She was dressed in the casual dress and still stood magnificent to the point, Yvonne was still pretty after the face of Mariella had been removed.

"Should we go to the beach instead?" he asked uncertainly. In only a few moments, Scott's attitude washed away, his pride was not here anymore, nor his plan to sleep with her tonight seemed like a good option. Thoughts from the past had him weakened at the core.

"If you would be okay with that..." Yvonne said suspiciously, he never behaved this way generally, unless his mind had been preoccupied with something important, but still, she had never seen him so uncertain before.

He smiled lightly to her, it was pretentious, she made that out in a single minute and both reluctantly made their way to the car, their sexual tension had been there but for the moment, Scott's focus was awry.

For the journey to the beach, Scott remained quiet. He did not speak for even a single minute but Yvonne didn't mind that. She was lost in her own thoughts about their empty and failed marriage and now with Iyan missing for more than 3 days, she had no clue if she even wanted to continue with the revenge plan.

The man sitting next to her made her feel nothing but regret. For the last two years of struggle, he had been responsible for all her pain. But then, she thought, destiny had many disguises, maybe it was meant for her to suffer all that throughout these years and Scott was just an excuse to lead her to this destiny.

Her train of thoughts halted with the car, suddenly- they had arrived at the beach, tall and magnificent towers stood far in the distance in the east, the lights filled the view and reflected on the calm surface of the sea even from a good distance.

From where their car was parked, they were only some walking distance away from the beach now. It was a moonlit night and the stars shone bright in the sky above.

Scott behaved gentlemanly, he got out to open Yvonne's door. As she got out, she wondered if he behaved that way with all the girls he had been with after her, including Anna. How could she even forgive him for breaking the strong boundaries of her trust to go lie in the arms of and warm the beds of other women? She felt disgusted.

"We should go for a walk on the beach," he said intently looking at the stars above.

She nodded, not willing to speak to him because she did not have the mental energy to neither argue nor refuse. But he understood her enough to understand why she was so quiet, he did feel guilty for what he did, for wasting 5 years of her life...when he probably had not been this serious with her anyway despite marrying her.

As they strode along the beach, Yvonne had taken off her red heels that now hung in her left hand- had her mind not been clouded with things from the past, tonight the moon was breathtakingly beautiful in the sky.

Scott turned to look at her, she was matching her steps but she had a lot going on in her mind right now. To break the silence, he said, "I think I owe you an apology."

"Apology?" she asked unaffected, looking straight to avoid looking at him directly.

"For everything I've done to you, I'm sorry..." he said explaining himself, but Yvonne felt nothing to that- Scott was a good actor, she had realized after all this. But she in no mood to acknowledge his acting skills; he was only heartless.

"So you think that your sorry can mend my broken life? You're right, go ahead!" She scoffed in bitter sarcasm.

He stopped and turned to her, pulling her by the shoulder but she instantly flinched at his slight touch. Just like Mariella had the day Scott had seen her. Her fragility guarded with her refusal reminded him of her again. He tried not to go in that direction once- it was only misleading.

"Don't touch me," Yvonne warned him.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry...All I want to is just talk," he tried to say it convincingly and put both his hands away at once but he was yet to realize that once you break someone's trust, you cannot win it back easily unless you're convincing a fool.

She suspiciously eyed his face now as he continued, it was hard to make out every single impression on his face in the dark, yet she had her attention focused on his expressions.

"I just have been unstable Yvonne, I have been so much like that...all my life, I met many women, before you and after you but when I was with you, I was not like this, my life was balanced, if not happy..."

Not happy? She repeated mentally to herself with some degree of internal shock.

"My mom left me at the pity of my father and his first wife and son to go marry another guy. I had not been their legitimate child. My mom had been my only family and she threw me away, that small boy of 7 had already been thrown into the merciless game of trust, mine was broken and I had vowed I would never be faithful to anyone ever again. When I met you, you made me realize of a longing I was not even aware I had. I was smitten on you and I had to have you at any cost. Even if that meant separating you from your family and friends and making you mine, yes, marriage was the only assurance I would have you forever.

"Though I've never been completely honest with you...or myself, my life remained complete but my heart was not at peace when I was with you. When I didn't have you at start, I had the illusion that having you would complete me and you became my obsession. I even got rid of Iyan so I could have you all to myself- I was the one who had leaked your pictures on campus that year."

Yvonne stood in shock as she tried to absorb every word that she was hearing from his mouth.

"But as soon I had you, I realized you were just not what I was looking for..."

Warm tears formed at the back of her eyes, rejection and pain filled her heart to the brim as she broke out in an unstable voice, "Then w-what were you looking for when you married me Scott? What are you looking for?"

He met her eyes feeling regretful and but certain of what he wanted this time and spoke complacently, "Mariella."


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