Andre had never proposed to Nellie at all, and if it was considered a proposal, that would probably be the last thing he wanted to face.
Seeing that Andre did not speak, Nellie laughed, “You don’t believe it either, right? Even when you proposed to me, you did so with a tone of charity and grace.”
At that time, she had been pushed to the brink by Catherine and Hazel, and she desperately needed a marriage to beat them back.
Andre refused.
She thus agreed to marry Barney, but when she did, Andre was to stop her.
Even if there was a promise of a marriage, it was only a promise that there would be a three-month marriage.
When she got the James family sorted out, there would be a divorce between them.
“Do I need to remind you how long that marriage of yours was for? Three months, you only gave me three months, you told me that you would divorce after three months, and you asked me if three months was enough.”
“Enough, stop it.”
Andre lifted the glass of red wine and drank it down in one go. Yet Nellie had no intention of letting it go.
She continued, “Enough? I’m a woman, I’m married with the idea that I won’t get divorced, and you’re telling me that I’ll get divorced after three months of marriage.”
“Just because you’re such a man, I won’t hold my resolve to live with you for the rest of my life, I’ll let you go free for now.”
Nellie said sharply.
But Andre’s heart was torn.
At this moment, he seemed to have some understanding of what kind of pain Nellie was in at that time in that situation.
She knew everything and had explained it to him countless times, yet he never believed her.
All this time, he had barely thought about the past with her, and now that she had said just that one thing, it had made him completely recognise how he had really hurt her then.
“Stop it.”
Andre took Nellie in his lap and sat down, he put his hands around her slender waist and buried his head in her heart.
He moved so fast that Nellie was unable to react.
Now, Andre was holding her so tightly.
Nellie was stunned.
“Don’t say that, I was wrong.” Andre said in a tight tone.
Nellie felt wetness in her heart and his body stiffened violently. Was he crying?
No, it can’t be. How could Andre cry? He was a man who wouldn’t even consider himself at fault.
No matter what he had done, he had been brutal enough to think that he himself was right. How could such a man think he could be wrong?
Andre hugged Nellie tightly, the pain in his heart spreading, “Nellie, give me a chance, okay?”
He said with a choked voice.
And it was such a choked sob that made Nellie subdued once again.
How long has it been?
It seems that after that incident back then, he choked up and told her that a lot of people had died and never spoke to her after that.
The fact that he could cry over that was a sign of how much those people meant to him.
And from then on, he ignored her and was so bitter every time he saw her. He hated her.
In her presence he acted ruthless, but never again did such weakness appear, and yet now…
“Let go of me.” Nellie struggled, panicking to the limit in her heart, yet the force of Andre’s hold on her got heavier.
Nellie, “Andre, let go of me.”
Did he think he could really be forgiven if he admitted his mistake?
Then what exactly was the pain she had endured all these years? To this day, Nellie can still remember exactly how much pain she was in.
Over the years, she couldn’t forget exactly how she had come to be.
The more she struggled, the heavier Andre held her, “Let’s stop it and make up, okay?”
He sounded humble.
She had never spoken of her grievances and pain in front of him before, and he had never known what she really wanted.
It was as if she had become unimportant since that incident.
Yet he was wrong after all.
All those years of tormenting her had not really been half as good inside him.
“Nellie.”
This name, which had not been called out for many years, now appeared once again on the lips of Andre.
Nellie closed her eyes, tears slipped down from her eyes, she was in pain, so much pain that she was trembling.
“Do you know that I was waiting for you all that year?” That was when she was taken away by Sidney.
Sidney said that as long as Andre himself picked her up, he would never stand in her way.
Yet after waiting for a month, two months, three months, eventually the bet between her and Sidney was lost.
Andre never appeared before her.
He didn’t come, but she waited for him for a long, long time.
Andre, “What did you say?”
“You don’t know, do you? Sidney said you would never come to pick me up, that even if I died at his hands, you would not show your concern. I didn’t believe it, so I waited for you.”
When he heard this, his heart felt a large gash had been opened, and he turned white with pain.
Raising his eyes, his pupils tightened as he looked at Nellie, who at the moment was so calm as she spoke of those past events, the kind of calm that comes with letting go and everything falling into silence.
And such calmness was a constant reminder to Andre that the current Nellie had put everything down.
It was because she had moved on that when she said those things, there were no ripples in her eyes.
Andre stroked her eyes with some panic, why couldn’t she see anything? How could she be so calm?
How could she, for all intents and purposes, not care?
“Nellie.”
“If I had really died at Sidney’s hands then, wouldn’t you have forgotten about me completely by now?”
Forget her? How could he give her up?
But at this moment, when he heard Nellie’s rhetorical question, Andre could not say a word, he could not deceive her.
If back then, she had really died at Sidney’s hands, then he wouldn’t have bothered to find out those so-called truths.
Even, for a time back then, when he saw her return alive, he wondered bitterly in his mind why she had come back alive.
Nellie looked at him without saying anything, and and only found the pain that flashed under his eyes ironic.
“So I was too greedy, and if I did die at his hands, you really would not even show concern.”
“Nellie.”
Nellie grabbed his strong, powerful arms and forced his hands off her waist.
The attitude, with indifference, was icy.
The moment his hands were ripped off, a piece of his heart was hollowed out.