Is It All Just A Lie All This Time?

In the afternoon, Adrian went home from the company. After the meeting he had a few things to take care of, hence his return late in the afternoon.

After a brief chat with Jonnah near the entrance, he went straight to his room to see his wife.

Inside, Avians was lying on the bed hugging the stuffed penguin Adrian had bought for her. Her head was filled with what she and Sarah had just talked about at the café this afternoon.

The man walked into the room, making Avians wake up and sit up immediately.

"You're home,"

"Yeah, sorry I just got back. I have something to do," Adrian replied and sat on the edge of the bed as he handed Avians a small box he had been carrying.

"What's this?" the woman asked.

Adrian told Avians to just open it. When opened, it turned out to be a blueberry chocolate flavored ice cream cake. Avians's eyes lit up when she saw what her husband had brought for her. Food with her favorite flavor.

"Try it..."

Avians nodded and took the fork in the box and ate a piece of the cake. The sweet and sour flavors melded together in her mouth, with the ice cream tucked between the cookies, making her feel so happy.

She had a bright smile on her face as she savored her meal.

Seeing the smiling Avians made Adrian smile too. He rubbed her head and let her enjoy her dessert.

"Thank you, Ian. I'm glad you brought this cake for me," she said.

"No problem, I want to see your smiling face like this."

"You want some too? Ah, you don't like anything too sweet, do you?"

A mischievous smile etched on his face then pulled Avians chin into his kiss. Tasting the cake the woman was eating in her mouth before he finally pulled away.

"Damn, it was much sweeter when I tried it from you," he teased.

Avians' face instantly turned red with embarrassment for what Adrian had done earlier. He laughed at the sight of her cute face.

"Then enjoy your cake. I have to go take a shower," Adrian said standing up from the bed and walking towards the bathroom.

Avians blue eyes followed Adrian into the bathroom. The smile on her face slowly faded, as if she realized something.

"Are you... Doing this because you really love me or because you just want to use me?"

She remembered the conversation she and Sarah had this afternoon at the café. They had talked about Adrian and his pretense of loving the Avians.

Flashback

"You never really thought Adrian loved you, did you? This isn't some drama where a wealthy man suddenly falls in love with an ordinary woman he doesn't even recognize. Don't be silly," Sarah said.

Avians did not respond, she was sure Adrian did love her and that was what she had felt all along from him.

"Let me tell you, Adrian did it because he was avoiding me who was always setting him up with my friends' children. He married you and made it seem like he cared about you so that you wouldn't leave him and he wouldn't have to marry a woman of my choice," Sarah explained.

"No, Ian can't be like that."

"Oh yeah? I've seen the video of you being bullied in high school in the bathroom, and I'm sure Adrian has seen it too."

Avians head lifted and looked into Sarah's eyes with trembling lips. "What?"

"My son must have felt sorry for you when he saw you being treated like that. You were so innocent and impressionable. Making you fall for the false affection he gave you."

For a moment Avians couldn't think of anything. So all this time Adrian had never loved her?

All this time Adrian had only felt sorry for her, and seeing her innocence, Adrian had used her?

'Is... That's why Ian never wanted to touch me? When he was drunk he even stopped doing it when he was sober. So all this time... He was just pretending?' she thought at the time.

Sarah assured Avians that everything Avians had been getting was just a sham to keep Adrian away from her compulsion to marry the woman of her choice.

"You can still divorce him before you have a child. You can let him go and go back to having your own life instead of continuing to live as his doll."

Flashback End

Tears flowed down from her eyes. All this time she had felt a false and unreal love.

She thought her life was happily ever after with Adrian by her side, loving her like she loved him.

But in reality it never happened. So all true happy stories are just fairy tales?

Cinderella's story... It never came true. It was all a lie.

"I loved him so much. I thought we'd be happy together, but he..."

Her gaze went blank, looking at the cake Adrian had bought for her. Negative thoughts attacked her again, telling her that there was no way anyone would ever love a woman like her.

What's so good about you?

What makes him able to love a strange woman like you?

You're not attractive at all.

You can't do anything useful for him.

Ahahahaha! Don't joke, he never loved you!

You can only make trouble for him.

Did you think you deserved his love all this time?

Avians head hurt so much, she held her head with both hands, trying to calm herself and rain down the negative thoughts in her head.

"Please... Stop it..." she mumbled in fear.

Just as his mind was in turmoil, Adrian, who had just come out of the bathroom, was surprised to see Avians whimpering while holding her head.

Worried that something had happened, Adrian immediately approached his wife.

"Avi? What's wrong, your head hurts?" he asked worriedly.

He pulled the crying Avians into his arms to calm her down. But suddenly Avians pushed Adrian's hand away from her and pulled herself out of his embrace.

"Avi?"

"I... I..."

Avians' chest felt so tight at the thought. She didn't know if she should end it all after learning this truth, or live in pretense, feeling the love from Adrian that she so desperately needed.

"Avi, what's wrong? Why are you being like this? Tell me," Adrian pleaded, trying to touch his wife's hand.

But Avians kept moving away from Adrian as if she didn't want to be touched at all.

She continued to stare at Adrian with a look of disappointment and pain. Making Adrian feel confused, why suddenly Avians turned into that when a few minutes ago everything was fine.

"I don't understand what happened if you don't say it. Did I do something wrong? Are you sick? Talk Avi," Adrian said in a soft tone.

Avian was silent and did not answer her husband's question until she finally opened her mouth.

"Ian..."

".... Do you love me?"