The Seventh Miserable Bride

Chapter 159

It was already one o'clock in the morning but Sebastian Simons had not returned home yet. Yasmine Taylor stood at the door of the living room, patiently waiting for him with her arms crossed. As time went by, her parents- in- law took turns to persuade her to go back to her room and rest, but she insisted on waiting for Sebastian to come back.

At 2 o'clock, he finally came home. When she saw the familiar car light shining straight at her, her worried heart finally relaxed and she hurried out to meet him. Unexpectedly, Sebastian treated her like a stranger and walked past her without a second look.

Yasmine stood there in a daze with unspeakable sadness in her heart, but she consoled herself, "It doesn't matter. As long as he comes back, it doesn't matter if he treats me as a stranger or not."

In retrospect, she was actually more worried that he would never come back again.

For the next few days, Sebastian ignored Yasmine. He spent the whole day at the company, and when he returned home at night, he would lock himself in the study. He would not enter the bedroom until Yasmine had fallen asleep. Yasmine knew that he was purposely avoiding her. In order to keep him from working late every night, she would pretend to sleep early even when she wasn't really asleep.

The moment she had been dreading finally arrived. One evening, Old Master Simons handed her a stack of photographs and said with sympathy, "Yasmine, these are all professional surrogate mothers. Pick one you like, and I'll set a time for you to meet her."

Yasmine took the pictures with trembling hands and looked at it blankly. When she realized that one of these women was going to sleep with her husband soon, her heart almost started to bleed.

"Have you already made your choice? Who do you prefer?"

Titus Simons asked in a low voice. He knew that it hurt his daughter- in- law to look through these pictures, but for the sake of the situation, only Yasmine could pick someone who would suit his son best.

"This one."

Yasmine was not in the mood to pick from the photos at all. She randomly took one out and handed it to the Old Master. Then, she went upstairs, dejected.

After walking around the room a few times that evening, she went downstairs to cook some tomato soup and brought it into the office. They haven't spoken for a few days. She looked at Sebastian leisurely and said, "The weather is getting warm. You should drink some tomato soup to cool down."

Sebastian ignored her, but she persisted and stood by his desk.

"Just leave it there."

Sebastian was indifferent. He didn't even raise his head, indicating to her that she should leave.

"Are you going to keep ignoring me like this?" Yasmine finally couldn't take it anymore.

Sebastian's long eyelashes shook slightly. He looked up at her and said, "I heard that you have chosen the woman you would like me to sleep with."

Yasmine's heart ached and she didn't deny it. "Yes, I did."

"I see. In that case, I'm relieved. No matter what kind of woman you have chosen, she should be my cup of tea." All rights © NôvelDrama.Org.

Yasmine's nails dug into her flesh. This had become her habit. Every time she felt sad, she would abuse herself like that. She couldn't feel the pain anyway.

"Get out. I still have something to attend to."

Yasmine turned around dejectedly and walked out of his office with heavy steps. The moment she closed the door, two streams of tears slipped down, but she quickly wiped them away with her hands.

There was no soft spot in this harsh reality. Life was never fair, and it would not be complete without sadness.

In the blink of an eye, half a month had passed. After that day, Old Master Simons did not mention the surrogacy again. Yasmine couldn't help but ask her mother- in- law euphemistically, "Mom, is everything settled?"

Madam Simons looked at Yasmine with a distressed look and shook her head with twinkling eyes. "Not yet."

Yasmine's heart inexplicably relaxed and she no longer dwelled on this topic. Although she knew that it was inevitable, she felt better if it was delayed.

However, she didn't know that Old Master Simons had already arranged everything. Madam Simons hid it from her so that she won't be sad.

Nevertheless, she learned the truth from her sister-in-law.

She had been waiting in the room that night for a long while but Sebastian had not returned. Just as she was getting anxious, she heard footsteps outside the door. She ran to open the door happily, but when she saw her sister-in-law standing outside the door, there was disappointment in her eyes.

"Yasmine, do you want me to spend tonight with you?"

Tiffany Simons looked at her sympathetically. Yasmine couldn't help but ask in confusion, "What do you mean?"

"Sebastian will not be coming back tonight, so you must be sad..."

"Where is he going tonight?"

Tiffany realized that she might have said something that she shouldn't have. She asked in a panic, "Didn't anyone tell you?"

When Yasmine saw the panic in Tiffany's eyes, she had a bad feeling. "No, tell me. What's going on?"

n | ii

Tiffany didn't dare to say anything.

"Tiffany, please tell me. Please!"

Yasmine shook Tiffany's shoulders hard, tears rolling from her eyes.

"I overheard Dad's conversation. Sebastian will meet the surrogate mother tonight at the Royal Hotel."

As soon as Tiffany finished her sentence, Yasmine ran out immediately. She ran all the way to the hotel that Tiffany mentioned. Along a row of luxury cars, she saw Sebastian's car at one glance. Suddenly, her heart tightened and she collapsed to the ground.

Before her was a magnificent hotel lobby. Even though her body seemed to have been emptied, she managed to stand up and she walked towards the hall. Standing at the swirling door, she saw a familiar figure. It was her beloved husband, Sebastian. Beside her husband stood a young and

beautiful woman. She recognised the woman. She was the surrogate mother whom Yasmine herself had selected.

Sebastian seemed to be registering for a room. Yasmine looked at him blankly. She forgot to leave the revolving door and she kept walking around it. It was not until Sebastian disappeared with the woman that she stretched out her hand in panic. Just as she was about to call out to him, she retracted her hand.

Now that things were already at this stage, what was the point of calling his name? Wasn't this what she had been hoping for?

She shouldn't forget that it was she who pushed Sebastian towards the other woman.

The security personnel of the hotel came over and asked her, "Miss, are you coming inside or are you going out?"

She bit her lip and took a last look at the direction where Sebastian had disappeared. Then, she stepped out of the revolving door and stood outside the entrance of the hotel. She looked at the stars in the sky and her heart felt completely hollowed out.

She collapsed on the steps in front of the hotel and her body shook violently. Her heart was aching and her body was trembling terribly. She held herself tightly and dug her nails into her flesh. But this time, she could feel the pain. It hurt so, so much. However, what hurt her was not the arm which her nails had pinched on, but rather her heart that had shattered into a million pieces.

"Yasmine, you must hold on. It won't take long. Don't cry and don't think too much..."

She held her delicate body and tried to comfort herself. "Just think of it as him cheating on you this one time. Be generous, be strong, and don't cry..."

The more she begged herself not to cry, the more tears flowed out. Her lips were about to bleed from the biting and yet she couldn't stop her tears.

She hugged herself tightly. It seemed like the only way she could get a sense of security. She placed her forehead against her arm, and her shoulders trembled constantly from the sobbing.

"Do I know you?"

She did not know how long she had been crying. Suddenly, she heard a familiar voice. She looked up blankly and saw a person sitting next to her. She could not believe her eyes. "Why are you sitting here?"

Sebastian asked without expression.

Only then did she come to her senses and she quickly wiped the tears from her eyes, not wanting him to see her in a mess. She said, "I happened to pass by. Is... is it over?"

"Yes."

Sebastian nodded his head slightly. Yasmine's heart began to bleed again. She finally succeeded in pushing her man to sleep with another woman.

"I still have something I need to attend to. I'll leave first."

She stood up blankly because she did not want to cry in front of Sebastian. She walked down the steps in a panic. As a result, she absent-mindedly missed a step. Just as she thought that she would fall to the ground, a pair of strong arms caught her.

"Do you really not care? Does it really not matter to you when I disappear from your sight with another woman? When you hear that I have slept with the woman you have chosen, did it really mean nothing to you?"

When faced with Sebastian's questions, Yasmine could only turn her back to him and cry silently.

How could it mean nothing to her? It was simply that no one cared if it mattered to her or not.

"See you at home."

Yasmine turned around slowly and removed Sebastian's hand from her arm.

"Nothing happened. Nothing happened between me and that woman."

Sebastian's murmurs stunned Yasmine. She stopped and turned around to look at him in shock. She wanted to say something, but she felt like something had blocked her throat and she couldn't say anything.

"When I saw you crying at the revolving door from the very beginning, I was angry and I wanted to make you sad. However, I still could not find it in me to sleep with a woman other than you. Yasmine, listen carefully. I can't even touch another woman. Even if you threaten me with divorce, I will never agree to such a ridiculous proposal!"

Yasmine was deeply shocked. She stretched out her arms and threw herself into Sebastian's arms, crying hysterically. "Sebastian, thank you for being loyal to me. The truth is that I'm very sad. Really, really sad. I thought I could endure it, but when I saw you disappear with another woman, I realized that I'm not as strong as I thought I was. I couldn't take it at all."

"You are a fool. No woman will be able to accept that. There is no woman dumber than you are in this world. Who would send her husband into another woman's bed?"

"I didn't want to. That choice was worse than death itself. But you knew how helpless I was. I really had no choice."

Sebastian kissed her forehead, distressed, and said, "I understand, so no matter how much I hate you, I won't betray you."

"I'm sorry, Sebastian. I'm sorry..." Yasmine cried as she apologized. She was not a weak person in the first place, but life had forced her into such a desperate state and it had consumed all the tenacity and perseverance she had in her.

"Let's face all our future problems together."

Sebastian said solemnly. Yasmine nodded. One would never treasure what one had until it was gone. It was only after experiencing the heart-wrenching pain that she understood that forbearance was not the most important thing in love. This was similar in a marriage too.

"Don't ever walk past me like a stranger again."

Yasmine leaned against Sebastian's chest. She spoke with a painful tone.

Sebastian nodded, held her shoulders, and looked straight into her eyes. He said solemnly, "I will never walk past you like a stranger again, and I won't spend half a month ignoring you again. However, from now on, you must learn to refuse all unreasonable demands. No matter who asks for it, you don't have to accept it, and don't feel sorry for anyone. There is no one to feel sorry for. When other people don't care about your feelings, you don't need to care about their feelings too.""

"Okay!"

Sebastian's words rekindled hope and confidence in Yasmine. After another hug, they walked hand in hand along the street brightened by the warm yellow street lamps, and they distanced themselves from the sad place, step by step.

No matter what difficulties they would face in the future, this moment of connection would help them face the future together.