Chapter 5
"Ashlyn, can't we talk about this in private? Why are you causing a scene here?" Clifford said.
Ashlyn wasn't backing down.
She shot back, "Clifford, are you still going to keep this a secret?
"I'm pregnant. Are you really not going to take responsibility for our baby and me?"
She was about to say more when the restaurant manager approached with a courteous smile.
The manager asked, "Excuse me, miss, is there anything about our service that hasn't met your expectations?
"Please feel free to let us know. Your satisfaction is our highest priority."
Ashlyn swept her gaze around, sizing up the crowd and their reactions.
The suits and socialites, dressed to the nines, all turned their attention toward her.
Virella City wasn't the biggest place, but it wasn't exactly small either.
Anyone who worked in finance around here pretty much recognized each other on sight.
Clifford took Ashlyn by the arm and led her out of the restaurant.
"Honey, Ashlyn's probably just had too much to drink. I'll get her home," Clifford explained.
I forced a smile that was more painful than tears.
"Okay," I replied.
After they left, I brushed away the tears from my eyes.
I picked up my fork and kept eating my steak, unfazed.
I had made a reservation at this restaurant a week in advance.
In my previous life, I had left without eating a single bite.
This time, nothing was going to spoil my appetite.
Nothing was more important than satisfying my hunger.
After all, I needed to keep my strength up to deal with all the drama that was yet to come.
Ashlyn's words confirmed what I had suspected.
She had also traveled back to these days from her previous life.
It was truly laughable. She had been given a second chance at life, but her first priority wasn't to take Clifford to the hospital to treat his concussion.
If Clifford ever realized that the two women who always said they loved him were eyeing his inheritance for after he was gone.
It'd break his heart.
Just imagining that scene, I couldn't help but feel pleased.
*****
That night, I barely slept a wink.
Once again, I dreamed about what happened after Clifford died.
I went around spreading rumors about Ashlyn and Clifford's affair.
Ashlyn was crying her eyes out in front of my parents.
She said I was crazy, that no sane person would ever suspect their own cousin of something like that.
Francis, her husband, jumped in, suggesting he knew the head of a psych hospital.
He had said that if they sent me there while my condition was still mild, they could cure me quickly.
He had assured them that it wouldn't affect my chances of getting remarried in the future.
My dad brushed off my mom's desperate pleas, slipped me some sleeping pills, and watched as a black car whisked me away.
The time I spent in that mental hospital was the worst nightmare of my life.
I had tried everything I could to prove that I wasn't crazy.
But proving that one was not mentally ill when one was locked up in a mental hospital was an impossible task.
It was a vicious cycle with no way out.
Every single day, they forced me to swallow all kinds of meds that made me feel like my brain was shutting down.
If I ever tried to fight back, they'd zap me with electricity or beat me up.
At midnight, Francis would creep into my room, his face twisted with malice.
He would take out all his twisted anger on me, making sure I suffered for every bit of it.
*****
The next day, Clifford finally came back.
He let out a heavy sigh and finally came clean.
He said, "Brynn, I'm sorry. Please, just hear me out. Ashlyn and I were together for four years in college.
"Her parents didn't approve, so she was forced to break up with me and marry someone else. After I married you, I really did want to make a life with you."
He spoke so smoothly.
It was obvious he had rehearsed this speech in his head a hundred times.
I cried without making a sound.
I asked, "Why didn't you tell me when we first met on that blind date? Why didn't you say you two used to be together?
"We used to go shopping and hiking together. I always thought Ashlyn was just the third wheel, tagging along. Now I see I was the one who didn't belong."
I clutched my head in agony, not wanting to face reality.
Clifford rushed over and grabbed my hands, stopping me from hurting myself.
"Baby, please don't do this. It breaks my heart to see you like this," he said.
I grabbed his shoulders and shook him, my emotions spilling over.
I said, "But my heart hurts even more. I loved you so much I lost myself in you, Clifford. And now you got involved with my own cousin. How am I supposed to live with that?"