6

Chapter 6

Ashley Gustavo POV

"What the hell do you think you are doing?" I managed to push him away and struggled to catch my breath as he had left me breathless when he forcefully kissed me.

"Ashley—" I cut him off with a hot slap across his cheek.

"How dare you barge in here and think it's okay to kiss me just like that?" I snarled at him, and he breathed in deeply.

"I'm sorry about that, Ash... I didn't mean to. I couldn't just help myself. I'm really sorry," I was stunned to see my husband who had never for once apologised to me even when he hurt me the most, standing before me and acting all pathetic.

"I miss you, Ashley… I missed us… You don't have to do this, babe... You can't marry my brother, ok?" His voice shook slightly as he held my shoulders and gazed into my eyes. I could not believe my eyes nor could I believe my ears. It was shocking to hear that from a man who never felt remorseful for his actions and didn't contact me since the incident.

"I'm sorry, babe. I promise, that will never happen again. I won't hurt you again. We can still fix this… Let's not end things this way,"

It was pathetic of him to think I would fall for that. He was only threatened by the fact that I was getting married to Asher, and this only made me see the positivity in the decision I made.

"Who do you think you are to tell me who to be with, Ace?" I shrugged his hands off my shoulders and scoffed.

"Because he is my brother. You can't marry my brother, Ashley. We had sex... We were together, and you can't marry my brother now. It's not something..."

"You slept with my sister, Ace… We were legally married and still together, and even if we had separated, my sister would've been the last person you should get involved with…" I paused and took a deep breath, trying not to think about that day.

"Who are you to tell me what to do with my life, Ace? Who the hell are you?" My voice came out louder this time.

"I am your husband, Ashley… Your legal husband," He reminded me as if he was not the one who asked us to get a divorce.

"My soon-to-be-ex-husband," I corrected him, and he bit his lip.

"We can fix this, Ashley. Let's fix this. Let's not get divorced," He shook his head as he reached out to touch me, but I took a step back.

"I… I know I betrayed you... I should never have treated you like that. You didn't deserve it, and I promise that it won't happen again. Just cancel your engagement with Asher and—"

"I can't do that now that I've finally gotten an opportunity to be with the man I've always loved," My lips twitched up in a smirk as he looked at me confusingly.

"Loved?"

"You are not the only one who has desires outside marriage, Ace. I do too. I've always had a big crush on your brother. He is every woman's dream. He is more handsome than you, and he is everything you can never be. Who knows, maybe I would've never settled for you if I had met him first…" I paused and smiled at him. "Now, tell me… If you were in my shoes, would you throw away your one year of fantasy because of someone who doesn't deserve you?" They were all lies. I have desperately been in love with Ace and never took even a glance at another man. I never admired any other man. To me, he was the definition of perfection even though he was far from it and always hurt me. I always looked at the good side of him which of course never existed.

'When you love, you would always see something good in them' That was what kept me going as I watered my emotions for him which he kept stomping on.

"You are lying to me, right? You are saying this to hurt me, right?" His eyes dangled in their sockets as he looked me in the eyes, and I scoffed.

"I have no reason to," I turned to go inside, but paused and looked back at him.

"One more thing… Expect a signed divorce paper from me at the end of the week. Have a nice day," And with that, I walked inside and slammed the door behind me.

"You can't trust Asher... He is a bad guy. He is going to hurt you, I promise you. We can still make this work," He banged on the door. Hearing those words from him was amusing. If Asher was a bad boy, was he any different?

The tears I'd been holding back finally found their way down my cheeks as I slumped to the ground. Why was this happening to me of all people? I never deserved any of this. I really didn't.

My hand trembled as I reached for my phone and when I unlocked it, a picture of myself and Ann popped on the screen as it had always been my wallpaper, and I scoffed. Seeing the innocent smile on her face, I wouldn't have believed it if anyone ever told me she was this horrible to the point of doing that to me. If I didn't witness what happened myself, I would never have believed if someone told me that my sister was having an affair with my husband.

My heart bled in pain and fury as I opened my gallery folder where all our pictures together were saved and the ones she snapped alone, and I went ahead to mark all of it.

"Is this the best thing to do?" I asked myself just when I was about to click on 'delete'. In the end, I changed my mind and just dropped the phone on the ground. Deleting the pictures won't change anything.

'Why don't you talk to her and ask why she did that? Maybe that'll clear the air' The thought hit my mind. At first, I didn't think it was a good idea, but that was until I reached for my phone and found myself searching for her number. I contemplated on whether to call her or not when I finally found the number and after thorough thoughts, I dialled the number.

I waited patiently as the call rang for the next few seconds before someone finally answered.

"I thought you were not going to call. You finally did," Her nonchalant voice resonated from the other end, and I stopped to ask myself if she really felt guilty about what she did.

"Why did you do it, Ann? Why my husband of all people?" Tears streamed down my cheeks and it didn't fail to show in my voice that I was crying.

"What do you want me to say? Sorry? As if you are ever going to forgive me?" I heard her scoff, and my grip around my phone tightened

"Why, Ann? I loved you... I loved you with everything in me. I could do anything for you..."

"Were you going to leave your husband for me if I had told you I was in love with him?" Her reply left me shocked, and my jaw dropped to the ground as it was the last thing I had expected from her.

"Ann..."

"All I wanted was to be happy too. What were you expecting me to do? Keep off the man that makes me happy just because you too are married?" She scoffed, and I bit my lip.

"And do you think Ace will marry you?" I was forced to ask, and I heard her sigh.

"Maybe. Who knows, maybe if I keep up with winning his heart, then everything will eventually fall in place," She stated and chuckled softly, and now I couldn't help but regret calling her in the first place.

"I have things to attend to. I won't block you, but you can only call me when you have something important to talk about, and not whining and crying to me like a baby. It's annoying," The call disconnected afterwards…