True Fated Marriage (Grace and Heinz)
Chapter 2005

"W-What did you say?" Gary stuttered, wanting to make sure what he heard was true.

Right then, Celeste's eyes were staring deep into his. "I want you."

She said it firmly, word for word.

This time, he heard her loud and clear but he couldn't mask the shock in his eyes. His mouth was agape as he stared at her blankly. It was as if he had forgotten how to move. She knew she was acting quite boldly. Hence it might be abrupt for him.

It was natural for him to be shocked.

But this was what she wanted to do at the moment.

As the impulse grew stronger, Celeste reached out and started unbuttoning his clothes.

Her actions were like a bolt in the blue for Gary.

Without realizing it, he caught her hands and stilled them.

"Listen to me," he said, "Do you know what you're doing?"

He was asking her if she minded his mistake with Janice that led to her getting pregnant.

Her body tense at his words.

That's right.

What was she doing?

It was clear that she was acting out of jealousy and that she was wallowing in sadness. So why did she do this? She was clearly in so much selfdenial. Thinking of this, Celeste gradually loosened her grip on Gary's body.

Her eyes dropped and she avoided his gaze.

His heart tightened at seeing her like that.

For a few minutes, she did not say a word as she pursed her lips. Then as if he wasn't there, she stood up and left.

Stunned, he hastened to call out to her, "Celeste!"

However, she went straight out as if she didn't hear anything.

His gaze followed her until she disappeared from the door. Only then did he stand up from his seat.

Gary was close behind her, fearing that she would disappear from his sight.

After coming out of the room, Celeste had been walking along the corridor.

She reached the stairway that led to the deck.

At that moment, he realized where she was going.

His heart skipped a beat as he took even larger strides to catch up with her.

When he came by her side, he stopped.

Right then, she was slowly climbing up the stairs.

He was about to reach for her but he retracted his arm.

In the end, he did not stop her.

He stood on the steps as he watched her leave. His eyes were overflowing with complicated emotions.

No matter how much he tried, he could not express the heartache he was feeling for her.

With that, Celeste continued up the stairs and soon disappeared as she reached the deck. Seeing that she was gone from his sight, Gary panicked.

He took one step, followed by more. He wanted to get upstairs as quickly as he could.

As soon as he arrived on the deck, he saw her shivering in the cold wind.

At the same time, the wind took away all the emotions he was feeling before this.

As she regained her composure, she questioned herself about what she was doing. Why did she do that?

She laughed at herself and thought, "Maybe I am not as carefree as I thought."

She minded him and Janice. But she couldn't bear to part ways with him.

How fickle she was.

Sighing, Celeste couldn't hold it in any longer.

She walked towards the deck.

Gary was shocked, thinking that she might try to attempt suicide.

Fear filled his heart.

He worried that she would jump into the sea in the heat of the moment.

The only thing he could do was rush in front of her to stop her.

A few strands of her hair brushed past his face as they stood before each other. Worried and distressed, he was lowering his head to look at her.

"Celeste." His lips parted and his hoarse voice escaped his mouth. It was hard to pinpoint what he was feeling.

On the other hand, she looked calm

as she said flatly, "I'm just here to take a breather. Don't worry." However, Gary had no intention moving out of her way. He

velmet

straightened his tall figure as if he

was a human wall.

Celeste lifted her head to look at him. His gaze was so complicated. She could tell that he had lots to say.

She pursed her lips when he said, "It's cold here. You could get sick."

"I'll go down in a few minutes," she said, "That should be alright, no? I'm not that weak."

"I'll stay with you. You can stay here for five minutes." In the end, he was still too worried to leave her alone.

Hearing his words, she felt powerless. She let out a self-deprecating smile, saying, "You win. Let's go back down."

She didn't want to make things worse by getting them both mad.

"Alright. Let's go." Gary heaved a sigh of relief when he heard what Celeste said.

With that, the two of them returned to their room.

For a moment, nobody spoke.

The atmosphere was awkward.

The two remained silent for different

reasons. Celeste did not want to

bring up what happened earlie Gary was replaceing it hard to replace a topic of conversation.

It remained that way for some time.

Watching her pick up her book, he didn't know what to do.

And it got even more awkward when it was bedtime.

He realized it had been a miscalculation on his part for refusing her advances.

And no matter how much he wanted it now, he couldn't ask for it.

It was already eleven but she didn't look like she was going to put down her book any soon.

However, he knew she had not read even a word on the page.

It was because he had been observing her since afternoon and she had never flipped a page.

But her eyes were glued to it.

She looked more like she was trying to burn a hole into the book. He couldn't read her emotions.

"It's time to sleep." Gary finally said.

He was worried Celeste would not get a wink of sleep if she continued.

However, she did not answer. Lost in thoughts, she couldn't hear him at all.

Left with no choice, he got up and took the book away from her.

Only then did she come back to her senses to look him in the eye. She was stunned.

"What's the matter?" She looked docile as ever. Neither did she make a fuss nor shed a tear.

He couldn't bear to watch her torture herself.

"Bedtime." Patiently, Gary spoke to her as if she was a child. He didn't want her to be upset as it made his heart ache.

"Okay." Celeste nodded, got up, and went to wash up.

The moment she got up, she almost stumbled from being still for too long. Her body had yet to wake up.

Quickly, he reached out to support her.

Her whole body froze and she looked at him instantly.

He frowned, saying, "You've been sitting there since we got back. Be careful. Don't you know your body will stiffen up from not moving?"

"I didn't think about that," she replied to him almost emotionlessly.

Gary's eyes narrowed as he grabbed Celeste's hand. Gathering his strength, he bent over, lifted her up, and walked in the direction of the bathroom.

Since she was still recovering from the numbness, she did not have any strength to refuse him.

He carried her into the bathroom and placed her on the sink top. Then he stood in front of her as he observed her.

There was not much distance between them.

She could feel the heat from his body and his intentions.

But her heart was filled with bitterness.

If this were some other time, they would have started making out. But now? Celeste was not in the mood for anything.

Since Gary asked her if she knew what she was doing, she had been in a clear state of mind.

She couldn't do it.

And it made her even more miserable.

She couldn't pretend that nothing had happened and she couldn't bring herself to be intimate with him.

It was like there were ropes on her body, holding her back.

And Celeste felt uncomfortable all over.

Gary had once been only hers but not anymore. He had been with someone else.