Chapter 104
Irvin was an overly proud man. I had also spoiled him too much inte past. Naturally, he was angered when I belittled him. He laughed bitterly. “Yes, your biggest mistake was falling in love with me!”
He finally said what he had buried deep in his heart. “You made Lianne suffer when you stole me away from her.”
her childhood sweetheart-
“You had set up all sorts of chance encounters just so I’d fall for you,” Irvin added accusingly. “But I bet you never expected to fall in love with me in the process, right? This is your karina for playing with someone’s genuine feelings and treating them like a fool!”
I frowned. “Setting up chance encounters? Stealing you from Juliar ne? Ew! I disinfect my hands when I accidentally touch something of hers. Why would I ever steal her belongings?”
My words angered Irvin. His breathing became noticeably heavier
“Stop pretending, Emilia,” he snapped. “Stop denying it! I know you deliberately made me fall for you back then!”
His heart ached when he thought of how everything wonderful between us had been planned. He felt as though he couldn’t breathe.
Julianne had told Irvin about the video when she returned two years ago. She had also told him that our meeting and his falling for me were part of my meticulous plan. She also told him I had schemed to steal him away from her because I was jealous she had a childhood sweetheart like him.
Irvin was under the impression that I had created an elaborate scheme just to get him to fall for me. He thought our love and our wonderful shared memories were all part of my scheme as well. It was harder for him to accept all this compared to Julianne’s drugging incident.
He had thought he was extremely fortunate to have found his soulmate. Yet, in reality, he was just prey that had fallen for a trap. Not only was he just a pawn in someone’s game, but he had also lost. Someone as prideful as him wouldn’t be able to accept this.
He had fallen deeply in love with me. The more he loved me, the stronger his hatred for me was when he found out I had manipulated him from the very beginning. Yet, it was because he loved me that he couldn’t let me go.
Irvin couldn’t let neither his hatred nor his love for me go. He also couldn’t accept that he had fallen for someone as malicious as me. He struggled every day because of his conflicting feelings. This made him wish I would experience the same pain that he was going through.
However, I didn’t share the same pain as him. I refused to admit my mistake. I also denied manipulating him. Not only that, I was even belittling him.
He must have felt that I was taking advantage of his love for me and his inability to let me go. That was the reason I continued to behave so audaciously, so much so, that his heart ached from anger.
Meanwhile, I–who was completely unaware of this–merely thought he was crazy to say such things.
“Ugh! I did no such thing! Stop falsely accusing me!” It was my turn to be frustrated. “You can read my journal if you don’t believe me! It’s at the place I’m currently staying. My biggest regret truly is not breaking up with you all those years ago!”
I genuinely thought someone like him wasn’t worth it. I even told him to read my journal to convince him of this.
However, Irvin didn’t believe me at all.
“Enough, Emilia.” He rubbed his temples in frustration. “Let’s not argue about this anymore. Right now, what’s important is resolving the issue at hand. With the situation the way it is currently, it doesn’t matter how much you deny it. It’s also pointless to continue to refuse it.‘
Before I could respond, he added, “I’ll arrange for a psychiatrist to visit you tomorrow to conduct a psychiatric evaluation. When that happens, I’ll inform the public that your actions were due to psychological side effects of trauma,
1/2
Chapter 104
+25 BONUS
“Plus, Lianne has signed a letter of understanding and has agreed not to pursue legal action. You won’t have to spend time in prison, but you may need to stay in a psychiatric hospital for a while. Don’t worry. I’ll handle the arrangements there. Just treat it as a long vacation.”
He went on, not letting me speak, “Once the heat from this situation dies down, I’ll send you abroad. And when everyone has forgotten about this situation, you may return if you wish. If you don’t, I’ll move my business, and we can settle down abroad instead.‘
His tone softened as he said, “We’ve both made our share of mistakes in the past, Emi. Let’s use this as an opportunity to put them behind us and start fresh, okay?”
Irvin held my hand. His gaze was filled with affection. It was clear he genuinely wanted to put everything behind us and start
over.
He believed this arrangement was what was best for me: He was dealing with the aftermath of the current situation because he couldn’t bring himself to hurt me. By doing so, he probably thought he was once again indulging his love for me.
Chapter 105
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Love You Like I Used To Forget It (Millie Bridge)