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Chapter 41
Oliver’s POV
Flashback to four years ago
Ela would be so mad if she were to find out I barely concentrated in class because I couldn’t get the thought of her out of my head. She wanted me to be the best, and I wanted to be the best for her. She deserved the best.
She didn’t get mad often, but when she did, oh boy, what a sight it always was. I have gotten her mad a few times since we have been together, and how hot she got. Yes, I didn’t like getting her mad, but mad Ela was a sexy goddess, and only a fool wouldn’t want sexy–goddess Ela.
I got myself ready, knowing that lesson revision with Ela would be tonight.
I arrived home and moved to make dinner. I was starving and wanted something to eat. Ela would be hungry, too, and she would get good food prepared by her loving husband.
When she gets mad, she will consider how loving I am and pardon me.
I spent the next hour and thirty minutes in the kitchen making spaghetti, and once I finished, I set the table and showered.
I stepped out and found it was the time Ela usually stepped through the door. It was precisely 4:45 p.m., but today, unlike other Wednesdays, she didn’t come home. It felt strange, so I called. She told me she had made a change of plans with Cecil and would be coming back home in two hours.
With this information, I ate my portion of the dinner and returned hers to the kitchen to keep it warm in the food warmer. Then, I returned to the living room to keep myself busy while mentally counting down the two hours until her return.
Five minutes later, I closed the handout in my hand and kept it on the nightstand, close to the bed.
I stripped out of the robes I had on and threw myself in bed, wanting her to walk in and find her husband waiting for her as he promised. She would find it hilarious; he knew she would give in and hop on for a long ride.
“Look what you made me do, Ela.” I grinned and picked up my phone.
Choosing to be naughty and spontaneous, I texted her, and she loved the pictures I sent her. I couldn’t wait to see her face when she was in the same room with me.
I’ll stay here and wait.
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Love’s Beautiful Mistake
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I fell asleep in my bed, and I didn’t know how long I had slept, but I woke up to find the time a few minutes past three in the morning. Why did I go to sleep so early? That was so strange. I turned around there, but I found no trace of Ela on the bed, which meant she didn’t return last night.
My brain kicked into panic mode, and I picked up my phone from the bed and saw no missed call from Ela. Why didn’t she call? I began dialling her number, but it rang until it went to voicemail.
I contemplated calling Cecil, whom Ela had told me she was hanging out with, but it was still too early, so I decided to wait. Perhaps the two had taken their enjoyment to another level and worn themselves out.
I couldn’t sleep, though, knowing Ela was out, and she didn’t call to tell me she would not return.
While a million thoughts ran through my head, my phone beeped. I unlocked it and found an email notification titled “The truth about Imela.”
I clicked on it before I could even think about it, and the message read: Do we really know anyone? And I found attachments along with the email. I clicked on them and saw they were pictures of Imela and a man whose face was hidden.
The light in my eyes died as I flipped through each photo and saw they were taken from various angles and on different days.
I knew this because she and this man wore different clothes and were at different locations. One thing was the same, and it was the loving smile she had on her face when she stared at this stranger. It was the same smile she gave me–the one I couldn’t get enough of. It was a smile filled with love and happiness, and that was why it was my favourite sight to see.
My eyes blurred, but I blinked to clear them back. This couldn’t be real; these were lies! Lies to get between me and El. This was Ivory’s doing; she has always hated Ela and would do anything to come between us.
This was her scheme–a twisted, horrible lie. A plot to ruin the one good thing I have.
Or it could be the truth–the truth you don’t want to accept because you hate how it looks.
I closed the email and dialled El’s number, but unlike the last two hours, the automated voice responded, informing me the number was unreachable. I tried a few more times, but I received the same response.
“Come on!” I growled out.
My eyes shut, and I ran my fingers through my hair, yanking it tightly.
I needed to think! I needed to think!!
I needed Ela to tell me that none of this was true.
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Love’s Beautiful Mistake
Chapter 41
She didn’t lie to me, and she hasn’t been keeping things from me while sneaking around behind my back.
I had doubts. Yes, I felt a change in her; she had changed plans at the last minute and forgotten essential
details in the last two weeks, but this couldn’t be true.
I needed her to tell me the truth.
Who was the man, and why did Ela keep information about him away from me? And why the hell did he
look so familiar?
These were the questions I had, but there was no one here to answer them.
I dialled Cecil’s number, and after a few rings, she picked up the call, and her sleepy voice came through.
“Oliver, hey?” She sounded confused and slow after being woken up from sleep.
“Can I speak to Ela?” I asked, doing my best to give nothing away in my voice. “I have tried to reach her in
the last two hours and have failed.”
“Imela?” she asked, sounding a little confused.
My brows furrowed. “Yeah, she told me she was hanging out with you yesterday but never came home or
called,” I answered because those were the words Ela told me the last time I called her.
1
“No, I had club activities after class and finished at 9 p.m. yesterday, and I returned home. I saw Imela in class, but that was about it,” she replied without hesitation, but there was a lingering surprise in her
voice.
I didn’t let her pick up much on what was happening, and I ended the call.
Ela lied to me. That didn’t even sound right. Ela doesn’t lie. She always tells the truth, no matter what consequences it brings.
She wouldn’t lie to me. We do not lie or keep things from each other.
If she lied to me about where she was yesterday, what else has she lied to me about? What else did I not
know?
I remembered the attached pictures in my email, and I knew what they meant, yet I wanted Ela’s explanation; I needed it.
I knew she would have one, and together, we would put it all behind us.
I wasn’t ready for that truth because I couldn’t accept the reality of Ela lying. Accepting that she had lied
to me meant those pictures in my email were genuine and not fabricated.
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Chapter 41
Was she with him now? Was she with that man?
I flipped my phone and returned to the attachment on the email, and I don’t know how long I dayed on the floor trying to figure out who the man was before I heard a knock on the living room door
I wanted it to be Ela, but when I came and opened it, I found Cecil standing there.
She had a worried look, and she was still in her sleeping clothes. She was just as concerned for Fla as 1
was.
“Cecil, hey.”
“Hey. Any luck reaching her yet?” She asked, and her eyes were already looking past me into the apartment in search of her friend.
I stepped back and allowed her inside, and I shook my head and said, “No, I can’t reach her phone
anymore.”
Her face dropped remorsefully. “I am sorry.”
I shook my head. “It’s not your fault, Cecil,” I answered. If there was anyone to blame for making me feel this way, it was Ela. “Do you have any clue where she might be? Maybe with another girlfriend or boyfriend?”
Ela didn’t have many friends that I knew of; her closest and only friend was Cecil Ela kept to herself–or that was what I told myself. The only one I’ve seen around her has been Cecil, and she would have a
better idea of her other friends because I couldn’t think them up.
I was not too fond of the last word, and I could feel my heart clenching at the acknowledgement of the truth I found hours ago.
