I WAS back in the present when I heard the door open behind me. I turned my head only to be paralyzed when I saw who entered the room.
"What are you doing here?" I asked Charlie, looking away and bringing my eyes back to the unconscious man lying on the hospital bed.
After Gideon got transferred here, I haven't seen Charlie again. Until now.
"I'm here to visit my brother," he said. From the corner of my eyes, I saw him standing a few feet beside me.
"You should have waited for your turn, Charlie. This is my private time with my… husband." I almost whispered my last word.
"I wanted to talk to you," he said in a gentle voice.
The corner of my eyes heated up. "We have nothing to talk about, Charlie."
"I heard about what happened to your father from Mom," he said instead. "I'm sorry, Bianca."
I bit my lower lip. I only managed to nod at him without looking his way. I was afraid my own emotions would betray me.
"I'll leave you here…" I said, almost in a whisper. I couldn't stand being with him right now. Everything was coming back to me. Our past. All the things I had lost. All the pain I had caused him.
"I know it's been months, Bianca," he said, which made me stop from taking a step away from him. "But you still owe me an explanation."
I forced myself to look at him. I was welcomed by the pair of chocolate brown eyes that I once loved… and still love until now.
Those eyes… they were full of life before. Now… they're blank. Empty. Cold.
"The week after you broke up with me, Mom called me and told me Gideon was already married. Imagine my shock when she told me the name of Gideon's wife." His eyes slanted at me. "Did you know that he's my brother, Bianca? Did you know that you married my brother?"
I stiffened. The pain I had felt that day I broke things with him came back to me.
"I didn't know." I tried to blink away the tears in my eyes. "I only found out a day after our wedding."
Well, it was true. I only found out about Gideon's connection to Charlie the day after I married him. When he brought me to his family.
But Gideon… he knew that from the start. He had lured me into his trap.
"Nice to meet you, Bianca." The old woman embraced me for a tight hug. Days after we got married, Gideon brought me to LA to meet his parents.
"Just call me Amelia, dear," the woman said after letting go of me. "Now, I'm no longer wondering why Gideon married you in a hurry." Her smile was so bright and welcoming, it made me wonder if she was really Gideon's mother. "You're so beautiful."
"T-thank you." Despite what I've been feeling, I was able to give the woman a genuine smile.
"I'm really happy you've finally decided to settle down, Gideon," Gideon's father, Darwin Henry, said at the dining table. Gideon's parents invited us to an intimate dinner with Gideon's parents in their LA mansion. "I've been telling you this for years."
"Well… it already happened, Dad." Gideon rested his hand on mine, and I stiffened. I wanted to flinch from his touch… but I had no choice but to play this bastard's game.
"So, how did you two meet?" Amelia asked us.
"We met at a bar in New York, Mom," Gideon answered. "We were both having drinks at the counter. The first time I saw her, she already stirred something in me. I talked to her and the rest was history."
What a great storyteller! I looked at Amelia, who had a dreamy smile on her face.
"Oh. That's sweet, Gideon. Love at first sight, huh."
I wanted to puke when Gideon looked at me.
"I'm happy for my two sons, Darwin," Amelia said to her husband. "Gideon's already married. And Charlie told me he's already engaged. He said he would bring his fiancée here after he came back from India."
I felt like my heart stopped beating for a second. Charlie? India? "C-charlie?"
"Yes, dear. Gideon has a brother. Adoptive brother. His name's Charlie Song-Henry. He's half-Korean. We adopted him at a Korean foster home when he was nine."
Every word that came out from Amelia's tongue was like a needle getting pierced through my chest.
Charlie Song. My ex-boyfriend. My ex-fiance. The man I love. He's Gideon's brother.
No. Please. This can't be true.
"Unlike these two men with us, Charlie is a travel photographer. He's currently in India for work. Two weeks ago, he called me to share the news that he's engaged. He said he met his fiancé while he's in New York."
"Did Charlie tell you the name of his fiancé, Mom?" Gideon asked his mother.
I looked at Gideon. I saw the smirk playing on the corner of his lips as he drank his wine.
My lips parted. Did he know? But if he did, he shouldn't have forced me to marry him, right? Charlie's his brother!
"Oh. No, Gideon. Your brother said he wanted to surprise me." Amelia turned to me. "Bianca, are you alright?"
"E-excuse me. I'll just go to the restroom."
Before tears sprawled from my eyes, I already stood up and left the dining room.
"Did you know?" I confronted Gideon when he followed me to the comfort room. "D-did you fucking know, Gideon?"
His brow shot up. "That you're Charlie's fiancée? Of course, Bianca."
Tears welled up in my eyes. "Then why?" I asked, gritting my teeth. "Why did you do this? Why did you ask me to marry you if you knew I'm your brother's fiancée?"
He smirked as his cold eyes settled on mine. "That's why I married you, Bianca. Because you're Charlie's beloved fiancée."
"W-what?" My jaw dropped. My heart stopped beating. "W-what are you talking about?"
"You see, Bianca. Charlie Song is my brother. Adoptive brother." His face hardened. "But I hated him. I hated him to the core."
"W-why? Why do you hate him?"
His jaw clenched. "Because he took away something important from me. And now, I just returned the favor. I took something special from him. You." He grinned devilishly. "I planned everything for the start, Bianca. Before I even talked to your father, I already knew that you're his daughter, my dear wife. I both lured you and your father to my trap."
Now. Everything made sense. Him being in a small-town casino. Him lending my father a huge amount of money without asking for any collateral. Him sending my father to jail…
"The real reason I married you is to take revenge on my brother, Bianca."
"You!" I shouted as I punched his chest. "You're an evil bastard." I angrily spat as tears streamed down my face. "How could you do this to us? How could you do this to your own brother? You don't have a heart!"
He forcefully grabbed my wrist and slammed me against the wall. "Yes. I'm evil, Bianca. "Glad to know you're already aware of what kind of person your husband is." His blue eyes darkened as he lowered his head to mine. His lips touched my ear. "And yes, I no longer have a heart. Blame my brother for that."
"You said you met Gideon a week after I left for India," Charlie said beside me. "Is it true, Bianca?"
"Yeah." I swallowed the lump in my throat. "I'm sorry, Charlie. I hope you forgive me for hurting you…"
There was silence for a moment. "How did you meet him?" he probed.
I swallowed. "In a bar on 5th Avenue," I lied, remembering the lie Gideon had told his mother.
"You're not a fan of going to that kind of place."
"I was with my officemates at that time."
"How did you two become together?"
"Why are you asking these things, Charlie?" I turned to him.
His brown eyes met mine. I could feel my knees wobbling with the way he looked at me. His eyes were piercing my soul.
"Because until now, I couldn't accept that you end up with him, not with me."
I remembered what he said at the party. Does it mean he still hasn't moved on from me?
"I couldn't understand how you fell in love with him… when you were so in love with me." His eyes reddened. "Tell me, Bianca. I deserved to know that truth. Did you really love Gideon?"
I opened my mouth. But words… words didn't come out. "Charlie…" That's what I only managed to say.
"Did you really cheat on me, Bianca?"
No. I didn't cheat on you. I could never do that to you.
"Charlie…" I muttered, tears escaping my traitor eyes. "I'm sorry."
He touched my wrist. "What are those tears for, Bianca?"
"I…" We were both paralyzed when the door opened and saw Amelia with a shocked expression on her face.
"Charlie, Bianca! You're both here." Amelia's face suddenly filled with concern when she saw me crying. "Oh, dear. What happened?"
Charlie let go of my hand. "He was crying when I saw her here, Mom."
"Oh, dear." Amelia held my hand.
I managed to smile at the woman. "I'm fine, Amelia." I glanced at Charlie while drying the corner of my eyes. He stepped back from me earlier and was now leaning on the wall, his hand in his pocket.
But his eyes… they're still on me. I silently thanked Amelia for coming in. Charlie… he already cornered me earlier.
"Mom… I'll go outside." Charlie cleared his throat.
Amelia turned to him. "No. You can stay, Charlie."
Charlie gave me another glance, before he looked at his mother. "No. I leave you two here alone. Besides, I have to go somewhere."