Horace was shocked to hear her say his name. Feeling a little frustrated that she had figured him out, he was also happy for her familiarity with him.
After wiping the blood at the corner of his mouth, Horace took the blindfold off her face.
The light stung her eyes, which made Clara close her them. Horace felt guilty and hurt as he saw her like that, and soon raised his hand and blocked the bright light from her.
When she had adjusted herself to the light, Clara put away his hand. Clara was fumed as she saw the face she had expected to see, and tried to get away from him with both of her hands. “Let go!”
Horace fixed her wrists firmly on him with his hand. Though he had asked the men to cover the rope with moquette, but he was still afraid that it would injure her.
After her failed attempts to struggle free, Clara got angrier. “Loose the rope. What the hell are you doing by taking me here?!”
“I just want to speak to you.” Ignoring her wrath, Horace looked at her fondly with his eyes full of tenderness. “Clara, I miss you.”
“And this is what you do to the person you miss!” Clara glared at him. “This is a crime. Don’t you know it? If you won’t let me go, I’ll call the police!”
“Then I will stay with you here forever and never let you go,” Horace said with an earnest face, hard to tell whether he was joking or serious.
“How dare you!” Clara was a little scared by the seriousness in his look.
“I dare,” Horace said softly, staring at her eyes, “But I love you too much to do that to you.”
“Horace Kirkland…” Clara felt she had been fooled, and didn’t know how to respond to him.
Seeing her speechless face, Horace laughed at her quietly. “Clara, I was just joking.”
“I’m in no mood for a joke. Loose the rope!” Clara got hysterical as she saw him laughing.
Getting kidnapped by her ex-husband for no reason, was that god’s way of messing around with her?
“If I loosen the rope, you will leave,” said Horace in a helpless and melancholy tone. “Clara, how long since the last time we talked? Relax, I just want to chat with you, and I will ask Isaac to take you back.”
Unwilling to look at Horace, who was unending to let her go, Clara turned away her angry face. Was he the same Horace she had known? How could he had done such thing as kidnapping?
Horace gently reached out his hand to touch her cheek, and asked sadly, “Clara, we haven’t seen each other for years. Have you ever missed me a little bit?”
The words revoked her painful memory of giving birth to her son.
Because the baby was not exactly in the right position, it took her a lot pain to bear him. When she was in tremendous pain and was about to give up, had she ever thought about her husband?
To stop her tears from coming out, Clara clenched her teeth and said, “No, not even a tiny bit. I have had such a great life without you around. I’m very happy.”
“Really?” Horace smiled wanly, “But I don’t. In the first two years, I could see you everywhere, but when I tried to touch you, it was all my illusion. Clara, you know what? For all these years, I…”
“Stop it!” Clara cut him out. “It’s become a history. There is no you and I anymore. What’s the point of saying all this?”
If he did miss her so much and love her so much, then why had he forced her to abort the baby? Why did he hook up with Laura? So was it a gift of every man to lie without blushing or heart racing?
“So we really can’t get back together ever?” questioned Horace nervously.
“No,” Clara said resolutely.
“Why!?” Horace became anxious. It had been an unintentional mistake. How could she not give him a opportunity to make it up?
“There’s no why,” said Clara, “I don’t like you anymore, so of course I don’t want to get back together with you.”
“Then who do you like? Andre Hansen? Are you seeing him?” Had she really fallen in love with someone else, so she wouldn’t let him redeem himself?
Clara found it amusing to hear him say that. He was still paranoid. If he hadn’t been suspicious about her baby, they wouldn’t have ended up here.
She had just gone out with Andre for a couple of times, and he already saw them as a couple based on that.
Although she didn’t have the intention to get back together with him, Clara didn’t bother to lie to him. Because she was tired enough from lying to Laura alone, plus Horace, she’d have gone crazy.
“No, I’m not seeing anyone,” said Clara impassively.
“Really?” asked Horace with a tinge of delight on his face. “Now that there’s no ‘someone else’, then what about we…”
“There is no ‘we’!” said Clara seriously, staring at Horace, “Just because I’m seeing him doesn’t mean that I want to be back together with you. It’s not gonna happen between us, so just let me go.”
The determined look in her eyes ached his heart, but he would never give up on anything he had made up his mind to get.
“Clara, I know that I did a horrible thing to you five years ago. I’m so sorry. I understand that you can’t forgive me that easily, and I will move on.”
“You better do. There is no way for us to be the same ever again. It’s the best choice for you to give up on me. Let’s live our own lives from now on,” said Clara.
Despite her harsh words, when she heard him saying that he was to get over her, there was a strange feeling inside her, stuffy and painful.
“It must be because of Neo,” she said to herself. He had never been around his father since the day he had been born, and he would never be. It was her fault for failing to give him a complete family.
With a shake of his head, Horace drew closer to Clara, and the tips of their nose almost touched each other.
“You got me wrong. I never thought about give up on you. I did that once five years ago, but now, I won’t let it happen again,” said Horace, looking into Clara’s eyes, with an extremely serious face.
“Clara, I have decided to start all over again with you.”