Contract Marriage starring Love and Revenge
Chapter 110. I don’t want an apology.

Chapter 110: 110. I don’t want an apology.

Now, I’m standing outside the door to the address Duke gave me. What will happen if I ring the bell? Will Languine come out or someone to come tell me that he’s not here.

I’ll only find out if I ring the doorbell. I hope he’s still here, and I hop le he’s the one who answers the door.

After a little bit of inhaling and exhaling, I ring the bell.

There’s no response.

I ring it again, there’s still no response.

After waiting for a few seconds, I ring it once more... It’s the same thing.

"Did Duke give me the wrong address?" I mutter to myself as I look around at other houses. I bring out my phone to confirm the address. Well, I’m at the right door. So why is no one answering?

Did he leave here already?

Or maybe he saw me and is refusing to answer the door. Or worse, he ran away after seeing me.

Again and again I ring the bell, now I’m getting annoyed and just ringing it nonstop.

"I’m coming! I’m coming! Geez," Oh! That’s his voice! "did you not have any toys as a child—" At the sight of me, he freezes and I can see the unshaded guilt written all over his face.

I let a smile play over my face as I say "Attorney Languine, you’re a hard man to meet."

But at last, I’m standing in front of you now. I’m not leaving until I get an explanation.

...

The inside of the house looks warmer than the outside.

"I don’t know what you are here for Mrs Fletcher but I can’t help you." He says. How is he still addressing me with my old name. "Please finish your coffee as quickly as possible and leave."

He let me in, yes... But he’s kicking me out almost instantaneously.

I look around and I notice the photos on the wall. When I decided to see Attorney Languine I found out that he lost his wife over a month ago.

I know this is not his main house so this must have been one of their vacation houses.

A space for just the two of them. Seeing that there isn’t even a single picture of his children here, it must really be just a vacation house firr himself and his wife.

There are pictures of her on every wall. They look so good together that I feel bad for him even though I don’t think I’m in a position to feel bad for the man who wronged me.

I can’t help pitying him a little. I heard they’ve been married for over thirty-six years. I can’t imagine what he’s going through, losing someone you’re so used to seeing everyday could destroy a person mentally and emotionally.

I haven’t been with Duke that long but I fear my life will fall apart if I ever lose him and that’s why I feel a little bad for Languine.

"It seems you haven’t heard but I am Grand now. Champagne Grand. I dropped the Fletcher name months ago and will appreciate it if you address me appropriately." I say.

"Ah, yes. I heard. Mrs Grand, please finish your coffee and—"

"My grandfather paid me a visit some weeks ago." I take a small sip of my coffee as I begin to put into action the simple strategy I have planned for him.

If I don’t start somewhere, I might just end up sipping coffee and then out the door I go. But coffee isn’t my reason for coming here. Languine is and I need him to talk.

"What?" He seems flustered enough. I got his attention at least.

"In a dream, that is." I say and he sighs and his shoulder drops with a little relief. "We had a good time talking about simple things." I shrug. "He told me to not be mad at you and try to understand you and sincerely, I will do almost anything for my grandpa, but I can’t bring myself to fulfill that simple request of his." I place my cup on the table in front of me and fold my hands over my chest.

"What are you—"

"I don’t want to understand you, attorney." I plainly say and he’s staring at me like I just spoke gibberish. "Deny it all you want but you know my grandfather was good to you and I believed you at least thought of me fondly, but for you to do what you did, no matter what made you do it, it means you had complete disregard for my grandfather." The shock and guilt on his face has doubled which means my talk is working.

"What?"

"And that’s why even though my grandpa asked me to understand you, I don’t want to. You had a choice between betraying me and grandpa and losing whatever it is you would have lost otherwise and you chose to betray us. Therefore I’m not here because I’m trying to understand you."

"Champagne I—"

"I’m here because I think the least you can do after disregarding my grandpa like that, is to tell me the reason you did it."

I think I’ve got him... have I? Well the guilty look in his face now has grown even deeper than when he opened the door and found me standing out there.

I can see him regretting his life choices right now.

"So attorney Languine, give my grandpa the last respect he deserves and explain to me why you betrayed him by altering his will. I don’t want to believe it’s because of money, so tell me. What does Evelyn Gold have against you?"

Silence looms over us both. He’s just standing there staring at me right now like I’ve said words that touch him somehow but he still seems to be having some kind of battle within himself.

For a moment his eyes move from me and I can see he’s staring at one of the many pictures of his late wife on the wall. One where she’s standing next to one of those planes that look like huge mosquitoes, with a hat on her head and a bright smile on her face. I’m guessing she was quite the adventurer in her younger days.

"She was a beautiful woman." I say and his attention turns towards me again. "Laura was her name, right?"

"Is... Her name is Laura." Ah, It clearly will take a long time for him to accept her death.

"Yes, Laura is a beautiful woman." I correct myself to what he wants. "Seeing how this house is filled with her picture, you must have really loved her."

"I love her. I love her with everything in me."

...

"Wh—what can I possibly say? Nothing I say will change what I have done."

Is he confessing already? That easily? Really? I thought I’d have to talk a little bit longer to make him say something. Was his wife the trigger?

Right now, he’s sitting in front of me with his shoulders and head dropping, his fingers are eating at each other and he looks completely unsettled.

"Nothing you say will change anything that has happened, you think I don’t know that?" I just need to pick at his guilt a little bit more. I just need to make him confess.

"I know that but I think I have the right to at least know why you did what you did. I deserve an explanation, so give me something concrete. If not even for my sake at least firr grandpa who trusted you enough to leave his will with you. You failed the man as his friend and as his lawyer, at least explain yourself."

"I am ashamed to even say it to you. All I can say is that I’m sorry for what I did to you."

"You seem to be really mistaken attorney, I’m not here for an apology. In fact I don’t want to see you begging for forgiveness or anything of sorts. All I want is a simple explanation."

What follows my words is another moment of silence with his eyes on another of his wife’s pictures again. This time one where they are both in a frame in the very living room. She really had a bright smile.

"If I’m going to tell you about it, I’d better start from the very beginning... It was over thirty years ago."

I wonder where this story is coming from and heading to.

...

"They say people have different presences around them. Some carry bad luck while others carry eternal good luck. And when such a person enters your life, they either bring their bad luck or their good luck with them and rub it off on you. For me, Laura is my good luck." The way refuses to talk about her in past tense shows he really doesn’t want to acknowledge she is gone, but the way he keeps staring at her pictures with such sorrowful eyes shows that he knows she’s not coming back.

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