Chapter 3
On our wedding night, Sebastian looked at me and said, "You know, this marriage isn't really about love. We don't have any real feelings for each other.
"We both need our own space—even in our minds. I respect you, and I hope you'll respect me too."
His voice was so businesslike that it felt like I wasn't his wife at all—just another partner in some deal.
He didn't even spend the night.
He said, "I'll give you some time to adjust. I need some time too."
I wanted to ask what he really meant, but all those years of training kicked in, and all I managed was, "Okay."
So, for the next week, we slept in separate rooms.
Just two weeks after the wedding, Sebastian went on a business trip.
He didn't say when he'd be back.
Except for his daily noon call, he was dead silent the rest of the time.
It was like living with a ghost—gone most of the time, but every now and then he'd pop up just to remind me he was still around.
It was just me and the housekeeper left in that huge villa.
Honestly, I didn't mind at all.
At least Barbara couldn't control me anymore.
I felt like a bird finally set free from its cage.
I went wild, buying all the junk food I'd always wanted as a kid but was never allowed to have. I piled them up and ate whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted.
God, junk food was just so good.
I plopped down on the carpet, fired up the projector, and put on an animated movie I'd been dying to watch for ages.
With spicy sticks in my left hand, potato chips in my right, and several bags of boneless chicken feet balanced on my knees, I was in snack heaven.
I was munching on chips, doing silly impressions from the cartoon, and laughing at myself like an idiot.
When I finally noticed someone else was in the room, Sebastian was standing in the doorway—God knows how long he'd been standing there.
I shot to my feet.
This jerk, when did he get back?
I was wearing a loose bear onesie, barefoot, and my hair was a total mess.
Ugh, this was mortifying.
This wasn't how I was supposed to look.
If Barbara saw me like this, she'd probably pass out right then and there.
Sebastian tugged at his tie with a smile. "So this is the real you, huh?"
"Nope, you're hallucinating. You didn't see a thing," I shot back.
With that, I grabbed my snacks and bolted back to my room like I was running for my life.
That night, Sebastian came into my room with a bottle of red wine.
The wine had already been decanted, its floral and fruity notes drifting into every corner of the room. Just the scent alone was enough to make me feel a little lightheaded.
I knew exactly what this meant.
He smiled and clinked his glass against mine.
After a couple of glasses, he walked over and picked me up in his arms, scooping me up by the waist.
He leaned in and whispered in my ear, "Estrella, how about we give this a shot?"
*****
The next day, Sebastian had someone bring me a mountain of snacks. He told me, "From now on, just be yourself around me. You don't have to hide who you are anymore."
He even sat down and ate the whole bag of spicy sticks with me.
After he finished, he said, "This actually tastes pretty good."
Then he checked the ingredients list and added, "But only one bag a day."
Yeah, there was just something about an older guy that was irresistible.
Falling in love with Sebastian was honestly easier than breathing.
For a while after that, I just couldn't get enough of him.
Like any girl totally smitten, I'd share every little thing I thought was fun, plan surprises for every holiday, dream up special dates, and even pick up new skills just to make him happy.
He always went along with whatever I wanted, making me feel like he truly cared.
Back then, I had no clue there was an ex-girlfriend he couldn't move on from.
Her name was Kara Landry.
I found out about Kara on a summer afternoon.
Sebastian owned an orchard, filled with all kinds of grapes.
Normally, hardly anyone ever went there, but Nathaly Burton, Sebastian' mother, somehow found out about it and, on a whim, asked me to go pick grapes with her.
There was a beautiful little cottage tucked away in the orchard.
Even Nathaly was stunned when she saw it.
It was obvious she'd never been there before and had no idea the place even existed.
Once the caretaker realized who we were, he let us in.
That was where I stumbled across Sebastian and Kara's memories—pieces of their past scattered everywhere.
The house had this huge wall, absolutely packed with photos of the two of them, snapshots from every moment together.
They looked so young in those pictures that I could almost feel their youthful energy shining right out of every frame.
The shelves were filled with gorgeous glass jars, each one labeled with the name of a place they'd traveled to, and inside was soil they'd brought back from their trips.
And in every slot, there were elegant letters—notes they'd written to each other, for now and for the days ahead.
In those letters, they lovingly called each other "the future father of our child" and "the future mother of our child."