport.
As they stepped off the train, a gush of cold wind made Sasha shiver.
“Are you cold?”
Sebastian stopped midstride and removed his down jacket.
