The Perfect Gentleman ✔

33: The lady in red

"Tell me, what is this charade that you have going on?!" She demanded angrily.

"Stop asking me questions as if you're my wife! I do not owe you any explanations," he snapped, causing her to falter in her steps shocked by his sudden outburst.

He watched her eyes widen as his words settled and so did the implications of them. He swore and shook his head slightly. "I'm sorry I said that. That was not what I meant."

It was her turn to move her head from side to side slowly. "No, but that's what you said," she remarked, forcing him to cuss before moving towards his wardrobe. He had a seminar to attend and he was presenting a paper as well. He chose not to reply her before he said something stupid again. He knew her well enough not to fuel her anger. It never ends well.

His words had hurt, Sara thought on the verge of tears. He didn't confirm her suspicions neither did he deny it and that was confusing as hell. She hated the thought that all these had been a dream. Damn, it had been a good dream though.

"You're right, I'm not your wife but when you asked for us to try again at love, I stupidly thought we were in a relationship but obviously that isn't true. We are not in a relationship, are we Lucas?" She quizzed, scolding her foolish tears not to spill and expose her weak heart. She'd not let him play her the fool again.

He turned to drop his navy blue suit on the bed and sighed heavily. "I'm sorry for what I said, alright. I was an asshole,"

"And I'm the fool for letting you talk me into this again. Seriously, how can we be anything if we cannot have simple honesty between us? This was the exact reason why we got a divorce, Lucas. Because you wouldn't come clean with me about your relationship with Karen Thomas!" She yelled, getting exasperated with his noncommittal attitude.

He needed to dismiss her so he could change his clothes privately, not that she would mind otherwise but she was too angry with him right now for him to risk it. "I really wish you'd stop bringing up my ex and my infidelity issue in our every argument. She's my ex, let her stay that way," he pleaded.

"I'm also your ex, in case you've forgotten," she spat out, glaring at him in annoyance. It irked her to know that he and Karen could still be a thing. "Do you want to sleep with Karen? Was that why she was touching you at dinner? Is that why you have a room at Tinapa, so you two can be together?!"

Lucas was forced to look at her when she said those words and that was when the situation dawned on him. He could see it as clearly as day. The accusation in her eyes, the scorn and detest on her lips, the disbelief and horror mixing proportionally in her brain. He had been a victim of this merciless assembly before and he was not about to stand like a helpless sheep and allow her tear him down again because of her irrationality.

"Fine, if you want answers, then I'll tell you," he grated out, his jaw clenched in anger. "I never planned to come to this blasted mountain resort in the first place. Seriously, what would I be doing here? The seminar that brought me to Calabar is being held at Tinapa. Executives, managers, government officials, stakeholders, CEOs, all of them are lodged there. CAPPEL has a reservation under my name at Tinapa. My father whom I'm representing thinks I'm there. Then I thought it would be a wonderful idea to mix pleasure with business and invite you. But since you had to go crazy about a mountain resort, I stupidly thought, why not? I could totally wing it.

"Do you know how hard it is to stay away from you these past two days because I kept thinking, Lucas, you're coming on too strong? That it worked 7 years ago doesn't mean it will now? So I foolishly thought I could try the Englishman's style and court you with flowers and romantic dinners and all those crap. But this has all been nonsense anyway if my absence for one night could be ultimately attributed to sleeping around with my ex," he finished, his lips lifted up in disdain.