The Apple of My Eye
Chapter 154 Heart-to-Heart Talk

"It...

It's not his fault, " Becky said, tears streaming down her face.

"Grandpa, please don't blame him. He must have been bewitched by some woman..." Becky continued while sobbing.

"You just wait here for a bit. I'll call him right now," he said, picking up his phone as he pacified Becky with some assuring words.

As the phone rang and rang, Grandpa Gu's calls went unanswered. To offer some consolation, he assured Becky a grand wedding ceremony will be held. This seemed to quell her emotions. She left shortly after.

Isla woke up with a start after a deep slumber and saw that it was already dark. She recalled that she was in a hotel room. As she tried to reach for the cup of water she remembered placing on the night table, the lights suddenly went on. She saw a familiar but upsetting figure facing towards her. "Feeling better? How was your sleep?" he said, offering a glass of water.

"How did you get here?" Isla asked out of disdain, ignoring Aron's concern.

Aron replied with silence. It was clear from Isla's face that she didn't like him to be here.

"We have not seen each other for four years! How can you talk to me that way?"

Aron sat on the sofa. He crossed his legs and took Isla's response behind him. Aron just dwelled on the fact that he was now in the presence of the woman that he had been yearning for four years. But Isla did not feel the same way.

Isla realized that the call she received before she slept was not from Autumn, but from Aron. Isla grabbed the cup from his hand and said her thanks. She was about to stand up and leave when Aron stopped her.

"It's already late. You should just stay here for the night, "Aron said, stopping her as he pinned her in his arms.

"Let me go, " Isla protested.

"Look, I want to thank you for saving me. I promise I'll do my best to return the favor.

But I should go," she said, removing herself from Aron's clutches.

"Isla, I-" he trailed off, unable to finish his sentence.

Feeling incredibly hurt, he realized that she still hadn't stopped resenting him.

However, Aron was comforted by the glimpse of hope that Isla might still had feelings for him even if four years had passed.

"Let me go!" she exclaimed, tears starting to well up in her eyes.

"You have gone too far this time, Aron!

I don't want to get hurt by you again!"

"Isla, I could never. The last thing that I would want to do is hurting you," he said, holding her tight. "This is all because of Becky..."

"Stop! There's nothing more to talk about here. I know that both of you slept together for a long time," she said, her voice muffled with sobs.

Isla cried her heart out, her eyes swollen and red from her constant crying. As Isla's tears waned off, she told Aron, "From now on, I do not want to know anything about the both of you. Your relationship is none of my business. So please, don't walk into my life again."

"Isla, can you please let me finish?" he said, refusing to end the conversation.

Aron said with a raised voice, "I know I have failed you. But I was trapped by the situation. Can you please give me another chance?"

Isla, clearly dumbfounded, doesn't know what to say.

"Are you now calm enough to hear me out?" Aron asked further.

Isla looked into Aron's eyes and nodded.

Aron poured Isla a cup of water. He then assisted Isla to the sofa and said, "I tried every way to reach you but you didn't answer any of my calls. I also had to take my ailing grandma abroad for treatment. Did our time together mean nothing to you? You should have trusted me!"

Aron looked at her, feeling extremely hurt. He would have returned back to China after his grandma's recovery if it weren't for Becky's pregnancy.

Aron did all he could to reach her. It turned out she changed her phone number and address.

"Seeing is believing, "

Isla said coldly.

The shame brought by her fiance and cousin's relationship prevented her from asking for an explanation.

She wanted to do nothing with them, seeing what happened was something that she couldn't tolerate.

"Seeing is not believing!"

Frustrated, Aron lit a cigarette. Isla coughed from the smoke which made Aron put the lighted cigarette out. "I'm sorry! I shouldn't have lit a cigarette in front of you."

The concern exhibited by Aron over Isla was heartwarming. This proved that his memory was not tarnished despite being separated for four years.

"I do not remember you smoking back then..."

She said, looking at Aron with a frown.

"You have a great memory, but I did smoke a bit back then when I was stressed and on business. I do replace it hard to quit smoking because of socializing." Aron asked in a soft voice, "Isla, the whole incident at that time..."

Did you not sense that it was just a ploy?"

Isla did not bother to think of the past. She left everything behind her as if it had never happened.

Back then, Aron and Isla got along so well to the point that they were almost married. They loved each other. It was such a tragedy that their romance ended up this way due to Aron's fault.

"It makes sense, anyway. Compared to me, Becky is younger. She is prettier and is from a well-known family. It didn't really come as a surprise when you chose to marry her instead," she said, forcing herself to smile.

Isla made a half-smile and said, "You should have told me that you loved her. I am a woman of sense. I would have totally understood. I would definitely..."

"You are still as foolish as you were four years ago, "interrupted Aron.

Aron angrily told Isla, "I was unconscious at that time. I did not know what was happening when you found me and Becky in bed."

His words left Isla speechless.

Up until then, a light bulb lit inside Isla's mind. She realized that prior to waking up on the sofa that day, all she ever drunk was a glass of wine. It was unusual for her to be out cold with just a glass of wine. This led her to think that the whole thing might have been planned out.

"You meant to say...

You were drugged?" asked Aron.

Isla suddenly felt stupid after all these years. Especially after what Aron just told her. All those four years were lost...

Aron made an eye contact with Isla and said to her, "I stand by everything I said."

Isla, shocked by the revelation, felt too shocked to accept what transpired years ago.

"But....

Why didn't you try to come back?"

Isla wondered, tears starting to swell in her eyes.

"Becky followed me abroad. I would have come back in China the moment my grandma recovered. But the news that Becky was pregnant with my child stopped me from doing so. My grandparents immediately ordered me to marry Becky not long after."

"But her pregnancy was a betrayal of your lie..."

Isla said, filled with anger.

"Isla, let me finish what I have to say to you."

Aron looked at Isla helplessly, thinking of what could have been if it wasn't for that incident four years ago.