To the One Who's Only Cold to Me - Chapter 38

Tears fell like rain. When Ian made her cry before, it was because of sadness. But today, it felt like an insult.

“He said he was busy. He said he would tell me…”

How foolish must she look in his eyes? How much longer must she accept that kind of attitude just because she liked him so much? Aisha, struggling to breathe, covered her mouth and held back her sobs as she kept walking forward.

“Aisha!”

Someone called her from behind. Hearing the familiar voice, Aisha bit her lip and walked faster. But the man was twice as fast, and soon caught up with her.

“It’s a misunderstanding. I had my own reasons.”

“I came here suddenly. I didn’t even know this was the destination. And like I told you before, I came with that woman for business.”

He never thought Helen would take him to the Count Garrot’s party. He didn’t even know the date because he had never planned to attend.

‘What? You’re already breaking the agreement to be my partner? This is bad. You know there’s a penalty, right?’

Since there were business terms involved, he couldn’t just leave. As Ian entered the Count’s outdoor party, he hoped Aisha hadn’t come. But there she was, sitting in the center of the party. The moment she saw him, she stood up and began to walk away.

The moment Aisha turned, Ian couldn’t think of anything. Before he knew it, he left Helen behind and ran after Aisha.

“Aisha.”

He grabbed her shoulder and turned her around. Just as he thought, Aisha was crying. Seeing the tears fall so fast made him suddenly angry. Forgetting he planned to explain calmly, he spoke coldly.

“Why are you crying? Is this really that serious?”

“I told you before, right? I might have to go with another woman for a month or two as a partner. I even asked for your understanding in advance, so why…”

“That’s it?”

This time, Aisha didn’t hold back like usual. She spoke sharply in a cold voice.

“You said you would tell me in advance where you’re going. You promised. Do you only remember asking for understanding? You forgot that promise?”

Ian was taken aback by the new side of Aisha. His eyes widened in disbelief, and he gripped her shoulder more tightly.

‘Damn it!’

He wanted to explain properly, but he couldn’t. If he talked about the contract with Helen, Aisha would learn about the business too. And then she might find out about the secret sapphire trade that Count Parden was involved in. In the end, Ian just raised his voice to cover it all.

“I told you, it’s a misunderstanding! I didn’t know I was coming here!”

“You think that’s a good excuse?”

Even with his shouting, Aisha didn’t flinch. The hate in her soft blue eyes felt unfamiliar.

“You told me you were too busy to come with me. But then you show up here with another woman? Do you think I’m a joke? Huh, Ian? Do you think I’m that easy”

“Are you going to keep acting like a child?”

Ian cut her off as he looked into her eyes. His cold voice was different now. He looked at her like she was being immature.

“I said it was for work. Can’t you understand that? What will you do after we get engaged? Act like this even if you see a single hair from another woman next to me? Are you going to be this clingy forever?”

“What?”

“I explained it was unavoidable. So why are you complaining? Even if you’re upset, so what? Should I give up my work because you’re upset?”

His shameless and selfish words shocked her. Aisha glared at him, then pushed off the hand grabbing her shoulder.

“Aisha!”

“You’re walking away again? Are you going to keep acting like this?”

“Let go!”

Ian grabbed her again right away. Aisha struggled roughly to escape his hold.

“No! I said let go of me!”

Even as Aisha shook her head, Ian gripped her wrist tightly. He planned to hold on until she got tired and gave up.

“You crazy jerk!”

Things were going the way Ian wanted until someone suddenly came and pulled them apart. Ian turned to see who it was.

“Who do you think you’re touching?”

“B-Brother…”

“You’re always making my little sister cry. You bastard.”

Daniel glared at Ian with a harsh voice and angry eyes. He pulled Aisha behind him, not hiding his fury.

“Move, Daniel. I need to talk to Aisha.”

“Move? You need to move out of my sister’s life!”

Daniel hadn’t even wanted to come to this party today. He came only because he heard Aisha would be there, and because Count Garrot, his former boss, had just had a baby. He planned to show his face and leave quickly but ended up seeing this.

‘Sir Daniel. We need to find Aisha.’

‘What happened, Lady Evelyn?’

When Evelyn, who was close with Aisha, told him everything, Daniel was furious. His decision to pretend he didn’t care about his sister’s engagement to that bastard didn’t even last a month.

“Let’s go. Aisha, your face looks awful from crying. If you stay here, it’ll bring shame to the family.”

Daniel gripped Aisha’s hand and turned away. But as soon as they moved, Ian followed again. Seeing this, Daniel turned around ready to punch him. But before he could, his sister said something unexpected to Ian.

“Don’t follow me. I don’t want to see your face. If you come now, I’ll never see you again!”

Lying in bed, Aisha buried her face in the pillow. On the table beside the bed, her pearl earrings sparkled in the light.

“M-Miss?”

Her maid Marie peeked nervously through the door, but Aisha waved her away.

‘He must be mad, right?’

Alone in the quiet, dark room, her anger had calmed down. As she regained her senses, the first thing that came to mind was Ian’s angry face. The man who always spoke coldly and stared at her so harshly as always, her heart sank.

‘But Ian was the one who did wrong first. Our engagement is in a month, and he linked arms with another woman He even broke his promise to tell me.’

This time, she couldn’t hold it in. She always hid her feelings out of fear that Ian would hate her but not today.

Even when she tried not to think about it, the moment she saw Ian at the party wouldn’t leave her mind. The way he naturally linked arms, how close they looked like lovers. She had come alone, trying to be considerate, while Ian confidently came with another woman.

‘Why did it have to be with a woman again?’

And the woman next to Ian was someone who had already been bothering Aisha Helen Fitz. An illegitimate daughter of the emperor and a rising young businesswoman. Since seeing the two of them together at a social event, Aisha had been hearing rumors.

‘Miss Aisha, you should be careful.’

‘What…?’

‘I hate to say this, but it’s about the Marquis. People saw him with Miss Helen at the Davide Street night club.’

‘I heard that too. My brother was there. You know, noblewomen usually don’t go to those kinds of clubs. But Miss Helen went with the Marquis, and everyone was shocked.’

‘That’s not all. Miss Sophia says Miss Helen visits the Marquis often. Some say she even goes to the mansion.’

‘It’s not just gossip. I saw the Marquis, Miss Helen, and Miss Sophia riding in a carriage together. It looked like they were headed to the Marquis’ home. It didn’t look good.’

It wasn’t Aisha’s first time seeing Ian with another woman. Unlike her, Ian sometimes had unfamiliar women as his partners. But she had never seen him so close with one particular woman before. Until now, the only young woman who visited the Lloyd mansion was Aisha. So when she heard Helen had gone there, her vision went dark.

‘He was with Miss Loretta at the restaurant, but after that, I didn’t see them together again. And things are different now. We’re about to be engaged’

Aisha had already been hurt by Ian’s attitude about the engagement. Lying in bed, she cried quietly until no more tears came, then finally turned over.

‘Was I being too sensitive?’

Rubbing her sore eyes, Aisha asked herself if she was being overly emotional. She knew she was different today from how she usually acted. But instead of guilt, all she felt was sadness and hurt.

Ian’s careless words about their engagement, the rumors about him and Helen, and his lack of even basic consideration all of it had built up. She already felt miserable, but today, she saw something that made it worse. Something she deeply longed for.

She saw the Count and Countess Garrot holding their precious baby, looking at each other with deep love. Aisha felt jealous and sad. Because she thought she and Ian could never look like that.

‘When did I start thinking it was impossible?’

There was a time when it felt easy. She could imagine loving Ian and having children who looked like both of them. But not anymore. Even though the engagement was close, Aisha couldn’t dream about it anymore. She couldn’t imagine being loved. Or having children who looked like the two of them. It was too hard to picture now.

Support To the One Who’s Only Cold to Me