Chapter 41: Chapter 41

That night, Carol sat up past her bedtime, waiting for Sebastian to come home. He entered the living room where she was sitting at eleven on the dot, looking so weary that her heart went out to him immediately.

“Hey. Good evening.” She called to him, wondering to herself why he always looked so tired. He looked surprised to see her, and she realized that he did not see her there at first.

“Carol. How are you doing?”

“I’m good, and you?”

“I’m fine. What are you doing up so late?” he asked, moving over to the minibar and pouring himself a glass of whiskey. He downed the contents of the glass in one go before pouring another drink and sinking heavily into the closest chair to him.

“I wanted to talk to you,” Carol told him hesitantly. She was always hesitant to talk to him first since he seemed to always be in a perpetually foul mood.

“Oh? Is there a problem?” he asked, looking her over and instantly feeling sorry for her. She looked pale, tired, and bored, and as far as he was concerned, it was his and his uncle’s fault. It was his uncle’s fault that she was here in the first place because he was the one who for reasons best known to him, forced the young woman to marry Sebastian or perhaps, cajoled her into marrying him with the promise of money. It was also his own fault that the poor lady was bored because he was the one who, although married to her, left her to her own devices and did not bother himself to check up on her or try to entertain her, apart from giving her enough money to make sure that she was comfortable. However, he had his reasons for doing that, and he knew that she would be better for it in the long run.

“No, no. No problem. It’s just that your uncle called me this afternoon.”

“Is he okay?” Sebastian asked immediately, lines of worry creasing his perfect brow. Carol had the urge to wipe those lines away with her finger, but looked away immediately, wondering what the hell was wrong with her.

“Yes. He’s fine.” Carol hastened to assure him.

“Oh. What did he want then?”

“He wanted to give us a wedding present.” She told him, her eyes downcast. Something told him that he was not going to like what was going to come next.

“Oh? He shouldn’t have bothered, really. What did you tell him?”

“He did not give me a chance to protest. By the way, the wedding present is an all-expense-paid vacation to the Maldives for me and you.”

Sebastian scowled immediately, not liking this one bit as he had guessed earlier. What was his uncle playing at now? He was beginning to feel horrible leaving Carol alone all the time. How on earth would he leave her alone by herself on a vacation to an exotic place such as the Maldives and not feel bad about it?

“Would you like to go?” He asked her carefully, hoping that the answer would be no and groaning when her face brightened up immediately and she nodded in the affirmative.

“I’ll love to go, Sebastian. The Maldives is such a beautiful place, at least from what I’ve heard and seen in pictures. Besides, you will never believe this, but I’ve never been to the beach in my life before. I know that there are beautiful ones there.” She confided in him, her expression practically pleading with him to allow them to go on this trip.

Sebastian could not ignore the pleading in her gaze or the excitement in her voice, and this was exactly what he had been afraid of in the beginning… that he would begin to like her more than he should or more than was healthy for the both of them.

“Okay, then. I guess we’re going to the Maldives. I’m not so heartless as to refuse to accept the present of a dying man.” He said, sipping from his glass of whiskey. “Want some?”

“Yes, please,” Carol replied. She hardly ever drank, but she did not want to seem rude, so she accepted the glass of whiskey that he got up to pour for her and they drank in silence.

“I was thinking. I want to get a job.” Carol told him after a while.

“Oh? What kind of job?”

“I don’t know. I’ll decide when we come back from the Maldives.”

“Why do you want to work, though? Your allowance isn’t enough?”

“Oh no. that’s not it at all. It’s more than enough and you have been more than generous. I’m just tired of sitting down all day at home.” She told him.

“You can always come visit me in my office.” He said before he could stop himself and then inwardly cursed himself for saying such a thing. Carol seemed happy about it though.

“Are you for real? I can? I would love to do so.” She told him happily, so he nodded and stood up to get another bottle of whiskey.

“Do you still want some whiskey?” He asked her as he poured some more for himself.

“Yes, please,” Carol replied. She would probably soon get drunk, but it was okay since she missed the feeling. The last time she had been drunk was in college and she missed those days. He topped off her glass and they continued talking. Carol could hardly believe that Sebastian was sitting and talking to her for this length of time without seeming harsh or brusque.

“What sort of work do you do?”

“I have different companies.”

“Really? Like what?”

“Well, I own some wineries and I also own hotel resorts in a few countries around the world,” Sebastian stated, as though it was a normal thing.

“Wow! That is incredible.”

“Well, my uncle gave me most of the wineries though.”

“It is still incredible.” Carol insisted. She was beginning to feel a little tipsy, and wondered if she should stop drinking, but finding that she enjoyed talking with Sebastian too much to stop. Besides, she was not feeling the slightest bit sleepy and the next day was a Saturday, so they could sleep in all they wanted.

“Yeah. I guess it is.”

“So what about your girlfriend?” Carol asked the question that she had been wondering about for some time now, but did not have the nerve to ask him. The whisky no doubt had loosened her tongue.

“Girlfriend?”

“I don’t know. Girlfriend or fiancée. One of the two. Your uncle mentioned her the other day.”

Sebastian swore inwardly. Damn his uncle and his leaking mouth. What right had he to tell Carol about Jessica? However, if he was being truthful to himself, he guessed that practically anyone could know about her without being told anything. The news about her disappearance had been all over the news and the internet in a highly publicized circus that gave him nightmares till this day, but even then.

“What about her?”

“Where you guys having problems?”

“Why do you ask?”

“Well, I don’t know. You seem like a nice guy, all things considered, but your uncle said that she ran away or something like that. I was wondering why she would do that?”

“Look, I don’t want to talk about it,” Sebastian said, more harshly than he had intended, and watched as her expression changed to one of resignation, but he could not be bothered. What was she asking about Jessica for?

“Sure. It’s okay. I’m sorry I asked.”

“No, it’s fine. I think that you should go to bed now. You are never up this late.” He told her, thinking that it was high time he also went to sleep. He was already beginning to feel the effects of drinking too much whiskey, which was not a surprise, considering that he had started drinking even before he came home.

“Sure. I’m already feeling sleepy, so I’ll just go to bed.” Carol, said, standing up on her feet, and immediately swaying so much that she almost fell straight into the table directly in front of her, but Sebastian was quicker than that. Despite the fact that he was feeling tipsy himself, he sprang up and caught her immediately before she could fall and held her steady in his arms while trying to maintain both their balances. Carol gasped as he held her against his strong, masculine chest. It was the first time that he was holding her in his arms since their wedding five months earlier.