Chapter 227: It’s Time To Take More Photos

Crystal took a step backward so that Eric could not reach her. She did not know why, but the thought of being intimate with him while Nathan was in the same country as they were in had her worried. She wished that Eric had not invited him to their wedding. Just the thought of his steely eyes on them as they said their vows had her in a panic.

Nathan seemed to pop up wherever Crystal went, and his ability to know where she would be next scared her. She had thought that by escaping to the island, she would be free of him and Eric, and then she would be fully autonomous. But things were right back to the way they had been at the Beverly villa, or nearly so.

Crystal took a deep breath. She hoped that after she married Eric, Nathan would give up, and things would settle down. She did not think it was probable, but it was not outside the realm of possibilities. Thus, she refused to give up hope, and she was determined to look for the good.

If not for Crystal’s wedding, Nancy would not have found Noah. Instead, she watched as he picked her friend up and spun her around. They were both laughing like happy children, and their relationship seemed pregnant with possibilities.

Paul, on the other hand, was gloomy. He wanted to rage, but he knew that in this situation, he was impotent. He had divorced Nancy, and now he had no hold over her. Thus, if he tried to intervene, he would look like a fool. If that happened, he knew that she would lord it over him for the rest of his life.

The store’s air was beginning to feel stuffy, and Paul was beginning to sweat, so he sprang to his feet and headed towards the exit.

When Eric saw Paul leaving, he said, “Hey! Where are you going?”

Paul: “Out for a smoke. What of it?”

Eric: “Again?”

Is he counting my cigarettes? - Paul wondered. It was true that he had been going out for one every few minutes - But how many cigarettes I have had is none of Eric’s business! “I’m a grown man, and I’ll smoke as many cigarettes as I please, thank you very much!”

As Paul walked away, Eric laughed. “What crawled up his ass?” he asked.

The clerk brought out some suits for Noah to choose from. He did not know which one to choose, though, so he asked Nancy for help, and she picked out one that was royal blue, which happened to be his favorite color.

Now that the suit had been chosen, Noah took it into the change room and began to undress. He had just taken off his shirt when his phone buzzed. He pulled it out of his pocket and read the text message. It said: “If you are sure that the woman you are with is Paul’s ex-wife, then you need to close the deal as quickly as possible.”

“She is, and I know,” Noah replied impatiently. Then he turned off his phone and shoved it back into his pocket. He changed into the royal blue suit, and when he came out, everyone agreed that he looked very dashing.

Crystal smiled and said, “Clothes make a man just as a saddle makes a horse. Even your temperament has changed since you changed your clothes.”

Nancy’s cheeks turned red as she nodded her head. “You are really handsome.” He had looked handsome in his casual clothes, but now he looked like a prince. She laughed and said, “Are you a prince in distress?”

Noah paused for a moment, and then he laughed along with her. “How did you know?” he asked.

“Just a guess.” Nancy thought he was joking, and she was happy to play along. “So, when I marry you, I guess I will be a princess...” she said.

Noah: “You are indeed a princess in my eyes.”

Crystal folded her arms and laughed. She wondered if marriage was contagious. She looked at the happy couple, and a pair of eyes like those of a black panther catching its prey suddenly came into her mind. She remembered that Nathan had asked her, “Are you over me?” The words were like invisible hands tugging at her heart, causing her inexplicable pain.

Crystal was lost in her thoughts, and when Nancy shouted for her to join them, she nearly jumped out of her skin. “What is it?” she snapped.

“It’s time to take more photos!” Nancy exclaimed. “Get your head in the game!”

Crystal nodded and joined her friend. When Paul returned from having his smoke, he saw the two couples taking photos, and he frowned. Once again, he felt like the fifth wheel.

****

After the session was over, everyone retired to Paul’s house, and a servant brought Clark downstairs as soon as they heard Nancy’s voice. The boy was wailing and flopping about, and it took all of the servant’s strength not to drop him.”

Nancy rushed over, embraced her son, and asked what was wrong.

“Daddy said that you don’t want me anymore!” Clark wailed. The little guy was so insecure that he cried whenever he heard that his Mommy did not want him.

Nancy was heartbroken. She picked him up and said, “Clark, honey, Mommy will never leave you.” She rubbed his back as she carried him back upstairs, and she laid him down in bed.

Crystal was standing on the balcony when her phone rang, and she did not need to check the Caller ID to know that it was Nathan calling. So she pulled out her phone, and sure enough, the LED screen said: “Unknown Name Unknown Number.”

He had gotten her number at the hospital, but she blocked his number the minute he started texting her. But he was resilient. Throughout the day, he’d been calling and texting her from various other numbers. “He must have a number generator App,” she muttered. It was infuriating.

Finally, she accepted the call. “Nathan, what do you want from me?” she demanded.