Chasing His Rejected Wife
Chapter 70 -

Jessica

I was startled awake by the sound of a loud crash. I sat up in bed, eyes wide and unfocused, heart pounding hard and fast, as I struggled to remember where I was.

It took a couple of seconds, but eventually, my brain clocked on the fact that I was back in my bed, in my apartment and still wearing yesterday's clothes. And the crash that had woken me came from the living room.

"Who's there?" I tried calling out but my voice came out cracked and husky from sleep. I grimaced at the bitter taste in my mouth, pushed back the covers, and slid out of bed. Only to fall back on my ass as my legs refused to cooperate, the room swam before my eyes as I was hit with a dizzy spell and nausea bubbled up from the depths of my stomach.

"Shit," I muttered and lowered my head between my knees until the feeling passed. Cautiously, I tried to stand up again, this time taking care to brace my arms against the mattress for support. Though my muscles screamed in protest, I eventually got to my feet, leaning against the bedpost while I caught my breath.

Weakness flooded my limbs, I ached everywhere and generally felt like I had been worked over by a steamroller, but at least I didn't feel like hurling my guts out anymore.

I tried to remember if I had locked my front door last night, but the details felt fuzzy in my head and I couldn't even recall how I had ended up in bed. I remembered most of yesterday, the way Aiden had fussed over me during the flight, the rush to the hospital with Vincent meeting us at the entrance, and later, Dr. Strand scolding me lightly for overworking myself and recommending a three-day bed rest as little movement as possible. The brief argument I'd had with Aiden who had wanted me to spend those three days in the hospital under close supervision and me insisting on going home, the compromise to have him spend the night at my place instead.

Right...I'd forgotten about that. That might explain the crash then since he was probably in the living room, but what had caused it? I glanced at my bedroom door, which was shut, and debated going out there and having to meet Aiden or just pretending to not have heard anything and staying in the safety of my room.

My full bladder decided for me. I grimaced as my dress clung to me uncomfortably and made to take it off, surprised to replace all the buttons at the back undone and my bra missing. I scowled and searched around for it, but it was nowhere near, which was odd. If I had taken it before falling into bed, surely it should be lying in a heap on the floor or somewhere on the bed? A quick search led me to the bathroom and my puzzlement grew when I spotted the missing bra in the clothes hamper.

"Weird," I mumbled since I wasn't exactly the sort to take the time to put a single piece of clothing neatly away in the first place. I shrugged off the mystery and with my bladder taken care of, stood in front of the mirror and examined my reflection, wincing at the tired-looking, swollen-eyed woman with bed hair that stared morosely back at me.

I shuddered, thankful now that I hadn't gone rushing out to see what Aiden was up to in this state or one of us might have needed medical attention. I opted for a hot shower, keeping my mind carefully blank, reluctant to dwell on the uproar of the past seventy-two hours just yet.

I lingered for a while, aware that I was merely delaying the inevitable confrontation with Aiden since I didn't think he would leave just like that without seeing me first at least. Finally, I sighed, turned off the shower, and stepped out, my skin pink and soft, my hair freshly washed.

Back in my room, I stopped, sniffed the air appreciatively and my stomach rumbled in protest. I hurried through my skincare, blow-dried my hair, and pulled it up into a ponytail, the ends still damp, pulled on an orange t-shirt and black sweatpants and headed to the living room.

I pulled up short at the sight that met my eyes. My ex-husband...my half-naked ex-husband bustled around my small kitchen, an apron the only covering on his upper body, his pants riding low on his hips. He wore a frown of deep concentration as he sliced a cucumber into neat circles, pausing now and then to check the contents of a pot that sizzled on the stove. The entire room was filled with the tantalizing aroma of fried eggs and bacon and my stomach rumbled

once more.

He glanced up at that moment, caught sight of me, and stilled his movements. He set down the knife and stepped away from the counter,

"Morning," his voice was a deep rumble that sent shivers down my spine. He wiped his hands on a napkin as he came towards me, gaze fixed intently on me. "I hope the noise didn't wake you?"

I struggled to maintain eye contact, but my traitorous eyes kept straying south in an attempt to drink in the sight before me.

"Umm...yeah, sort of," I muttered, then hastened to add. "It's fine though."

He looked remorseful and shook his head. "I'm sorry."

"There's no need to apologize really. What are you doing?"

He glanced over his shoulder and shrugged, nonchalantly. "Fixing breakfast. Bacon and egg wrap. Are you hungry?"

I nodded, "I am. It smells amazing too." It struck me then that this was the very first time that I would be tasting Aiden's cooking and I didn't know how to feel about that. I pushed the dampening thought aside and pasted a smile on my face. I didn't want to start the day with sadness and chose to appreciate the effort instead.

I received a smile in return and he turned and headed back behind the counter. I followed, perching on a stool as I watched him bustle about preparing me a plate.

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He set it down in front of me, the food looked mouth-watering. "Which would you prefer; smoothie or tea?"

I dragged my eyes from the plate in surprise. "Smoothie? Where did you get that?" As far as I knew, I barely had any fruits on hand...come to think about it, I didn't have the ingredients to make the wrap, either. Which meant that Aiden must have gone out shopping sometime this morning.

"There's a shop not far from here, I heard their smoothies are good." He opened the fridge and got out the cup, then set it down next to my plate.

"You really shouldn't have done all this," I said to him earnestly, "I would have been fine with cereal or something simple.'

"Not an option. You need good food and I promised I'd take care of you." Aiden replied bluntly and turned away to fetch himself a plate while I sat there, my cheeks pink, trying to digest his words. He occupied the next stool and motioned for me to eat. "Eat up, there's more if you want."

"Mnn." I picked up the wrap took a bite and shut my eyes in bliss. "Wow, this is amazing, Aiden." I gushed, a hand over my mouth to prevent accidentally spraying him with food.

He grinned and took a bite of his own, chewing thoughtfully. "Still needs a little more spice, but okay, I guess."

"It's more than okay. It's fantastic." I ate the rest enthusiastically, relishing every bite. "I knew you had to be a good cook, the few times you made something, it always smelled amazing and I used to wish I could have a taste but I was too scared to ask." I chuckled, reached for the smoothie, and took a sip of the nice, fruity combo. I turned to Aiden and held up the cup. "This is good too, you'll have to..."

I trailed off at the haunted look on his face. He'd gone still, his eyes boring into me, shoulders tense, expression back to being closed off, no longer soft and gentle. My heart skipped a beat in trepidation,

"Aiden? Is something the matter?" I asked, tentatively, unsure of what had happened. I ran my mind back through the last few seconds, trying to figure out if I had done or said something to piss him off but drew a blank.

He flexed his jaw and looked down at his plate. "I was a bastard to you, wasn't I?"

"What?" I shook my head puzzled. "No, what do you mean?"

He looked at me then, regret evident in the depths of his eyes. "Just now, when you said you wanted to taste my cooking but you were afraid to ask me. That was wrong of me...to make you so afraid to ask for something so simple." "Oh..." It was my turn to look down, my high spirits dampening at the reminder as I cursed my loose mouth for babbling nonsense. "I didn't mean to imply anything by that, I'm..."

"Don't apologize." He cut in, his tone sharp. "I know you didn't mean it that way. It's just -" He sighed and shook his head again. "I guess it just brought home how horrible I acted towards you."

"Knowing what I do now, I guess I can sort of understand your motives," I said, studying my hands and doing my level best to ignore the anguish that cropped up whenever I remembered our marriage. "I won't say it in any way minimizes my feelings of hurt, anger, or jealousy, but I've come to realize that I could have chosen to spare myself those feelings if I had the good sense to walk away. To let you replace happiness...with whoever you choose." Aiden was silent for a while then he said quietly. "I have to tell you something."

I looked at him expectantly, deducing from the look on his face that whatever I was going to hear next would not be good. I clasped my hands together tightly and braced myself, surely nothing could be as bad as what I already knew? "So tell

me."

He met my eyes, remorse clear in his. "Elisa and I, we were never together. Not in the way that you assumed we were."

I blinked slowly, not understanding what he was getting at. "I don't understand."

"I mean we were never a romantic couple," Aiden explained. "I came up with the ruse to make you think we were romantically involved because I wanted...I hoped it would make you angry enough to divorce me."

I took a moment to absorb Aiden's words and when it sank in, something in me broke in two as the implication hit me full force. Suddenly, it felt like I was seeing flashbacks of the time we had been married, the nights I had spent alone and in tears because he was with Elisa, the longing glances between them...everything was fake.

The night we had spent together...the night Aiden had called out her name while making love to me...

I stood up so fast that my stool toppled backward.