Dark Revenge Of An Unwanted Wife: The Twins Are Not Yours!
Chapter 300: More Apologies

Chapter 300: More Apologies

Athena turned to Ewan at his question, a furrow marring her forehead when she noticed that he was still snickering over the picture.

"You seem more concerned about Sandro’s funny pictures than Aiden’s marriage. So why do you even ask?"

Ewan lifted his head from the device, confusion clouding his face. What did he do wrong now? Had he asked the wrong question?

He wetted his lips, more confused at why she was glaring at him hotly.

’What did you do, Ewan? Think! Think!’ He commanded his mind, keeping the phone gently on his thighs.

"Athena..." He called, but she hissed and walked out of the room.

Ewan couldn’t believe what was happening. Was he not permitted to talk about Aiden?

Being someone who easily got restless when there were no answers lying around, he grasped the phone tightly in his hand, removed the drip that had been put in his arm—it was almost done after all—and stepped down from the tiny bed.

Looking around the lab once more, marveling at the structure, which he could see was built to keep the signatures of the materials off the radar, he left the lab into the adjoining room.

He paused in his movements suddenly, when he saw Athena hunched on the sofa, her hands clasped together.

As if sensing his presence, she clicked her tongue. "To an extent, I can understand Aiden’s sensitivity to his marriage, to his wife, because for a long time, whenever your name was mentioned, I reacted the same way. Until I decided that I wouldn’t let you have that power over me; I won’t let others see that you had the power over me. Only, I don’t know Gloria’s story."

A significant pause.

"Aiden might be a good friend of mine, but I don’t support people blindly, especially on matters like this. Worse, you men have a loathsome pride that won’t let you see the truth in front of you most times."

Ewan pressed his lips together, pondering what to do next. Yes, he regretted his actions over the past years, but regrets wouldn’t solve the situation. And that’s why he had devoted himself to her, to being of use to her and the children too.

Yet, at this moment, looking at her dejected frame, he wished he could do more, especially as imaginations of what she could have gone through ran through his mind.

Things that had pushed her to learn martial arts, things that had driven her to the CIA to work as an agent. Had she, at any point, encountered abusers?

The thought of that sent shivers of fear down his spine, even as his heart tightened under a painful grip.

Inhaling deeply to dissipate this feeling and failing, he covered the distance between them, sat in the space beside her, and flung his hand over her shoulder, making sure that the posture was friendly and not something more intimate. That would scare her off even more.

"Athena, I am sorry..."

"Ewan..."

"I will keep apologizing until the end of time. I don’t think I will ever stop, until the day I die. Every day now, I live for you, I live for the children, and I don’t exactly need your permission for that. I just want to do the best I can to ensure you and the children live the best lives from now. But if there’s a way, maybe a new scientist has discovered, where one can go back in years..."

A pause embedded in sorrow and longing. "I will..."

Ewan’s voice, which had now turned hoarse like he was about to weep, made Athena sit up, without shrugging his hand across her shoulder.

She looked into his eyes, which had turned bluer, as if the ocean was about to spill some of its flow.

"I would have gone back, Athena, no matter the cost, even if it takes my entire net worth. I would have changed a lot of things. I’m..."

A pause, during which a tear slipped from Ewan’s eyes, and his hand tightened on the device in his hand.

"Athena, I’m sorry that I wasn’t the man you needed me to be six years ago. I may really blame it on my anger, on my youthful exuberance, but it’s all on me. I should have known better. I should have been better. I should have been a man my father, my parents would be proud of."

He bowed his head, feeling the tears fall unbidden then, sorrow consuming him, leaving no room for embarrassment at crying before a woman.

Meanwhile, Athena wasn’t sure what to feel, or what to say about the matter before her.

She couldn’t say she had entirely washed Ewan’s slate clean; she wasn’t Jesus. But the raw anguish she saw in his eyes tugged at her heartstrings, so much so that she flung her hands around his waist and laid her head on his quaking shoulder.

"It’s okay, Ewan. Everything is fine, or rather will be fine, when we are done with Morgan."

Ewan gnashed his teeth then, wishing to be done with Morgan already, so that they could all move forward.

"I will not be able to forget what you did, Ewan... but I think I can move past it, so long as you maintain your righteous stance. Because the next time..."

"There won’t be a next time, I promise." He spoke, controlling the almost obsessive urge to drop a kiss on her hair.

Friends, he reminded himself. They were just friends. But didn’t friends drop kisses on each other’s hair?

He shook away the thought; now wasn’t the best time to try out that theory, especially as she had taken the initiative to hold him tight. This was a success. He didn’t want to mess it up.

But all of a sudden, she jerked away from his embrace as if remembering something.

"You are here without the drip... was it done before you came out?"

Ewan sighed loudly, cursing the sickness of his body and the drip. As much as he loved Athena fussing over him—and it was evidence that she cared—he didn’t want it now; he wanted to stay this way forever, to breathe her in.

God! He had forgotten how enticing she smelled. He bit his tongue from asking her to return to his embrace.

"Ewan!" Athena shouted, oblivious to Ewan’s desires.

"I think so." Ewan finally answered, after sighing tiredly again.

Athena scanned him from head to toe, kissed her teeth, and stood to her feet, hurrying out of the room without another word.

Ewan shut his eyes when he heard her shout his name again.

"Ewan, get here!"

Ewan licked his lower lips, inhaled deeply, and got to his feet.

"You told me it was finished... what is this?" Athena asked, a frown masking her face as she pointed at the drip bag lying carelessly on the edge of the bed.

"Well... isn’t it...?" He stuttered, licking his lower lip again, sidetracking Athena for a second.

She huffed, her eyes lingering on his lips for a second before reverting to the drip bag.

"Your medicines won’t be ready until tomorrow, hence the drip..."

"That’s not a problem. I can take it tomorrow. It’s just a couple of hours away. I feel better." Ewan cut in, stepping closer to her. "Stop worrying your pretty head over nothing..."

Heat crept up to Athena’s cheeks, even as she busied her hands with the drip, tangling and disentangling the wire from the small metal pole.

Ewan chuckled heartily, walked up to the pole, placed his hand over hers, and started disentangling the drip bag.

Athena instantly dropped her hands as if burned. She turned and fanned her face.

No, she couldn’t continue this way.

Her eyes searched for her phone, pausing when she spotted it in Ewan’s hands.

Right. The pictures.

"My phone, please..."

Ewan wasted no time in handing the phone to her, successfully disentangling the mess.

Athena immediately sent a message to Antonio. "Yes, I will be your girlfriend."

Maybe dating would take her mind off stupid thoughts and emotions.

"So, what do you think is the story behind Sandro and Chelsea? For Sandro to disguise himself that way—even going as far as drawing tattoos on his fingers with ink—then it is really serious. He was even wearing a hat!" Ewan asked, needing to prolong this alone time with Athena, seeing as she was turning towards the exit.

Athena shrugged in response. "The relationship lives of my friends are unknown to me—they don’t want to talk about it."

"Well, we have that in common too. Zane and Sandro don’t want to talk about their deals with your friends." A pause. "You know it’s a damn coincidence how we are all entangled..."

"Yeah..." Athena agreed, walking out of the room to Ewan’s chagrin.

"Aren’t you coming out? You want to spend the night here?" Athena asked as she popped her head into the room.

It was on the tip of Ewan’s tongue to say that he didn’t want to go anywhere, but he sucked up his complaints and followed after Athena.

"Do you think Fiona would know the location where Morgan would be hiding? We can’t be operating based on one intel, especially since it came from Alvarez..." Athena started as they entered Ewan’s car.

Ewan nodded slowly, then switched the gear while turning to her. "Do you want to see her?"