Mr Billionaire's Regret Chasing His Irresistible Wife (Jared and Arielle) novel Chapter 197

(ARIELLE’S POV.)

His words hung in the air. He leaned in a little closer, his expression intense. I could feel my cheeks flush, and I hated myself for it. His words were like an emotional punch to the gut, stirring up feelings I wasn’t ready to face.

I watched him carefully as he waited for my reaction, searching my eyes like he was looking for some sign of hope.

Finally, I exhaled, a deep sigh escaping me. “If that’s all, Jared… You can leave now.”

I was stunned by the calmness of my own voice. But my reaction pales in comparison to Jared’s look of confusion. He was in utter shock. He narrowed his eyes at me as if focusing on me would wake him up from an ugly trance.

His face was the literal picture of shock, his eyes wide as saucers, his lips hanging apart from each other as he stared at me.

His eyebrows knitted in frustration. “Why? What do you mean, Arielle? Did you hear a word of all I just said? I explained everything clearly!”

I nodded as impassively as possible, my hands clasped together as I reclined in my seat. “Yeah. I heard you, Jared,” I nodded.

He looked more in disbelief as if he had somehow been expecting that I hadn’t heard a word he’d said by some stroke of chance. Maybe he’d imagined the entire scene. But my confirmation only stunned him further.

“Then why are you acting this way, Arielle?” he cried in frustration, his voice cracking from the weight of a dozen emotions. His face was a mask of pain and he didn’t try to hide it being his usual façade of manliness. “I love you, Arielle. Can’t you see? Please.. all I ask is for a second chance,” he said passionately. His chest rose and fell heavily and his eyes were glazed over with what I could imagine to be tears. But my mind was made up already and my mouth remained shut.

(JARED’S POV.)

The room seemed to grow smaller in size, the walls moving in on me like experienced lionesses on the hunt. The air became too thin to draw small breaths. I adjusted the knot of my tie for the umpteenth time again. I was faced with everything I had feared coming back into Arielle’s office. The atmosphere was the polar opposite of what I’d imagined coming— devoid of the relief and joy I’d expected when rehearsing my confession in my head.

I’d expected her to be moved, maybe even happy. But the impassivity of her facial expression was heart wrenching. I couldn’t tell what she felt. If any of my words had touched her. If she even believed anything I’d just said. I was a mess of confusion and frustration. And boiling anger. I gritted my teeth and forced myself to continue speaking. I wasn’t about to let her slip away from my grasp so easily again. Never.

She let out a sigh and sat upright in her chair. I could almost imagine for a second that when she’d sat up, her expression shifted to reveal the softness of her heart. Almost like she’d considered my words.

She clasped her fingers together and looked at me intently. Her voice was firm and calm when she spoke again, like that of a school principal to an erring student.

“You ask me to give you a second chance. What would that entail, Jared? What does that mean to you?” she inquired and I realized she didn’t expect me to explain right away. I couldn’t anyway. Maybe it was the intensity of her gaze. But I watched keenly, waiting for her to invite me to speak.

“Should I go on dates with you? Probably share a roof with you as well… Marry you again to make your family happy.. Should I keep tolerating your endless ‘friends’?” she asked with bitterness I nearly forgot to speak.

“I’m not asking for all that, Arielle.. At least not yet. I just want patience. Your trust. These days, you treat me like everything I do, right down to the way I breathe around you, is wrong. I just want that to stop. As for my friends.. Don’t you have any friends, Arielle? Come on.. Not everyone in my life is damned lunatic!” I sighed in exasperation, my throat itching with emotions. I let out another sigh and pinched the bridge of my nose.

“Look, Arielle. I know you don’t think I can handle any of this. But I promise… I’ll never make the same mistakes again. Never,” I said with such passion a cleric would have commended me.

She kept silent for a while, her face still drawn in straight lines of indifference. “It’s not about the past, Jared,” she finally said. Her voice was calm, and infuriatingly so.