Chapter 75

Adrian

The blank ceiling of my bedroom is not enough to calm me down but it is just enough to keep my mind distracted from the revelation that has been exposed by Stella at the hospital not even an hour ago.

Clara has been faking her illness. She has been pretending to be sick in order to gain my attention because she has so desperately missed it.

Does she not realize the harm she has caused? She has taken up a hospital bed that could have gone to someone who actually needed it. She is selfish and deserves to sit and live with the consequences of her own actions.

I cannot believe that I allowed myself to be duped by her. After all of these years of knowing and loving her, Clara has finally shown me her true colors. I know that I hold a dependent attachment to her, that my emotions for her will get the best of me one of these days, but I must remain strong and begin to push her out of my life.

Clara has ruined so many things in my life. She has ruined my marriage with Stella. She has ruined my relationship with Stella and has pushed us apart that we have become people that I can barely recognize anymore. She has also destroyed the trust that I have held in her and her words.

How much has she lied to me about?

I can’t help but go back to all of the skirmishes that happened between Stella and Clara.

There was the time at the hospital when Clara had just woken up. She had clung to me like I was her lifeline and she made Stella, my wife at the time, watch. I had originally thought that our marriage was one of convenience instead of love but Stella reacted so viscerally.

There is the time as well at the party that their parents held for Clara waking up. Clara claimed that Stella has stolen the diamond necklace that I bought for her but it turned out to be false, that Clara had planted the evidence.

And then Clara somehow showed up to the resort Stella, my mother and I were at. Nobody knew where we were going, the vacation being a secret to those outside the trio, but she still showed up. Stella had thought that I brought her here as a piece of revenge, to show her that my heart belonged to Clara rather than her.

Oh, how Clara has messed up so many things in my life. How will I ever recover from this? I truly do not know.

I sigh and close my eyes, covering my face with a pillow to try and hold back the tears that threaten to fall from my face. The tears absorb into the fabric and material of the pillow.

I remove the pillow after a few minutes and sit up in bed. A headache begins to form inside my head. I pinch the bridge of my nose and can feel my mental state begin to fracture.

How could I have been so blind? Stella has been telling the truth all along and I allowed Clara’s despicable lies to guide me on how to feel about her.

It was Clara who warned me of Stella’s so called materialism before she fell into a coma. It was Clara who kept feeding me lies of Stella’s infidelity and even made me fall into the trap that Stella only cares about herself and nobody else.

I regret leaving Stella alone in the hospital room for all of those years while I waited by Clara’s side. I should have taken care of my wife instead of the woman who I so desperately desired.

Stella had been right in front of me all along and I have been oh so blind to her presence.

My bedroom door creaks open. I look to the side and see my mother, who decided to take a weekend away from her expensive nursing home to spend some time with me. I am so happy that she is here to comfort me in my time of need.

There is something about the look on her face, though, that makes me grow weary of her presence.

“Mom? Is…is everything okay?” I ask, slowly moving off of the bed. She approaches me and pulls out a folder of papers.

My heart shatters. I know exactly what it is she is holding just by looking at the colored tabs that hang from the folder. Our eyes meet and my mother shakes her head, opening up the folder.

“A Marriage Proposal. Party A, Adrian, and Party B, Stella, will be joined in a union together. Party B will supply her body and blood to Party A for whatever it is he needs. Party A will compensate Party B for all of the surgeries and procedures that they will complete.”

My mother’s shaky voice rocks me to my core. I close my eyes, not wanting to face the truth despite knowing that I have to.

“Adrian,” she breathes out and sets the papers down beside me. “I am so disappointed in you.”

I begin to cry, the tears flowing down my cheeks at a rapid pace. They’re hot against my skin. I can’t fight them away.

“I know, mom, I know,” I choke the words out, unable to get my breathing under control. “I…I had good intentions, I promise. I needed to save Clara.”

“Clara? The same girl who never gave a shit about you until you got some money in your pockets?” my mother doesn’t hold back. I sigh and nod. “Stella…has been in love with you this entire time, Adrian. I can see that she signed this out of her love for you because nobody else in their right mind would agree to this.”

I can’t bring myself to respond. My words sit on the tip of my tongue, leaving me feeling so desperate for some kind of release from the emotional turmoil and pain that I am forced to sit through.

“You’ve ruined the poor girl, Adrian. Her health is in shambles because of you,” she continues to speak, her voice soft and gentle despite the war that wages inside of the depths of my consciousness.

An ugly silence fills the room. I choke back my sobs but they force their way out of my body. The overwhelming sensation of dread and failure crashes through me.

My heart has been ripped to shreds and my mind is fractured beyond belief. The emotional turmoil stabs into my skin and leaves me breathless, unable to breathe properly.

“I support Stella in her divorce with you. I cannot stand to see her be forced to be a lab rat for a man who is so blinded by his lust for a woman who doesn’t even want him,” my mother’s words ring true inside my ears. It is painful to listen to, yes, but she speaks the truth. “Stella deserves better.”

I look up and notice my mother turn around and begin to exit the bedroom. I do not know if I want her to stay and comfort me — if that is even something that she wants — or if I deserve to be alone for the rest of my life.

She stops by the door and turns around, her hand resting on the wood of the doorframe. Our eyes meet and I wipe away the tears that fall from my eyes.

“You have become someone I can barely recognize, Adrian. Please…please go back to the happy boy I used to know.”