Chapter 9

"All discarded lovers should be given a second chance, but with somebody else."

-Mae West-

***

Vivianne arrived at work that day and she was immediately greeted by the receptionist who had informed her that she received a gift that day from a mysterious sender. She walked over to the desk and the woman handed her over a box and a bouquet of pink and white tulip which was one of her favorite flower. She looked a bit confused, who could possibly send her that kind of gift, she already knew it could not possibly come from Adonis. That man barely gifted her anything before just because of his financial situation.

She brought it back to her office desk and checked the card which came along with it which wrote, ‘for my dear Vivianne, I love you.’ She had no idea who sent it because there was no sender’s name. Opening up the gift, she found a velvet jewelry box with an Italian private jewelry brand embossed on it. She removed the lid and found a beautiful heart shaped necklace with hummingbird pattern carved inside, the eye of the bird is made out of diamond. She quickly dropped it to the desk. Her eyes widen in disbelief. She knew already who sent it.

It was a gift from Carson. In the past he used to call her his hummingbird. It was a nickname he gave her because she was on the smaller side, but she was fast and adorable like a hummingbird. Her heart was beating quickly. She had no idea why he would disturb her again after almost no contact for so long. She quickly grabbed it along with the flower and tossed it to the bin.

She took a seat on her chair and one of her co-worker saw what she did from the glass window, she knocked on the door and got inside, she asked him what did she just throw, she saw the bouquet and the jewelry box on the bin and picked it up again.

“Wow, this is really beautiful, why did you throw it away? Is this real diamond? I swear Vian, I know your family is wealthy but if you don’t want this, you can just give it to me. No need to toss it for Christ sake.” Vian stared at her co-worker in disbelief. She was already having a terrible headache from the shock. She knew it had been a while, but there was still part of her that gets scared whenever she saw anything associated with her ex. The abuse she had to endure when she was with him traumatized her a little, she wanted absolutely nothing to do with him ever again.

So why did he have to return and disturb her life? Was he upset with what happened that night or was he trying to get back with her again? Whatever the reason was she had no desire to keep anything he gave her.

Her co-worker ended up keeping the gift for herself while she remained restless for a while before she eventually started working. Throughout the days she had tried to occupy herself and distract her mind from the little incident from that morning, but she had this bad gut feeling that something was about to happen.

It was evening when she was done with work, a lot of the other staff had returned home and the only people inside the building was the cleaning staff and the security. She finished everything up and went to the lobby to head back home. She always had her car parked in the outside parking lot instead of the basement because she had been through some unpleasant basement experience in the past. Anyone who had watched a psychopath movie would understand what she was through. It was an absolute nightmare.

Once she arrived at the lobby, she saw Carson sitting on the sofa leisurely with his body facing the entrance and exit area. The lobby area was already pretty dark when she exited the elevator, she did not pay that much attention until she caught a glimpse of a man’s shadow from the corner of her eyes, she turned around and saw none other than Carson standing there right behind her with a smile on his face.

“Carson, what are you doing here?” She questioned as she took a step back from him. The man took a step forward and brought forth the bouquet of flower he had been keeping from behind. He put the flower in the center of his body as he walked closer and closer to her.

“I want to meet you again. Since that party I could not stop thinking about you. I lost sleep because of you. I knew right away that I want you back in my life. I don’t care that you are married now, you can forget about that useless husband of yours and be mine again. I will do it right this time if you’ll give me the chance.” She shook her head.

“No, I have had enough of you. You really have no shame, flirting on a married woman like this. Don’t you ever bother me ever again or I swear you will regret it.”

“You like to do that, don’t you? To threaten me like that, but I know somewhere inside you still have a soft spot for me, Vian. I sent you over some jewelry earlier. Do you like it? I don’t see you wearing it right now.” She could not believe he had the nerve to say that after all this time.

“Do you really think that I would keep anything that you give me? I threw everything out to the bin. I don’t need anything from you, Carson. Just leave me alone.”

She gathered her courage and walked away from him. She did not hear his foot-steps which meant he was still standing still right where he was. She accelerated her pace a bit and quickly got inside her car, locked the door and drove her car far away from there. Once she was a bit further from the office, she could finally breath.

Taking a deep breath, she watched herself in the mirror to ensure that she was still okay and alive, a weird habit she had from the past but after seeing herself and understanding that she was okay, her heartbeat slowed down a bit as her body stabilized.

She had no idea what he was doing in her office. More specifically, how he knew that she would still be there at such hour. Was it because she used to have the habit of staying up late for work just to avoid him or was it because he had been spying on her? Whatever the reason was she felt uneasy to work till such late hour again. She would need to call her boss to let him know that she wasn’t going to work overtime again. It was too much for her to handle.

Once she arrived home, she thought of going to bath first to relax her mind, but as soon as she opened up the door to her living room, she could smell delicious food cooking in the air. Her curiosity led her steps to the kitchen where she saw Adonis cooking some broth soup for the two of them. He was humming as he poured it from the pot to the bowl, even moving his body in a soft rhythm as if he was dancing to an inaudible melody.

It was certain that someone was in a good mood that day. She approached him slowly and tapped his shoulder. The man turned his head and was surprised to see his wife there like a ghost. The woman was so quiet he did not even hear the sound of her footsteps.

“You look like you are in a good mood today? Did something happen?” Adonis stared at her for a few seconds, his briefly dissipated from his face as he thought of the decision he had made for himself. He had sworn to never tell anyone about his newfound identity and wealth, at least not yet, not until everything was fully ready and he was mentally prepared to do so.

Her big eyes kept on staring at him, making it impossible for him to not give her any answer. Eventually he knew he needed to make something up.

“Actually, now I have a new work. I just joined in this company. I will start working from tomorrow, so I might leave at the same time you do. You don’t have to worry from now on because I can drive you to your work first then I’ll drive to my workplace. It’s going to be much more convenient because now I can actually pick you up in the evening.” Vian did not know if it was a coincidence or not but hearing the news was a huge relief on her part. At least she would not have to drive alone again from now on.

“That is good. At least now you can have something for yourself. I am sure if you work hard enough sooner or later they would not mock you as much anymore.” Adonis remained silent as she took a glass of wine from the cupboard and poured herself a drink. He read her gestures and judging from her facial expression, she did not look too well.

He put down the bowl and approached her. Slowly leading her to sit on the chair while asking her what was wrong. She looked up to him and slowly confessed.

“My ex, he wants me back.”