Chapter 227: Who Is He?

There was a kind of love that one knew was already over, and there was nothing left but the memories of them, a kind of love where no matter how long it had been, one wouldn’t be able to forget the memories of every moment that was spent together, this was the kind of love Natalia felt for Peter, it was a love that had started unexpectedly, but he later became the most important person to her, who knew that it wouldn’t last long when all the times they’d laughed together, shared together, ate together, and slept together felt just like yesterday, but today, he was gone, like an illusion that had appeared temporarily in her life only to disappear a second later, now, he had someone else.

The wedding reception of Celine and Tristan was equally as grand as the wedding itself, held in the most beautiful hall the eye had ever seen, the lights cast a magical halo all around, and watching the newlyweds dancing with each other on the open dance floor, there were no words to describe them.

Natalia could only think they looked perfect, and Celine, in what could be considered the most beautiful wedding dress in the world, had eyes glowing with pure joy and happiness. Once again, Natalia felt very happy for her, she smiled slightly as she watched the couple dance.

After some time, the newlyweds’ dance was over, the floor was open to everyone, and all the guys were going around asking some lovely ladies to dance.

“Hey, would you like to dance?” A handsome young man whom Natalia didn’t know came up to her and asked her for a dance.

She gave him a small apologetic smile, “I’m sorry, I’m not much of a dancer.”

The guy turned around with a disappointed look on his face. Natalia picked up her dress and was about to find somewhere to sit when her eyes fell on someone, she went stiff.

Peter was holding the hand of a beautiful young woman whom Natalia knew as the current love of his life, she stood still watching them with disappointment in her eyes, he had a big smile on his face holding the waist of his woman as they swayed on the dance floor, in his eyes she could see the soft affection with which he used to look at her.

Perhaps his love for her had been this shallow that it was easy for him to give it to someone else, all the love and affection he used to have for her now belonged to someone else.

An unbearable pain gripped her heart as she recalled the first time they met.

It had been a certain summer three years ago, during the times Celine had still been abroad and they couldn’t find her, Natalia had missed her so much, she remembered that they used to go on summer vacations together when Celine was still in the city, they used to go on those vacations for Celine to relax and get away from all the glitz of the entertainment industry, Natalia decided to go on that vacation alone to remember all the happy and good memories with Celine.

She had gone to a peaceful beach house far away from the city to unwind, but getting there and being alone, she realized it wasn’t as fun without Celine, it was quiet and there was no one with whom she could do all those fun activities.

A certain morning, Natalia had been bored, she went out strolling along the beach when she suddenly came across something that caught her eyes, moving closer, she was terrified to realize it was actually an unconscious person, a man.

Though she had hesitated, not knowing who the mysterious unconscious man was, or if he was possibly going to be a dangerous person, she had contemplated leaving him there, but in the end, she couldn’t ward off her conscience, so she had decided to at least check if he was alive.

As she pulled the sea leaves away from his face, she had been awestruck, he was good-looking, she had found herself staring for some time before realizing that he was still breathing, she still felt wary about saving him, for all she knew he might end up being a criminal or even a serial killer of sorts, but in the end, her conscience won, she managed to somehow drag him from the edge of the sea to the beach house.

It took five days for him to finally regain consciousness, at first, he was shocked to realize he was still alive, but he was immensely grateful to her, it seemed there was a problem he had to face in the city, so he pleaded she allow him stay at the beach house for some time. Though Natalia still wondered if he was a dangerous person, but since he hadn’t tried to harm her and had seemed like a nice person to her so far, Natalia didn’t see anything wrong in letting him stay there.

He had only told her his name was Peter, though he was a complete stranger, Natalia didn’t mind having him stay there especially when he would nicely help her with a lot of things, and he was the greatest gentleman she had ever met, he was quiet and warm, and every time he smiled, it was as if the stars were blooming, he was indeed a handsome man.

Natalia didn’t realize when she started looking at him more, she didn’t realize when she began to notice him, but he slowly waltzed his way into her heart. One night, they made a bonfire by the beach, they had talked into the night and laughed together, he had later gently asked her to dance even without music, she felt butterflies in her stomach with the way he was staring at her, and somehow, they had managed to share a kiss.

On the news, she had come to find out that he was actually the son of a politician who was assumed dead and they were currently holding his funeral in the city, then Peter told her everything about his real identity. Some of his father’s enemies had tried to kill him, but he had survived, and if he were to go back, they might still come after him which was why he had chosen to stay at the beach house.

They spent some more time together, and before they knew it, days passed into weeks, Natalia’s vacation was over and she would have to return to the city, and since he couldn’t come back to the city yet, they would be separated, and on their last night together, he promised to come find her, in the heat of the moment, Natalia gave in to desire and they spent the most passionate night one could imagine together.

After her return to the city, Natalia went back to work, months passed by but she hadn’t gotten news from Peter, she thought that was it, she thought that she might never get to see him again until she watched the news one evening to see him on TV along with his father, his family was happy about the fact that he was still alive and had safely returned to them.

Though she had been happy to see him, she had still been heartbroken, she had hoped he would come find her, but it turned out it was just wishful thinking, he didn’t come for her at all.

A few more weeks passed by and Natalia willed herself to forget everything about him, maybe whatever happened between them was nothing but a fleeting moment of attraction, and it was her who had overthought it.

However, she had just returned from work on a certain day when she was frightened out of her wits to find her apartment door unlocked, she had picked up the nearest vase she could find without turning on the lights thinking it must have been a thief, but she had taken a single step forward when the lights suddenly came on.

On her dining table was a beautiful romantic setting of a dinner, and standing there was the man whose sight made her heart skip a beat.

’Told you I’d find you,’ he said with a smile, the one that had caught her heart. Natalia smiled back.

And that night, they had a lovely romantic dinner, and he asked her to be his in the most heart-throbbing way.

They had been together for months, and during those times were the happiest she’d ever been, she had been incredibly lonely after Celine left, but meeting Peter and getting to save him that day was the best decision she’d ever made.

But their relationship had barely been a year when he started to slowly withdraw from her, slowly, it started to be days before she’d get to see him, sometimes even weeks, he didn’t call, rarely texted her at all.

She found herself lost and feeling alone, she’d ask him so many times if he was avoiding her or if she’d done something but he would always tell her he was busy with work. And knowing his father also wanted him to be a politician, she decided to be understanding, until he began to disappear completely from her life, Natalia didn’t know why he was pulling back from her, all she knew was that she’d blamed herself for it, she still did.

And one day, she once again saw him on TV with the daughter of another politician, in fact, they were engaged. To say she’d been shocked was an understatement, at the same time deeply pained and heartbroken.

He didn’t show up to her entirely after that, and when he did, all he said was,

’I’m sorry, Natalia, but…I love her.’

Natalia hadn’t been able to speak that day, but deep inside she wanted to ask,

What about me? Don’t you love me? You said you did!

But due to her pride, she hadn’t shown him her weakness, nor did she cry or beg him to stay, she had tried to be mature about it and let him go, he had even hugged her goodbye and she had stood there stiffly, it was only after he left did she break down and cry so hard.

She felt like every single moment they shared was an illusion, as if all his words of promise and love were all lies. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t bring herself to hate him, she couldn’t bring herself to get his memories out of her head.

She’d had to see him with that other woman on TV a lot of times, but every time she’d felt her heart ache anew. It had been years now since she last saw any news of him, or perhaps she had done a good job blocking every single news about him, but now, seeing him in person again, all the pain seemed to come back afresh.

Tears gathered in her eyes as she watched them on the dance floor, he looked happier than she’d ever seen him before, which made her wonder again, had he ever truly loved her?

“Excuse me, may I have this dance?” A deep voice suddenly rang close to her, making her break out of her thoughts, she quickly pushed back the tears and was about to politely decline when she caught sight of Celine who was sitting with Tristan at the table, Celine seemed to have noticed her expression and was giving her a worried look.

Natalia was someone who liked to bottle her pain in her heart until it would go away on its own, and today was Celine’s wedding, she should enjoy every single second of it, she didn’t want to make her friend worry over her.

She flashed Celine a reassuring smile but Celine didn’t seem convinced and seemed to be questioning her with her eyes, perhaps still not convinced, Celine was about to get up from her seat when Natalia quickly took the hand of the person who asked her for a dance.

“Yes, I’d like to dance with you.” She replied and quickly dragged the person to the dance floor.

However, the minute she turned to look at the person who’d asked her to dance, she was stunned.

Dark eyes, deep and mysterious with even darker hair on his head, a straight nose and a pair of thin lips grimly set in a thin line as if he was displeased, he was tall and had broad shoulders, but there was this deeply mysterious aura around him.

Who was this man?

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep