Hunting for His EX-Wife

Rose’s temper flared instantly. She blurted out in anger without thinking, “What are you doing? Can’t you drive properly? The children are in the back!”

Elliot cast her a deep, silent glance, then turned his attention back to driving without uttering a word. His lips curved into a colder, more piercing smile, and thankfully, nothing untoward happened with the car.

Rose glared at him, refusing to back down. But when they arrived at the villa half an hour later, Elliot hadn’t eaten. When the housekeeper approached them, Rose didn’t even look at him. Instead, she nodded and said, “He hasn’t eaten, please warm something up for him. The children and I have already eaten.”

The housekeeper nodded in acknowledgment and promptly went to heat up a meal.

Rose led the two children upstairs without paying any further attention to the man lingering behind. “You two, go upstairs, wash up, and get some rest. It’s getting late, and I don’t want you staying up too late, okay?”

“Yes, Mommy, we know!” Leah gave a cute smile, nodded repeatedly, and then pulled her brother back to their room. Rose took a few steps toward her own room but suddenly remembered Elliot downstairs. She hesitated for a moment and then turned around, heading back downstairs.

“Why aren’t you eating? It’s already heated,” Elliot said. He was lounging on the couch, and when he saw her coming down, he lazily lifted his gaze to meet hers. His eyes were fixed on Rose, never wavering, and there was a subtle undercurrent of emotion flowing within them.

Rose found it odd; she had just told him she’d already eaten.

“I’ve already eaten. I can’t eat anymore…”

Elliot slowly stood up and took two steps closer. As he passed by Rose, he paused and looked at her, his head tilting slightly. “Join me for a little while,” he said.

His words were firm and devoid of any questioning tone. In the next moment, Rose felt her wrist being grabbed, and before she knew it, she was being led towards the dining table.

Without further ado, she found herself seated, with Elliot sitting right beside her, their closeness a bit too much for comfort.

Rose glanced at him, then silently averted her gaze, refraining from speaking. Despite their seemingly closer relationship these past few days, with Elliot being more “lenient” in many aspects, even bordering on indulgent, there was something she knew all too well-

His personality remained unchanged. Once he made up his mind about something, it was unlikely to change easily.

Rose sighed and suddenly saw a set of cutlery in front of her. There was a piece of braised pork in the bowl right under her eyes.

Rose: “…”

She really didn’t want to eat.

That night at Valentin’s house, because Khalil had arrived, Rose had eaten too much and didn’t have any appetite left for anything else.

“Sorry, I don’t want to eat. You can have it,” Rose said without touching the cutlery.

Whether it was because of what she said or because she didn’t appreciate his kindness, or maybe something else that touched Elliot’s sensitive nerves all at once, his face turned dark and his mouth curved down into a long-lost sneer.

Rose was stunned by this expression on Elliot’s face. She hadn’t seen him angry like this for a very long time; he rarely lost his temper either.

But at this moment, Rose clearly felt his anger; he was furious with her now!

Their eyes met and she felt the pressure up close from him as well as their gaze locked together.

“I ate too much tonight and can’t eat anymore,” Rose looked away first from the man’s eyes that were staring intently at her. Her heart skipped a beat but she tried not to show it while explaining herself with pursed lips.

She thought herself cowardly after saying those words but still couldn’t escape from being stared by him intensely which made her feel uneasy about how to react next.

“Huh…” Elliot couldn’t help laughing out loud when seeing how flustered she looked.

She had no idea why he was so angry with her.

“Rose.” He suddenly put down his cutlery and leaned back on the chair behind him while looking straight into her eyes. “What are you thinking?”

“I asked you a question before but you haven’t answered me yet. I didn’t force you; I thought you’d figured things out during all these times but apparently not! So tell me what you are thinking.”

Silence…

For some time…

In an eerie silence where even Rose’s hair fell over half of her face covering most of its expressions unconsciously, Elliot continued speaking despite suppressing both anger and pain inside himself, “Do you still want to divorce me?”

The hand resting on top of one knee suddenly clenched tightly causing blue-purple veins popping up across its back showing signs that she exerted some strength onto them unconsciously.

Did… she really want to divorce him?

With… him?

If it were a month ago, she would have made the decision to divorce without hesitation. But now…

Rose’s mind was foggy and she remained silent for a while. She didn’t see Elliot urging her or hear him speak again, as if he stubbornly waited for her answer.

She opened her mouth, feeling choked up in her throat. It took her a while before she managed to say, “You should eat dinner first.”

Elliot seemed amused by this and snorted before keeping his gaze on her. “Do you think I can eat right now? Rose, answer my question.”

Rose closed her eyes and when she opened them again, they were clear of any confusion or haziness. She took a deep breath and fearlessly met his gaze as she said, “I have a question for you first.”

Elliot stared at her eyes intently and nodded. “Ask.”

“You know about the children? What do you and old Mr. Harper think about it?” Rose clenched her fists so tightly that crescent-shaped marks appeared on them.

Her heart seemed to stop beating as she held back on breathing while waiting for his response.

Elliot seemed caught off guard by this sudden question but eventually nodded at Rose’s inquiry with an ‘um’.

The blood drained from Rose’s face almost instantly as fear shook through every inch of herself; “H-how did you know?! You shouldn’t know…”

Before Elliot could respond to this accusation, Rose interjected in disbelief, “How is that possible? You shouldn’t even be aware of this…”

Elliot furrowed his brows in displeasure at what he was hearing from Rose. “What do you mean by that? Why did you keep me in the dark?”

Rose was still trying to figure out where things went wrong; how someone who wasn’t supposed to find out had discovered her secret – panic set in along with nervousness which threatened to engulf all other thoughts including whatever Elliot had been saying earlier.

How could he possibly know about their children?

“That’s my son and daughter! It has nothing to do with you or Harper Group… they’re mine!” Her lips trembled uncontrollably as these words escaped from them.

Elliot’s expression grew colder by each passing moment.Nôvel/Dr(a)ma.Org - Content owner.