Orion nodded, worry etched on his brows when he saw the anxiety creeping onto her face.
"Of course, I do. Ava, are you sure you are okay?"
Avery was not okay. Feeling as if a thousand invisible insects were crawling in her blood and piercingher skin from the inside, it was all she could do not to lean over and pick up the bread knife lying on the table to scrape her own skin with and get the damned insects out. Hell, she was going insane!
’Curb that fucking anger if it surfaces!’ Archie’s voice echoed in her head, and her flaming eyes dimd drastically in the twinkling of an eye.
"Ava?"
Orion’s voice replacing Archie’s in her head only served to annoy her all the more, but she blinked and raised her head to et his eyes.
"If you know who I am, then what are you doing here at this ti?" she questioned, "Do you think it will be easy to hurt since I’m alone at ho?!"
Orion shook his head hurriedly.
"Of course not, Ava. Why would I?" he asked, disbelief marring his eyebrows. The two maintained eye contact for the next few minutes and soon, the disbelief in his eyes cleared, to be replaced by clarity. This was the one of the reasons he had co to check on her, to make sure she was okay. With so many hate comnts online, even though she wasn’t the Avery McCAllum those people were cursing, he’d known it would have an effect on her. "There’s no reason why I would hurt you, Ava. Those people outside...they don’t know who you are. And that’s why they are threatening—"
"And you know who I am?" Avery interjected.
"I do." He nodded slowly, his hand inching across the table to hold hers. "You are Ava Donovan. You have been married to Archibald Donovan for three years; you used to live abroad because that’s where you grew up but you visit here occasionally. You decided to permanently join Arch here a month ago. You are not... Avery or whoever the netizens are cursing right now. Now, are you okay, Ava?"
Now, the disbelief that had consud Orion earlier had now transferred to Avery. He said she was Ava Donovan, does that an he didn’t even know who she really was? Even when he t her as Avery McCAllum two years ago in Archie’s office, he had thought she was Ava Donovan then.
Why?
She snapped out of her thoughts, rembering he was still waiting for an answer from her.
"No, Orion. I—I need to rest," she replied, blinking incessantly as she pushed the chair back and stood up. "You should...take your leave now."
Unlike earlier, Orion didn’t argue with her or try to persuade her to let him stay. Trailing after her, he walked out to the living room and only stopped when they got to the foyer.
"Goodnight, Ava. I wasn’t able to fulfill my main mission for coming here tonight but then..." he trailed off, a wry smile flickering across his face as he turned away from her.
"Why?" Avery stopped him. "Asides to check if I’m fine, why did you co?"
"Would you really like to uhm, hear out?"
Avery narrowed her eyes at him. Just like this silver head before her had analyzed all three or four tis he t her, she also analyzed her etings with him.
The first day here in the living room, he had been the cheerful one in the group, his cheeriness second only to Jodi’s. When she t him on campus, he had transford into the hot and intelligent professor. And earlier tonight, he had projected this witty aura but at this mont, he was... timid. Maybe, shy.
But what she couldn’t understand was why he would be shy in her presence. Sure, she was the almighty Donovan’s wife but still...Orion didn’t look like he feared that na. Then why?
"I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t want to hear you out," she said.
"Alright then," he began, his voice lowered drastically. "The day I saw you two years ago. Trust , I wasn’t eavesdropping, but I overheard you telling Arch you hate him. Do you still hate him now?"
"Why do you care?" Avery retorted, almost imdiately and without thinking.
Did she still hate Archie? What had he done to warrant her hate in the first place? Why had she allowed the hate to prolong over the next few years up until this mont? And why, did Orion care?
"Because if you still hate him, then I’ll know I have a chance," he replied, his voice holding a tone of finality.
Avery’s eyes widened.
★★★
2 Years Ago.
’’How could you miss such an obvious fact, Miss McCallum?!’’ A loud yell resounded all over the top, executives floor of the McCAllum group of companies headquarters.
Avery flinched. It was hard not to do so when such a loud and angry yell was directed at her in the midst of nurous other employees.
"I’m sorry, Ma’am," she muttered, lowering her head to fix her eyes on her shoes. It wasn’t out of respect for the person yelling at her, but out of politeness for the man standing behind the person.
Her grandfather.
’’Sorry? Did I hear you right, Miss?" the woman scoffed. "You think a simple sorry can fix the ss you just created?"
"I’m sorry, Ma’am," Avery repeated, still without lifting her head. She knew the woman wouldn’t let her off anyti soon, so she was ready to bow there for at least half an hour and listen to a never ending scolding.
Assistant Riley, as the chairman’s assistant, never let go of an opportunity to chastise or show off her superiority to her and her siblings. It didn’t matter whether they really did sothing worthy of bla or not; Mia Riley would not hesitate to yell at them, and in the presence of many other employees and executives.
It wasn’t her fault though.
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