Chapter 70: Chapter 70

“Thomas?” It was not Olivia who uttered that. She was too shocked to say anything. It was Sana. She was as surprised as Olivia was.

When she asked Olivia to accompany her so she could talk to the guys, she did not think that Thomas would also be there. But the bigger shock was when she turned her head and looked at the guy sitting on his left.

“Mike?” She said in a more breathless tone than before. Mike was avoiding eye contact with Sana.

Olivia felt lightheaded as she kept staring at him. Thousands of emotions were dancing in her eyes at that moment. She had wanted him to be in front of her so that she could make things clear between them. She wanted to make him understand that she was not the one to blame and that she had no other purpose for hurting him aside from the fact that she had to. She had to do that to save them both and their temporary relationship from complications.

She wanted to talk to him, but now that he was right in front of her, she was tongue-tied. She could not utter a word. The truth was that she was hurt—deeply hurt.

“Do you guys know each other?” The cheerful guy in the front asked curiously. Olivia remained quiet.

“Yes. I know them very well.” Sana said a bit accusingly. She was angry for some reason. Olivia assumed that it was because Thomas had ditched Olivia and Mike had ditched Sana.

Sana could not control her emotions. That was one of her traits. It was one of those moments when she got angry and displayed it as well.

“Uh, why is the environment suddenly awkward? You both can join us, and we can talk about it.” The bearded guy said who sounded like a serious guy. He cued the waiter to arrange chairs for both of them.

“No thank you. We are out.” Olivia said trying to hide the hurt she was feeling. She just wanted to disappear. She saw Thomas averting his eyes and looking forward completely ignoring her existence in front of him. She could not believe he could be that heartless and cold toward her when she had not done anything wrong.

Two could play at a game. If he did not want anything to do with her, she would do the same. She would never even think of contacting him again.

She nudged Sana who was glaring at the both of them. Mike was avoiding looking her eye to eye and Thomas was completely ignoring them. Only Olivia knew how humiliated she was feeling inside. Sana took a look at her when she said that and nodded at her.

“Sorry guys, we have something important to tend to. Carry on!” She said controlling her anger. The other guys looked at each other with confusion. One moment, they approached him with excitement, and another moment, they were leaving. They were about to leave their table when they were stopped.

“Wait! Aren’t you his wife?” The third guy sitting beside Thomas asked suddenly. All the eyes turned toward her and then Thomas. Confusion was written on every face excluding Thomas, Olivia, Sana, and Mike. Other things were prevalent instead of confusion. Thomas looked like a deer caught in a headlight. Olivia looked heartbroken. Sana looked angry again. Mike looked unsure as to how to react.

“No.” Before anyone could say anything, Olivia said. Right at that moment, Thomas peeked at her. She looked so indifferent as if all the previous emotions he saw were never there. She looked like a person who had a lot of questions and he also sensed the hurt she was feeling. All of a sudden, everything was gone. He only saw her cold exterior as she denied being his wife.

She did not glance at him again as she grabbed Sana’s hand and left.

Every pair of eyes were looking at him as the girls left their table and the club altogether. He shrugged.

“You heard her. Now, where were we?” He said he tried to put up a front when he felt so conflicted inside. He did not want to talk about his personal life in front of the guys which was why he did not acknowledge her. He was well aware that it was a dick move, but he could not help it.

They were his schoolmates whom he met when he and Mike went to the club. They were excited to meet after a long time so they offered both of them to hang out together. Since he had nothing else planned, he and Mike joined them. They were busy reminiscing about their memories when Sana and Olivia approached them.

Only he knew how he had controlled himself from getting up and planting his lips over hers. She looked so gorgeous that it felt like torture to remove his eyes from her. He had missed her so much. He wanted to hug her so tight that she would forget about the status of their marriage and let him be close.

But he knew she would never do that. He did not want to be embarrassed again, so he did not say anything. Nothing.

“Oh. I might be mistaken. Your wedding pictures were all over the internet and media. I thought maybe, she was your wife.” The always-happy-go-lucky type of person, Ryan, commented. None of the guys were invited to his wedding. They were not super close, so he did not feel the need to invite all of them. Thankfully, he let the discussion go.

“And what was that about? They came here and left in the blink of an eye. I could sense that something was wrong. How did she know your names?” The serious guy in their circle, Lucas, asked. Guess, the conversation was still on. He sighed.

“She is someone I know.” Mike stepped in referring to Sana. They still looked confused but did not say anything. They all diverted the discussion and resumed their talking.

Thomas’s head and thoughts were elsewhere. Her face, her gaze, and her existence did things to him that he would never be able to put into words. It was hard—so hard to find her in front of him and not touch her or pull her toward himself or kiss her delicious-looking lips and never let her go. He wanted to leave after her when he saw her leaving the club.

His heart pierced when she said she was not his wife. He never thought a simple no could break his heart like that. Although he could understand where she was coming from, he could not deny that it had a greater effect on him than it should have.

“Are you okay?” Mike whispered when he noticed him zoned out. Thomas nodded with a soft expression on his face. Mike was aware of everything. He did not want to worry him. He was amazed at himself for being so skilled at hiding his real emotions from everyone—even Olivia. He knew she must have been hurt by his indifference earlier. He wanted to reach out and pull her toward himself, but he did not do that.

He was just perplexed at what the hell she wanted. She did not want any feelings or emotions between them but looked hurt when he ignored her.

“By the way, the girl in the brown dress looked cute. I wish they sat and talked with us.” The cheerful guy, Ryan said in between the talks. Thomas was not hearing anything but his ears suddenly got pricked.

“What is her name? You said you know her.” He asked looking at Mike keenly. His eyes shone showing he was interested in her.

Mike glanced at Thomas briefly as if asking for permission. Thomas stayed still and kept looking at Ryan’s expressions.

“Olivia.” He answered after a while.

“Olivia…what a lovely name for a lovely girl!” He said chuckling to himself. He sounded as if he was tasting her name on his tongue. Thomas fisted his hands by his sides, but his expressions were still blank.

“Yeah, she was indeed gorgeous. Wish they didn’t leave so soon.” Another one of his schoolmates commented. Thomas was seeing red. His heart picked up the pace and pumped an unregulated amount of blood. His face was also visibly flushed.

“Guys, let’s order more drinks, should we?” Mike said trying to divert the attention from Olivia. He looked at Thomas’s face. He looked like he was about to throw punches at each one of them.

“Oh yes, we should,” Ryan agreed with Mike and looked at Thomas, “And you know what? I felt like she was interested in me. She was looking at me every now and then.” He added with pride and laughed. Thomas could not take it any longer.

He banged his fist on the table and stood up getting everyone’s attention. He was fuming with indescribable anger.

“How dare you take her name?” He glared at Ryan and spat coldly.

Everybody was silent as they kept looking at Thomas. The music was still loud but not as loud as before since it was quite late. They all could hear him.

“Why? Do you have any problem?” He asked looking confused but it also seemed as if he was challenging him to defy.

“I have a fucking problem if you talk about my wife that way. I dare you to say her name again if you want to live.” He lurched forward almost seeming like he would attack him. He went to stand right in front of him and glared into his eyes more closely. His glare could even cut through stone. It was that intense.

“Whoa, bro! Chill. I was just kidding. I know he is your wife.” Ryan suddenly laughed clutching his stomach. Other guys joined him as well. Thomas looked at them with an expression mixed with anger and confusion.

“We just wanted to make you confess that she is your wife,” Lucas said shaking his head and smiling a little.

Thomas was quiet as he stared into the distance.

“Look Thomas, we don’t know what the issue is. But we could tell that she was hurt by your behavior. We could also notice how you got so worked up by the mere mention of her name. It is better to resolve any issue you two have. Time doesn’t wait for anyone. Work on the problems before it is too late.” He said like the wise person that he was since school. They all tapped on his back one by one and left the club. Thomas was left with Mike.

“I want to be alone, Mike,” Thomas said hoping he would understand. Mike did. He nodded leaving the club as well.

‘What the hell had just happened?’ He thought to himself gulping the whole bottle of win