Chapter Twenty-Seven: Confrontation

MAX hated being dependent on his wife.

He’s not a fool to not understand his melancholy whenever he returns to his hotel suite in the Western Country. That feeling is caused by the absence of something...of someone.

Even if the private jet landed on Sutton City soil, the gloom inside his chest didn’t subside. In fact, the restlessness in his being only got worse. There’s this painful longing for Sutton City that he didn’t quite understand earlier. He thought that the strange land of the west brought on the despondent feeling that had been festering in his heart for a few weeks ever since he left.

But he later realized that the longing he felt all this time isn’t for Sutton City. It is because of a certain person.

He had stormed inside his mansion earlier and headed to his bedroom in search of Hyacinth. As soon as he saw her form on his bed, his tense muscles suddenly relaxed. The frown on his brows smoothened and his chest went livid and hyper, beating and ramming its delight against his chest as if calling out for her.

Returning his thoughts to the present, Max tucked his wife’s naked body under the blanket. She had been so tired from their rigorous activity earlier. Max seemed to lose his self-control whenever she was around.

Sex was never this great before. The purpose of it was only to seek relief for his physical need. He never imagined that the act could become more intense to the point that it almost felt overwhelmingly terrifying.

She was terrifying.

Not in a bad way. It is just that...Max was independent his whole life and then all of a sudden, he replaces himself pining for his wife who will, by the way, disappear in the future.

He is terrified, yes, because a time might come when he becomes too dependent and attached to Hyacinth that it might backfire. It all felt too much for him to comprehend and control.

Maximillian is indeed struggling to retain control over his heart in a futile attempt to vanquish the unwanted emotions that have been festering their way up in his chest but to no avail. If controlling one’s emotions is an easy feat, then, he wouldn’t be here in Sutton City right now just to see Hyacinth.

This dilemma is much worse than he thought. If he reacted this way because he parted from her for only a month, then how is he going to react when Hyacinth disappears for a decade?

The thought caused his chest to contract. Fuck!

Is he too late?

.

.

HYACINTH woke up alone on the bed.

She looked around hoping that whatever happened earlier wasn’t just a dream. Please. Let him be here.

But her sore muscles and aching sex is the proof that Max spent the afternoon with her.

“Good evening.” His low, baritone voice replaced the deafening silence in the room. Hyacinth couldn’t quite see him in the dark so she stretched her hands in front of her to reach for him.

“I need to go back tonight. Are you gonna be fine?”

Her eyes glistened with unshed tears. Hyacinth shook her head and scampered on the bed, desperate to feel him in her arms. “Can’t you extend?”

“No, Haya. I am needed there.” He cleared his throat. “Consider this as an opportunity to not become too attached.”

She scowled at the sudden coldness in his voice and his statement. Hyacinth could hardly believe that he is the same man who fucked her mindless a few hours ago.

Is he serious?

“You felt it too, Hyacinth. We’re becoming somewhat emotionally attached.” He tried to justify his observations by stating the fact that their coupling earlier was intense beyond reason.

She faked a laugh. Maybe, he’s joking? They just had sex, after all. What had happened? Where does all of this come from? “Max, you’re overthinking—”

“I’m afraid not.” A pause, then he said, “I went back to Sutton because I thought I missed this place. This city has been my haven ever since I was born. Yet, I was so shocked to realize that the gloom inside of me isn’t because of longing for my country—to Sutton— but because of you.”

Her heart ached when she heard the crack in his voice when he confessed. She understood his sudden reluctance from her. Max had been independent his whole life. How vexing it must be for him when he realized that he’s starting to depend on her for his serenity.

“Erin warned me that I have never been completely happy ever since you disappeared. I now discovered why, Haya. It is because I started falling in love.”

She wanted to assure him that everything will be fine, but she knew that that was a lie.

“I guess I should be happy. If only we could stop your disappearance, maybe I might allow myself to fall deeper...harder. But you must understand, Haya, that these things were all new to me. I’m afraid they’re too much for me to take.” He heaved a sigh. “These feelings... I can’t control them. They’re too much.”

She didn’t spare a second apart from him anymore. Hyacinth leaped to her feet and rushed to Max’s arms, gathering him in her small form. He never returned her embrace, though, no matter how much she desperately begged for him to return the gesture.

She mustered up all her courage to not let her tears spill from her eyes as she said, “You have said that you don’t want to waste time pondering. You said you wanted to enjoy life with me, Max. You asked me to marry you.”

He took a sharp breath. “I know, Haya, but you can’t expect me to allow myself to fall completely when I have the knowledge that you’ll disappear in the future. I’m afraid of the fact that I might drown in this awful gloom in the future.” Max pulled away from her. “I might...drown.”

Her heart throbbed painfully inside her chest. “And that’s supposed to make you feel better, right? But what about me, Max? You didn’t think I’m stupid enough to fall? You didn’t think that I might be confused as well?”

She heard him gasp at the realization.

“I disappeared and didn’t return after a decade. That fact scared me, yes, but parting with you in the future felt more terrifying.” She wiped the tears that has been streaming down her cheeks while she talked. “I’m scared for both Erin and me. I’m scared that we might get stuck in Erin’s ability. You didn’t think of that, did you?”

“Hyacinth—”

“You might be right, Max. We need to put some distance between us. I’m afraid this irrational fear is more powerful than the promises you’ve made.”

He held her hand before she could turn her back on him. “Don’t cry, please.”

She pulled her hand away from his grasp. “You promised me to enjoy life together, Max. I was afraid of falling in love, yes, but I never let that get in the way of enjoying my remaining years until I disappear in the future. Everything has been about you, Max. You never thought of how hard it must be for Erin and me to think about what will happen once we both disappear.” Hyacinth’s voice trembled at the words she spoke. “I am scared, Max, and you didn’t think to ask.”

She went to the walk-in closet and opened the lights there so she could grab a bag.

“Haya, you don’t need to leave.”

“No! You want distance, right? I’m giving it to you,” she declared in a rebellious, resentful tone.

She sniffed back a sob and filled a random duffel bag she grabbed from the cabinet drawer with her clothes.

“Hyacinth, don’t cry. It’s bad for you and our baby.”

“Well, too bad because I’m gonna spend the day crying until I’m exhausted.”

When she was done packing, she stormed outside the closet only to bump her head on the chest. “Thanks for the farewell sex, by the way.”

Max reached for her but Hyacinth backed away and glowered at him with her hurt and sorrowful facade. “Don’t you ask your security team to stop me from leaving because I swear I’m gonna kill someone who does!”

She stormed out of her room while wearing the leather jacket she grabbed from her closet. Hyacinth ran through the halls of the mansion until she reached the spiral staircase that leads directly to the front door of the mansion.

“Mom? Where are you going?”

Hyacinth sobbed as she heard the troubled voice of her daughter from upstairs.

“I’m sorry, Erin. I need to think.” She didn’t even bother to look back. Hyacinth was afraid that if she did so, her resolve might disappear into thin air.

“Mom, can I go with you? Don’t leave me, please?”

She wiped her tears and turned to look at Erin. “Stay here, Erin. This is between me and your Dad.”

Erin’s eyes reddened as she ran towards the staircase. “Why are you upset, Mom?” The kid nearly tripped on her way downstairs because of the shock from her near departure.

“Can’t you guys talk things out? I can’t lose you again, Mom.” Erin sobbed while pulling Hyacinth’s bag from her. “I thought we’ll go to the museum. Did you guys fight because of me?”

Hyacinth dropped her bag to cup Erin’s cheeks. “Don’t cry, baby. We were not fighting because of you.”

“Can’t you guys talk?” Erin looked up to the second floor to see her father’s face. His hands were on the wooden railing of the stairs and are gripping the wood with a force that was about to break the damn material.

“I’ll return when your father leaves for his business venture tomorrow. I just need space right now, baby.”

“Please bring me with you, Mom.”

She smiled while tears found their way to her clothes. “Oh, Erin. You are with me. You’re here.” She touched her flat belly and rubbed it as most pregnant women do. “I’ll return tomorrow, I promise.”

Hyacinth wrapped Erin in her embrace in a brief goodbye. Then, she picked up her duffel bag and stormed outside the house with a heavy heart. Her heart contracted inside her chest and she can’t do anything to stop the pain.

If only...If only there was a way to erase the hurt. Hyacinth only wished that her tears would stop. She can’t really see the road with her eyes blurred in tears.

She’ll go to Jean’s house and crash on her friend’s couch. Hyacinth might ask for advice on how to not feel devastatingly miserable without the help of alcohol.

To her surprise, George suddenly appeared like he just spawned out of thin air for her convenience. The man had asked to drive her to her destination and she refused. Hyacinth would rather ride on a cart than smell Max’s familiar scent inside his car. She needed to get him out of her head. She just wanted to get away from him even for a day.

“But it’s dangerous at this time of the night, Mrs. Bismarck. You’re clearly upset and it won’t help if you put yourself at risk.”

Hyacinth sobbed at the compassionate voice of the old man “I’m sorry, I just wanted to get out of here, George.”

“I know, Ma’am. I’ll bring you to Mrs. Rodriguez’s home, okay?”

She nodded and followed the driver to the garage. Hyacinth took a deep breath, gathering her resolve to stop crying over her stupid husband. But the car smells like him and she’s pregnant and hormonal that she can’t help but burst into another endless sobbing.

She sat on the passenger seat next to George and the gentle old man played some soothing music in the car’s sound system. Hyacinth wouldn’t call metal rock a piece of soothing music but it calmed her nerves. She relaxed in her seat and let the random metal rock band on the stereo scream her anger out for her.

“Mrs. Bismarck, I hate to interrupt but you need to wear your seatbelt.”

She nodded and reached for the black strap on her right.

Hyacinth jerked as the car screeched and George muttered audible curses. When Hyacinth looked ahead, she squinted at the blinding light in front of her. That was her last memory after she heard some crashing and forceful impacts of metal to metal.

Everything dimmed. She was surrounded by cold and...darkness.

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