Escaped My Ex, Got Snatched by His Rival - Chapter 430

Chapter 430: Trapped one way or another
Emil clenched his fingers upon hearing Ariana’s words. His gaze was fixated on Ari’s face, though the woman was calm and collected, he could sense the feeling of melancholy and grief that rolled off her body.

“You shouldn’t let your past rule your present.”

Ariana paused, her hands clutching onto the medicinal pills that Emil needed to take. She slowly turned around and looked at the man sitting on the bed before saying, “I am sorry?”

“I know it’s easy to say these words,” Emil sensed the change in her demeanour which was why he took a much more careful approach. “However, what I am saying is indeed correct in a way. Doctor Harlow, I know that the family you grew up in wasn’t exactly healthy, but you cannot just cut off your true family and future because you fear your past, right?”

His gaze turned pleading, almost aching as he said to her, “I believe it’s not fair to your biological parents or siblings. They would want to know you— as you are one amazing and fine woman.”

Ariana stared at Emil as if he were barking mad. Fine and amazing woman? Unfair? To whom? Who was the one who had faced all the suffering?

She smiled, her lips curling into a mocking sneer as she handed Emil his medicine, “Is that so? But do you know what, I think, is unfair? That my biological family lost me for so long and never even took the liberty to search for me.”

Her eyes closed slightly as she lowered her head and stared at her hands which were covered with callouses. Twenty years— she had started helping out in the Harlow household when she was just five and the rest of the time she not only took care of herself but also the entire Harlow family.

The debts she had paid, the responsibilities that she had taken — one after another, she had willingly taken duties that were not even hers to begin with. She had given her all, only to find out that she had been an outsider all along.

So what expectations could Ari have from people she didn’t grow up with?

Ariana exhaled heavily before raising her head and smiling at Emil who looked heartbroken on her account. “I have no idea what made it difficult for them to ever look for me but since they have lived just fine without knowing me … why should I disrupt their peace?”

“You should take the medicine, Emil. Don’t take it later or else your stomach will ache, the pills are on the stronger side today,” she advised Emil with a professional smile.

Once she was done, she turned on her feet and walked out of the ward. As the sound of her heels clicking on the floor vanished, Emil loosened his fingers. He brought his hand over to his forehead, the tips of his fingers touching his temples.

He muttered, “This will be difficult.” He did not know what kind of upbringing Ariana had when she was a child, but Emil could sense that Ariana seemed to be rejecting the very idea of getting involved in another family.

Her experience scared her and at the same time —

“She is terrified to even have any hope towards us,” Emil muttered as he opened his palm and looked down at the yellow and white pills lying inside of it. And honestly, he agreed with her— he and his brothers had no hope towards Penelope which was why they accepted the truth without any hesitation.

But what about their parents? Would they do the same thing?

Emil turned his head and looked out of the window, his gaze flitted to the curtain that was billowing in the wind. Sun rays poured through the open window and spilt over the marble floor.

“Why did such a beautiful thing have to be ruined like this?” A despondent voice echoed in the ward.

***

“Unfair, huh?” Ari muttered while looking out of the window of the office. Her expression was calm as she looked down at her phone’s screen. It was an unknown number, but the message displayed on it —

[You wretch. Why didn’t you die? Why did you ruin our lives? I knew that you were an ungrateful woman but never did I think that you were such a lowly woman. Do you think you will be happy after this? No, Ariana Harlow. You deserve much worse than this! You will die a sorry death.]

The familiar words — the ones that her mother said to her when she got drunk, were perfectly clear.

“She is on the run, but she still cannot let go of me, huh?” Ariana muttered with a mocking sneer. Her expression was half disbelieving and half annoyed. Who ruined whose life?

“This annoys me a little,” Ari muttered as she closed her phone and placed it on the table. She threw her head back and stared up at the ceiling, “I sometimes wonder what it means to have peace.”

She closed her eyes and felt anger bubble and forth in her veins like poison. Why her? Why not anyone else? What sin had she committed? Why should she suffer everything quietly?

“Doctor Harlow?” Ari pulled her head back and stared at the nurse standing at the doorway of the office. “Umm. Doctor Aiden had called for you. There is a patient who needs urgent surgery, and he wants you to be there as his assistant.”

“I understand,” Ari rose to her feet and stepped past the table, leaving behind her phone as she walked over to the door. “I will be heading there now.”

However, as she stepped out of the ward—Ariana felt a gaze press over her. It was a cold and chilly feeling ceasing her actions on the spot as she turned to look in the direction of the gaze.

But there stood no one. Other than a fluttering overcoat in the wind, she did not see anything else.

“Doctor Harlow?” The nurse from earlier called Ari again causing her to turn and look at her before saying, “I am coming.” However, as she took three steps forward she turned her head behind her and saw a smiling neon mask staring right at her. Peeking from right around the corner before disappearing.

But as she blinked her eyes– it was gone.