A Beautiful Misunderstanding

Chapter 148 You Can Only Be Mine

Although Essie had already stayed in the villa for several days now, she had never been to other bedrooms except the one she was in. To quench her curiosity, she decided to go around and explore a little bit. One by one, she opened all the doors she saw and cautiously peered inside.

The moment she finished doing that, she felt her blood boiling inside of her. She wanted to scream at the top of her lungs.

'All the beds here are exactly the same!' she thought, fuming. 'They only have different sizes!'

Zac had her fooled!

She walked into their room in a huff. Zac had just taken a bath then and was lying on the bed, playing a game on his iPad.

With arms akimbo, Essie glared at him. "I want to change my bed!" she hollered. "I want the biggest one! The one in the next room! If you don't change it, I will sleep in the next room starting tonight! I am not joking!"

Zac's deep-set eyes widened in surprised.

'How did she find out my little secret that fast!' he thought.

He took a deep breath as he put his iPad down. "Honey," he said, smiling innocently. "I think we're okay with this bed. This is nice, isn't it?"

"Nice?" Essie said incredulously. "Zac, it's summer! It is too hot for us to sleep in one small bed!" Her lips were now pouted and her eyebrows tightly knitted together. He changing the bed without her knowledge was not something she would tolerate!

"Well, we can always turn the air conditioner up, right? I think that should be enough to combat the heat," Zac responded with a shrug.

"But don't you find it weird?" Essie quipped, as if she didn't hear what Zac just said. "Why are all the beds the same? Aren't you afraid of entering a different room and not realize it because everything's practically the same? Is this one of your quirks?" She stared at him in a way that made him feel like he was an alien.

Zac didn't respond and just rolled his eyes. He then reached out his arm and pulled Essie into his arms. "Essie," he said sweetly. "The problem is I don't have anyone who would decorate the rooms. If you want, I'll give you authority to change things. Just design every room to your heart's desire."

After a few moments, Essie pushed Zac away slightly and looked him in the eyes. "Well then, if you're giving me that authority, I want this bed changed immediately."

Zac chuckled. Slowly, he put his handsome face close to Essie's. Their faces were so close that Essie felt Zac's warm, fresh breath. "Change it if you want, I don't care," he whispered somewhat seductively. "Because as soon as you fall asleep, I know that you will roll to my side of the bed. So whether our bed is big or small—it really doesn't matter."

Essie felt her face turn red from embarrassment.

"Wow! You really think that?" she said, her tone scandalized. "Well, for your information, that is not true! I actually want a bigger bed because I want to stay away from you!" Of course, she would never admit to what Zac said. 'I don't even know what happens after I fall asleep!' she thought.

Zac sighed and once again rolled his eyes. "Why do you care about beds so much? We've already spent a night as a couple!"

This statement made Essie's heart tremble.

She had forgotten about it somehow, but she just remembered that she was not a virgin anymore. Every woman's first time was their most special one, and anything after that meant less or nothing at all. But it was especially hard for her because deep in her heart, sex and love were two inseparable things. She would never sleep with a man who didn't love her, unless she was drunk or unconscious.

Every day, Zac would change the ways he would interact with her in order to take advantage of her more. Despite that, he still looked extremely dissatisfied. 'It seems like he hasn't gone to Leila's for some time now,' Essie thought. Was he worried that she would give up in the middle of their mission and use this fact to lure her in?

He didn't need to do all that.

"You can have sex with other women," Essie suddenly murmured, her gaze pointed downwards to avoid Zac's eyes.

Immediately, an expression of sadness washed over Zac's handsome face. "Do you think I'm just some kind of a prop that you can just force onto other people?" he asked, his eyes full of hurt.

"Who am I in your life?" Essie asked back with a wry smile on her face.

Zac fell silent.

Until that moment, he hadn't really thought of Essie's place in his life, his heart.

Perhaps he just got excessively attached to her as a person.

Or perhaps he just enjoyed the thrill of the game.

Or...

"You are my wife!" he suddenly blurted out. That was the only answer he could give her.

'Wife?' Essie thought, surprised.

It didn't take her long to realize what he just said, but when she did, she couldn't help but chuckle bitterly. His hesitation proved a lot, and it felt like the cold air blowing in from Siberia. Slowly, she felt it freezing her heart.

At that moment, she knew that there was nothing else she could do more to understand her relationship with Zac.

The glory of being the lady of his family had attracted thousands of beautiful ladies. Unfortunately, it didn't include her.

She wanted a husband who truly loved her, not just someone who was rich and hot.

While she was lost in thought, Zac silently got up and walked out of the room.

He didn't come back that night. Essie tossed and turned all night long until dawn. When she got up the next day, she discovered that he had already left.

Eva also had to go because she had an audition to go to. When she left, an eerie silence blanketed the villa.

Zac didn't come back until early in the morning.

At that time, Essie was still up as she had not felt sleepy at all throughout the whole night. She was on the sofa, flipping through television channels to pass the time.

Despite her lack of sleep and general absent-mindedness, she made sure that she was paying attention to every car that passed by the villa.

In the past, Zac had to attend business activities that required him to come home later than usual. But during those times, he called her to inform her that he would be late. Today, unfortunately, he didn't even text her.

'Is he angry at me?' Essie thought as she pressed a button on the remote control.

'I don't think I did or said anything wrong.

If someone made a mistake, it was him! Why would he be angry at me if he was the one to blame?'

All the thinking she was doing was starting to make her head hurt. She continued flipping through the channels, and after a while, she finally heard the sound of a car entering their courtyard.

She turned off the TV immediately, ran upstairs to their room, leapt on the bed, and pretended to be asleep.

Unfortunately, Zac didn't come in. He merely pushed open the door a little bit, took a look inside, and left. Initially, Essie thought he had only gone to take a shower, but after waiting for a long time, she noticed that he still hadn't come in.

Confused, she sneaked out of the bed and looked out through the door's crack. The corridor was dark and empty. 'He must have slept in a different room,' she thought.

Somehow, she felt a little upset. She didn't know why Zac was acting the way he was, but she guessed she couldn't do anything about it. Because of that, she chose to ignore it.

'It would actually be better if he isn't here,' she thought, going back to bed. 'I could sleep soundly without anyone disturbing me!'

When she reached the bed, she lay down, hugged a pillow, closed her eyes, and began counting sheep in order to sleep.

In the next two days, Zac came home past midnight. He also slept in the room next to the room Essie was in and would go out silently every morning, saying nothing to Essie.

On the third day, Essie felt her heart breaking.

As she lay on the bed, she looked at the digital alarm clock on her bedside table. It was already one o'clock in the morning.

She still hadn't heard Zac's car entering the courtyard.

Before, she thought that the bed she was lying on was too small. Now, however, it felt very big. It made her feel so lonely inside.

'Has he already found another woman?' she thought, feeling gloomy.

'It was Leila, right?'

Zac and Leila hadn't seen each other for a long time. Essie thought that they probably had finally met up, and now, they were acting like the positive and negative poles of a magnet—incredibly attracted to each other and could not bear to be separated from one another.

Somehow, Essie's brain conjured up a picture of Zac and Leila hugging, all lovely and romantic. It somehow made her feel worse than she was already feeling, so she tried to get rid of what was in her head. Unfortunately, she was unsuccessful. She did everything she could, however: put a pillow over her face, watched a video to distract herself from the said imagery, told herself that it was not real. Nothing worked.

It seemed like the venomous snake of jealousy sneaked in from the open window of her room, crept into her bed and into her heart, and made a home in it, not willing to leave and making her suffer more and more.

When she finally couldn't take it anymore, she jumped up, rushed out of the room, and went directly to the bar counter downstairs. She quickly opened a bottle of wine and filled a huge wine glass with its contents. She then drank it all up in one go.

The numbness brought about by the alcohol eased the inexplicable suffering she was feeling in her heart, and so she drank one after another. She was on her fifth glassful when suddenly, a big hand reached over her shoulder and took her glass.

"It's late. Why don't you go to bed?" Zac said in a low voice.

She turned around and squinted at him drunkenly. "What the hell do you think you're doing, Zac?" she slurred. "Give me my fucking wine glass back! Leave me alone!"

She reached out her hand to grab the glass in his hand but she stumbled over a chair and fell forward. Thanks to Zac's good reflexes, he was able to catch her in time. "You are drunk, Essie," Zac said, his voice getting quieter and quieter. "I'll take you upstairs." Property belongs to Nôvel(D)r/ama.Org.

"I said go away!" Essie shouted, thrashing about, trying to get Zac's arms off of her. "What I'm doing is none of your business. I will drink because I want to drink!" She pushed him away with mighty force, picked up the wine bottle on the bar counter and drank from it directly.

"Stop drinking." Zac firmly grabbed the bottle from Essie's hand and set it back on the bar counter. With his strong arms, he lifted Essie to her shoulders and went upstairs.

Essie struggled against his hold, but she was unsuccessful despite hitting him repeatedly on his back. "Let go of me, Zac, you fucking bastard! I hate you! I hate you so much!"

A hint of bitterness crept into Zac's eyes. "I know. I'll do my best so you won't have to worry, or feel this way ever again." His voice was low and hoarse, like a wounded cheetah gasping for breath. His face, on the other hand, was awash with sadness, bitterness, and anger.

'I should really calm down,' he thought.

The thing he hated the most was the feeling of losing control. He hated the feeling of being influenced by anyone, especially by Essie.

She was his wine. He wanted to drink her all up, but he knew that he had to stop at some point because if he didn't, he would end up spiraling out of control.

In this game of chasing, he must be on top.

He carried her to their room and gently put her on the bed. When he turned around to leave, Essie suddenly grabbed his arm and said somberly, "Don't go! Have you forgotten? You are mine, no one else's! You are not allowed to look at other women! You belong to me, do you understand that, Zac?!"

Zac felt insides tremble. Swiftly, he turned back around to face Essie, his previously gloomy eyes seemed to have been lit up by fire. "What did you say?" he said harshly. "You idiot! Say that again!" He was afraid that he misheard her, so he bent down and held her face in his hands. His hands trembled because of the sudden surge of happiness in his brain.

"Don't leave me, please. Zac... please don't..." With her consciousness under the influence of excessive amounts of alcohol, Essie wrapped her arms around Zac's neck tightly, as if that would be the last time she would be able to do that.

"Okay," Zac responded sweetly. "I won't go." He held her as tightly as she held him. For him, it felt like he was holding a treasure that he had lost and had just recovered. Essie had that effect on him. Even the simplest thing from her would automatically make him lose sight of reason and everything else.

"Are you going to make me mad?" Zac said, as he felt Essie started touching him. He held her touching hand in his. He took deep breaths and focused on becoming calm.

"You bastard!" Essie responded through gritted teeth. "I know you don't want me. You want to be with your childhood sweetheart, am I right?" It seemed like she was irritated once again, and judging by her eyes, it became clear that her heart was full of deep resentment. Since she could not move her hands anymore, basically due to fatigue caused by hitting Zac too many times, she lowered her head and bit down on his shoulder instead.

Zac didn't really feel pain as Essie was too drunk to power up her attack. "I don't know what I am doing even when I am sober!" she admitted. Her level of drunkenness showed when she became honest and mumbled to herself, "I should hate you, Zac. I was upset when you weren't coming here and were ignoring me. Why did you do that to me?" She looked lost—like a child trapped in a maze, unable to find a way out.

"Maybe you have begun to care about me, but you just haven't admitted it to yourself," said Zac. He gazed at her affectionately, and his charming black eyes were filled with tenderness.

"I don't care about you at all!" Essie said, her speech slurred by alcohol. "I love Hanson! I just want the Valery thing to be over as soon as possible so that I can divorce you and marry him instead!" She shook her head as she spoke, further distorting her speech.

Zac frowned and a glint of anger flashed across his eyes. Essie's words were like a lightning out of the blue, destroying his good mood.

He pinched the tip of her chin and raised her face so that her eyes met his. With his chest heaving heavily due to fury, he said, "You are mine, Essie. You are no one else's. Stop fantasizing about marrying other people!"