Chapter 25:

I got two days to revise my decision related to Samuel and Ethan. Two days of intense brain storm later, I came to a conclusion that Ethan needs both me and Samuel.

Even though I vowed to myself that I'd not let Samuel converse and indulge in my son's life, I couldn't help but break the vow. But, if Samuel really was interested to participate in my-our son's life then he must agree to some terms and conditions along with realizing the bitter hidden truth of Alice.

We walked towards Ethan's room in silence, occupied in our own mixed thoughts. He must be probably wondering why did I ask him to come with me. But I was thankful that he didn't question further and decided to come with me. Sometimes, he did use his garbage filled brain.

Once I closed the door softly behind me, I ordered him to sit. In his sleepy daze, he silently occupied the seat on the bed.

"What happened, Bridget?" he asked, his voice rough.

"I need to discuss a very important matter with you. No shouting, no yelling, just an intellectual conversation between us, okay?" I asked in a hard voice, leaving no room for any emotion. Though my stomach churned a little when he called me Bridget, my choice was to completely ignore it.

"Okay."

Once he agreed, I opened the video of me and Alice and presented him that. "Watch this."

His face contorted in sheer confusion as to what the video was about but he took the phone from me, slight hesitation evident in his eyes. He played the video and immediately the conversation exchanged between me and Alice resonated in the room.

Though the sound wasn't loud, due to the silent atmosphere we could make out the words clearly. If it would've been a normal day and not almost midnight, I was sure that we couldn't have heard half of the conversation.

I studied his features, tension rising from the pit of my stomach as his palms hardened around the phone, his jaw and cheekbones became more visible as he clenched his teeth tight, and his eyes turned a darker shade of gray.

For a moment fear rose in me. Taking the past instances as examples, I wouldn't be surprised if he threw the phone against the wall and yelled, "You lying bitch! How can you photo shop?"

I prayed the almighty, silently wishing the odds to be on my side.

I didn't want to be a guilty person in his eyes anymore. I wanted to have a civil conversation with him without putting on a world war-3. When I had a conversation with my son yesterday, I realized how much the boy was craving for his dad.

"Ethan?"

"Yes, momma?" He sprinted in my direction leaving Sein in the pool.

I mustered all my strength and asked, "Do you love papa?"

"Yes! I love daddy and the chocolates he give me. Now I can play foot ball with him like Anthony do! And I can swim with him, watch T.V. and Bruno and daddy on walk."

After he said those, I made a decision, a decision which could amend the life of Samuel and Ethan and me too. But first, Samuel's decision mattered. I didn't want to impose any kind of burden on Samuel with my decisions.

"So..." Samuel said softly breaking me out of my thoughts. In clear confusion I looked at him and realized that I zoned out and he was done watching the video. He gazed the floor intently, trying to comprehend the situation and pondering whether to believe it or not, I guess. My mind still bothered about the photo shop accusation.

"So, you wanted to show how big of a fool I was? How big of an idiot I was and let Alice down, isn't it?" his voice was strong, even though the pitch wasn't high.

"No."

"What?" He finally looked up at me.

"No, I didn't want to prove all those. But yes, you definitely were a fool to break our supposed happy family." Yes, he was a fool to believe  some other person over his wife. When he vowed that he'd trust me, no matter what, and stand by me in all the situations on the day of our marriage, I thought he meant them.

The irony of the world is, half vows which are taken during the marriage are broken so many times. If they really took strong vows, divorces wouldn't have been so common.

"So I am a fool, huh?"

"N-"

"You already said that, Bridget. There's no need of denying, you know." His eyes seemed pained, he was completely exposed bathing in vulnerability. The gray eyes didn't have the usual mischievous, cunning and arrogant spark in them. Instead they were just like the day his mother died.

He quickly averted his gaze somewhere else after sensing that I could see through his soul. And when it clicked that he called me Bridget again, a sense of deja vu rose in me.

In amidst all that, I forgot that he believed me. He believed the video!

As the sense of deja vu became more intense, my mind was confused and I completely was unaware of the words I should utter. Should I console him? No. My task was just to show this video. But I need to have a civil conversation with him after his own pity party. On that day we were as close as any two people could ever be. But, now, he meant nothing to me, just the dad of my child.

I was damn sure that his mother would've looked at him in pure disappointment if she knew how the things were. Or would she have believed  Alice, too?

We sat there in silence, I didn't know how long but it surely felt like thousand years. I, thinking about the past years and he about God knows what.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"Huh?"

"I said, I'm sorry!" This time, he looked straight into my eyes. Tears formed in those beautiful eyes and when he blinked, the lashes became wet.

"Are you, really?" my voice came out harsh than I intended it to. Was I supposed to say alright or smash him with my heel? I didn't know. I just let my mouth take over.

"I know you'll not believe me," he paused, "can I blame you though?I wouldn't have believed myself if I were you."

I nodded numbly, dissolving his words. We sat in silence for some more time. I just didn't knew when to commence the conversation about him and Ethan. So, I waited, I waited till his words came out strong and his shoulders stopped heaving due to sobs.

"Can I ask you something, Brid-"

"Please call me Sofia." The chapter of Bridget was long closed in my life, the memories I didn't want to recollect from now on wards. The memories after Ethan were beautiful, sure, but twenty two years before them weren't really the ones one would love to think about.

He smiled, it wasn't cruel or from happiness, it was from pain. "You've changed, didn't you?"

"You didn't leave me any chance."

"You aren't my Bridget anymore, are you?"

"I was never yours, Samuel." When I said that, he closed his eyes. Maybe, he didn't want me to see the look in his eyes.

"You were never mine, right," he whispered, "you would've been mine though if I cherished you the way you deserve."

I remained silent. The conversation became uncomfortable when he said those words. "Don't say words like that, Samuel." I dismissed the matter.

"So....?"

"So...what?"

"So the whole purpose to show me this video was to prove that I'm a fool?"

"No."

"Then?"

"I don't want to be the guilty one in the mishap that was created by the love of your life," I said bitterly.

He laughed. The nerve of this man to laugh in this kind of situation. What did my words exactly mean to him then? Some joke?

He's laughing humorlessly. My subconscious reminded.

"She's nothing to me now."

"Yeah I know she's everything to you, as alwa-" Wait what? "Did you just believed me and not her, this time? Wow, I sense some miracle happening."

His eyes seemed pained for the hundredth time tonight. "You think so low of me that I'd not believe you?"

"Yes, of course.. When was the last time you've believed me?" He kept silent. "That's right. There wasn't a time you believed me!" I yelled. God, it felt so good to shout at him, and him not having a valid point to make.

"Can I ask something, Bridget?"

"Don't call m-"

"I know. Don't call me that. But listen to me. When I call you that, my heart feels that I'm speaking to someone  he knows. Please..." he begged, literally and I did nothing but to nod in awkwardness and thing how inappropriate it was of him when his fiance was in the room down the hall. He was engaged for pete's sake!

"What do you want to ask?" I folded my hands, my legs almost giving up on me as I was standing and pacing around due to tension.

"Do we have a chance together again? At least for Ethan?" My breath hitched when he said that. The same thing I was thinking yesterday for the sake of my son.

But when he said that, the sentence didn't seem appropriate at all. How could he just such a rapid decision, like in ten minutes? It was a decision which could change many lives and he just uttered it without the care in the world. As if it was the most obvious solution for the problem in hand.

"No..." I shook my head. "Definitely not."

"But-"

"No buts Samuel. How can you take such rapid decisions? And yes, we will never have a chance because we aren't meant to be!"

"We aren't meant to be?" He stormed towards me.  He held my shoulders tight and his lips were an inch far from mine. My breath caught in my throat involuntarily and my lips parted in surprise.

"Isn't this closeness affecting you?"

The answer was simple. "No."

He lightly brushed his lips against mine and I pushed him with all I could. "What the hell, Samuel?"

"It isn't affecting you," he whispered in disbelief. "Which means that you no longer love me."

"Yes, I no longer love you and get this into your skull right now! You killed my love for you the day you believed Alice all those six years ago. You buried it complete when you tried to....hit me. Yes, you'll be my first love and will always have a small part in my heart but that doesn't mean that I'll come running into your arms. We are done!"

"I didn't mean to hit you that day... just in anger, it-it happened, I'm-"

"Stop it Samuel, I understand. It was your love for Alice that made you do that, I know. I understand you. But, this idea by you-you and me together, is just ridiculous."

A single tear rolled down his eyes and he wiped it hastily.

"I only came to you because I don't want to be seen as the guilty one and second, I want to make a peace treaty with you."

"What is it?"

"I want you to stay as a father to Ethan."

His eyes twinkled. "You do?"

"Yes, only because he likes you and wants a dad. I don't want him to be away from his dad as he knows who his dad is. And before you make any stupid comment, know that you've signed the papers that you have nothing to do with my kid and next, you will see my son on my terms and conditions," I said in a very, very firm voice leaving no room for further discussion.

"And we don't have anything left more. I'll send my lawyer regarding this and we are done, once and for all." With that I went out of the room proud of myself.

Yes, I thought that I need to be with Samuel for Ethan. But it wasn't appropriate and I was sure that Ethan would be greatly disappointed if he comes to know that his parents could've lived a happier life if it wasn't for him. He might blame himself, too. I just hoped that I made a better decision by planning on a combined custody wherein Ethan would stay with me and Samuel can visit him.

Finally, it seemed like my life was done dealing with Samuel and I needed to carry on my plans with handling my family and passing the throne to the person who deserved it.

Samuel wasn't the only one to blame in our marriage though. Maybe, I should've tried harder to stay with him and reveal Alice's scheme instead of just flying to some other country and escaping my problems. But everything is done.

Trust. Such a simple five letter word. But, it held a lot of power to it. It just proved that trust was more important in a relation than love. Everyone can utter "I love you" but it becomes difficult for the two people to handle those three words as the days pass. Samuel might have loved me but he failed to trust me. He chose his long friendship over his wife and love. The foundation on which love is built was broken by the man.

And now, here we both stood, alone and empty.

*****

Hey all! Next chapter is up.

I need to make a small request. Like I'm literally begging everyone right now. Please and please check my new book, please. KNOWING GABRIEL. It wouldn't hurt to read two or three chapters right? If you love it then save it if you don't then leave it but please do check it out.

I beg you all, please.....I've put a lot of effort into the book! Like very much effort actually. The language and everything is definitely better than this book. I need the encouragement from all of you.

Last but not the least VOTE AND COMMENT !!!!