Chapter 60
Antonio patiently stood while waiting for Zabelle to make up her mind. After what had happened the previous night, he wasn’t keen on letting her out of his sight. ”
The island was one for predators, and she was too innocent to be among them.
Zabelle weighed her options. She wasn’t ready to stay with Antonio, and she didn’t want to deal with him. She also didn’t want to trap herself inside the room, as she had been trapped there for over a week.
However, at the same time, she didn’t want him to drive her to wherever she planned on going, which at that point she had yet to decide.
There was no way he could keep his eyes on her the entire night; she would just run away once she got the chance. “Fine, you can drop me,” she agreed, and Antonio gave her a satisfied look as he then proceeded to go get changed. “Let’s go,” she said when he came back down, and the two proceeded to the car.
“Where do you plan on going?” He asked her when they were inside the car.
“I don’t know, all I planned on doing was going out of the mansion,” Zabelle responded as she then turned to face the window.
Taking one look at her, he started the car and drove out of the mansion. The town on which the island was located usually had a festival of light around this time of the year, and he was sure Zabelle would love it.
She wondered where he was taking her to, but she didn’t bother to question it, as she wasn’t ready to talk to him yet.
After about ten minutes, she saw that they were on a deserted road, and she turned to look back.
“Are we leaving the island?” She couldn’t help but ask.
“Yes, there’s a festival happening tonight, and I’m taking you there,” he told her, and she muttered something inaudible under her breath.
After another five minutes, her eyes lit up when she noticed the fireworks in the sky as they approached the colourful town. ‘Wow,‘ she whispered.
Even though it was dark, Antonio noticed how fascinated she was with what was happening, and he unconsciously smiled.
When he parked the car, Zabelle immediately got out and she looked around. Okay, she was happy he brought her there, but he wasn’t going to know that.
Antonio came to stand beside her and while her attention was focused on what was going on around ther, his attention was focused on her.
That smile, he thought to himself. It had been ages since he saw that smile, and he didn’t realize how much it made him happy.
“Zabelle,” he called when she walked away from him to a spot where people were gathered. Was it just him, or was she super excited and behaving like a child? He wondered as he followed her.
The locals were having a fire performance, and he saw her whole attention on it. She was so focused that she didn’t notice when he brought out his phone to take a picture of her
He needed them in case his mother asked and for no other reason, he told himself
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Chapter 60
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When he looked at the picture, he couldn’t help but fawn over how beautiful she looked in it, and before he could think it through, he had posted her on his social media.
It was the first post he was making, and he couldn’t believe that it was Zabelle who had stolen it.
“That was amazing!” Zabelle remarked when the performance was over and without waiting for him to say anything, she rushed over to where they were selling sky lanterns as she had heard the host say they were going to light up the sky with it.
“Hmm, you have a very handsome husband,” the woman who was in the shop remarked and Zabelle let out a stiff smile as his face was the only pretty thing about him. His insides were dark, and his soul was pretty much non–existent.
“Thank you,” she, however, said to the woman.
“You don’t seem very happy,” the elderly woman noticed, and she smiled at her.
“No, it’s not that, I just wish things were different for me,” she whispered to the old lady, so Antonio would hear her.
“Ahh, that’s why we have this festival every year. To ward off all evil eyes on our lives. Make a wish as you send the sky lanterns up and watch as it comes true,” the old woman said, and Zabelle saw there was no harm in trying.
“I’ll take two,” she told the woman, after which she turned to Antonio as she didn’t carry any money.
“What?!” He asked in confusion when he saw her staring expectantly at him.
“I didn’t carry any money,” she whispered to him, and he shook his head.
“Yet you were planning on leaving the house without me,” he muttered as he dipped his hand into his pocket and brought
out some money.
“Here, have it,” he handed it over to her and Zabelle gave it to the woman after which she collected the sky lanterns.
“Here, this is for you. Maybe one day you’ll stop being such a ‘wonderful‘ person,” she muttered sarcastically as she made her way over to the area where they would send it up to the sky.
Antonio looked at the lantern in his hand and he scowled. He was a wonderful person to be around, he thought to himself but he was unable to convince himself that it was true.
There were a lot of couples there, and nostalgia immediately hit Zabelle as her mind took her back to the time when she had been happy with Jeremy, oblivious to the fact that he didn’t love her.
Everyone looked so happy with their significant other, and there she was, with no hope of happiness in sight.
Lighting the lantern, she immediately knew what her wish would be. All she wanted was to be genuinely happy in life. Right from when it was born, her fate had been set to leave a sad life, but she didn’t want it to be that way forever.
‘I wish to be happy in life,‘ she muttered inwardly.
