Chapter 134: Apology
1732words
Matthew stared at her with a sad expression, he need no soothsayer to explain to him how much the lady hated him at that moment, Luci sized him up from head to toe with her eyes, a kind of fierceness she had never seen in her eyes present in it before she glared at the man and moved from the table to go and talk with Oliver, he didn't blamed her, if someone treated his own sister or twin the way he treated Claire they would have sort it out with punches and kicks already.
But Luci was being mature about it while Sapphire was being silent, Alyssa and Alicia also said their goodbyes to Sapphire because they needed to get back to the company, Matthew nodded in surprise when Alyssa pecked her on the forehead and leaned forward to hug her, a signal of the comfort she was offering while Alicia smiled at her before wheeling Alyssa out of the garden.
'Sapphire. . ." Matthew trailed off and the woman turned to glower at him at the mention of her name.
'What do you want?" She asked, her voice was stiff and hoarse, she seemed to have a lot of things going on. He pulled a chair and sat opposite her so that he could stare at her straight in the eyes as he talked to her.
'I love you Sapphire," He said plainly and straight to the point, exhaling deeply after letting the words out. Sapphire stared at him as if she was listening to the craziest thing she had ever heard. In a way it was, she made it so evidently clear the last time they talked that he would never be involved with him romantically and she had a husband and loving kids.
'What the hell are you talking about Matthew, you know down to all of the crazy things that move on this earth that I can and would never love you romantically, get that into that damn thick skull of yours," Sapphire said, her voice was quiet but firm and fierce, her face was twisted in a frown and her lips was turned down in disapproval, even though her whole demeanor screamed how delicate she was at that moment, there was nothing soft about the look in her eyes.
Matthew stared at her for a bit, both of them doing nothing but breathing and watching the other's move before Matthew started chuckling bitterly, Sapphire stared at him in surprise but she still had her guard up.
'Now that it is out in the open and I told you how I felt, it felt like I stopped caring about a heavy burden I brought upon myself," He said, still chuckling. 'And funny enough, your rejection didn't hurt as much as I thought that it would. You never know until you tell right? I used to think that my next train of thought would be suicide once you reject but I actually feel liberated. I have been able to let go of the illusion I have been holding on to for the past ten years." Matthew added and Sapphire just stared at him, keeping her mouth shut, partly because she didn't know what to say to the man and partly because she felt like he still had a lot to say.
'Maybe it is because I saw it coming that I was able to ease the feelings away but I think that has a whole lot of nothing to do with it. I saw the rejection coming the day I realized my feelings for you ten years ago but I still held on desperately, leeching off you, and I am supposed to be the man here, a woman isn't even as pathetic as this," he told her, the smile still on her face. 'I couldn't accept the fact, I didn't think of your own feelings too. It doesn't fade away in just a day but it becomes so darn easy when you accept the fact and believe it the way it is. Hidden unrequited love has a lot to do with accepting the fact that the other person would never return the feelings you have for them so you keep it to yourself but breaking out of it also has something to do with it. They are two parts of a whole." He said and raised his head to look at Sapphire straight in the eyes, his eyes sparkling.
'Sorry Sapphire, for the nonsense that I did to you. I am sorry for making Melissa turn her back on you because of her feelings for me and mine for you, it hurt the whole lot of us all." He apologized and Sapphire stared at him in surprise, finding herself pitying the man against her better thought. After it all, Matthew still got the good big brother role with her and he fulfilled it with all honesty even if it had something to do with the romantic feelings he had towards her, she cleared her throat and leaned forward to talk.
'You should . . ." She started but Matthew already started nodding.
'I should apologize to Claire and I would, it was a pretty shitty thing to do to her and I beat myself over that. Hurting Claire made me ask myself how many more people I would hurt because of some obsession I could have let seep away? I came up with a lot of people I already hurt and I came up with an even longer list of those I would still hurt. It suddenly felt so stupid and childish," Matthew said and Sapphire nodded.
'If I had observed more, maybe I would have noticed your feeling when I ranted off and off about Oliver, when I ran to you every time Oliver hurt me and every time he did something that made me happy, it must have been torturous," Sapphire said in a small voice and Matthew chuckled, this time it was genuine.
'You wouldn't have noticed. Not in a million years, because I did a darn good job of hiding it, mom knew about it only before I traveled when you wanted to get married to Oliver, I got so angry that I turned the whole place upside down and mom came in just in time to get the gist of what is going on. You would also commend her on her ability to put two and two together and get the whole without having the entire pieces needed," He replied and they both chuckled heartily.
'But you are right. It was nothing short of torturous." He added and Sapphire chuckled. 'I have Ruby to thank for this also, the damn guy didn't hesitate when he punched me straight in the face, I became his punching bag for a bit, see?" He raised and raised his sleeve to reveal an angry bruise. 'He was so livid at me and dropped all respect for a moment down there. I couldn't punch him in the face because he is a celebrity and partly because I had no right. There are some on both of our stomachs, but I have to thank him for talking some sense into me, you have to help thank him too," Matthew said and Sapphire nodded.
'Now I should try my best to apologize to Claire, I hope she would slap me rather than just nod and let me feel too guilty," he said standing, doing a salute to Sapphire before walking away.
Sapphire smiled as she stared ahead, it was nice to know that she won't completely lose a brother too, she lost her grandmother and don't want something like that to happen to the kids too.
'I am sorry for your loss," She heard beside her and turned to see Nicholas standing there with a small smile on his lips.
'Oh Nick," She said and scooted over to allow some space for the man to sit.
They never had a talk ever since she returned to New York but he was one of those people who helped her out sometimes when she was bullied by Oliver and Melissa or Heather deliberately said some things wrong or the high society ladies wanted to have some fun.
Now that she thought about it, she really did brush off a lot of people including those who were good to her when she came back, she hadn't even found a day to go and visit the doctor that gave her an escape, this made her take a mental note to do that later.
'It has been a while, a person doesn't get to see you like old times anymore," he said in a cheery voice that made a smile appear on Sapphire's lips.
'Maybe because the old me is gone, I had to have something to do with her." She replied and he nodded before sitting.
'So, how have you been all these years?" He asked and she smiled before they engaged in small talks as she watched her kids play around with Ruby that just came to the party. He was at the mansion sorting out some things.
When it was time to leave the garden, Ruby had taken the kids out on some trip and she couldn't find Luci and Claire nor their cars which signaled that they weren't there. She came in Luci's car and she won't find any luck, trying to get a taxi around the place. So she had no other option than to accept Nick's offer for a ride when he asked to take her home.
The chat throughout the ride was relaxing and she found herself forgetting about most of her worry, and it wasn't long before the pulled up at the garage, Sapphire got down and Nick also got down too to help her get the kids' stuff the left at the party in the car trunk, they were standing beside each other when Alexander came out of the house, Nick was making some funny face while staring at the kids' stuff which made both of them have smiles on their face.
He halted and stared at them while they stared back.
