Extrapolation
of Fate
Chapter
5
By: Neo-Queen
Serenity
E-mail:
serenausako@hotmail.com
Webpage: http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Shrine/6436
Serena got up
from piles of paper works on her desk and walked toward the glass wall facing
the city lights. She pressed the
button, watching the curtain folds gliding apart gradually, revealing a
breathtaking night sky. Removing
her silver-framed reading glasses, she gazed adoringly at the dancing lights and
whirling shapes.
Everything looked
glorious and magnificent.
Darien looked up
too, watching the enchanting woman standing in his office, her eyes smilingly
admiring, like a little girl craving for a small piece of Christmas candy cane.
Sensing his eyes
on her, Serena turned around and gave him a smile. “Chicago looks
splendid.”
Scrolling up to
her, Darien watched the glowing city, then he diverted his attention to the
woman who had been watching it with fascination. He wanted to tell her that she
was splendid.
“I use to demand
Aunt Margaret to bring me to her New York office, then I would deliberately stay
late, watching the sky like this. I
use to hope that someday I would also work in a high-raised office building,
because I could watch the night just as closely. But then,” She smiled, “I forgot about
the heavy workload that is associated with the job.”
He tightened his lips,
remembering that she had never told him anything about her childhood. But then, he never cared enough to
ask.
Darien parted his
lips to say more but Serena had already turned around. She glanced at her wristwatch. “I guess
that’s it for today.” She tidied the pile she’d been previously working on. “The
rest will be faxed to you 8a.m. in the morning.”
“A promise?”
Darien lifted a brow.
“Yes.” She
nodded. “8 o’clock. Not a minute later than
that.”
“Thank you.” He
whispered sincerely.
Serena turned to
him, couldn’t help but notice the tenderness that radiated from his blue eyes
when he offered her his hand. She
took it, and shook it lightly, though not insincerely.
“You’re welcome.”
She smiled. “You must be glad that Malachite Carlton got afraid of the mess he
would be in if he wasn’t treating our threat seriously. Because we wouldn’t get off so easily if
it was otherwise.”
He knew she was
right. She had participated in his
defense, took care of him and comforted him. She was also the one who had
planned the solution to his enormous problem and got him out of the storm. And because of that, because of what had
happened before, he owed her more than a sincere gratitude. But then, it registered on Darien that
she had referred them as “we.”
“Do you wish to
eat something?” He abruptly remembered that she hadn’t had a bit of food since
they began working into the evening.
Glancing at her
watch again, Serena shrugged off-handedly.
“It’s quite late. Any restaurants I know are probably closed for the
day.” She snapped her briefs shut and picked up her coat. “Besides, anything can be handled when I
get home.”
“How about a
drink?” Desperate to linger longer, Darien persisted. He didn’t want this peaceful
two-person-world to slip away.
Serena looked up,
saw something she had never seem in his eyes before: quiet pleading. Her heart
softened, and she nodded.
Serena stared out
from her seat by the window, into the powdery darkness of the night. The world looked closer now, and having
watched it at ground level, she felt both realistic and conscious. They were seated in a little café that
located five minutes walking distant from the Sintrade headquarter. Unlike the elegant restaurants and
hotels Darien and her had previously dined at, this little place seemed homely
and earthy.
She turned to
him, watching two glass of curious liquid along with cheese-flavored popcorn on
the table. “I never knew you’d come visiting such a
place.”
Darien looked
around, thoughtfully re-evaluating everything. “It’s quiet, down-to-earth and
I’d come for a drink when the night deepens.”
Staring at the
glass, Serena didn’t say a word. In
fact, the drink laid in front of her helplessly fascinated her. Contained in a long stemmed glass, the
fluid in it layered in distinct phases, like a beautiful spectrum, ranging from
red, to yellow, to blue, then finally violet.
Darien picked up
his glass too, whirling it gently, watching the layers reeling, but still
refused to mix. He stirred it,
breaking the bound between each color, studying thoughtfully as all the colors
mixed into the shade of crystal blue.
Serena sighed
innocently, because she thought the color looked like the vast Pacific… like
Darien’s eyes. She smiled.
“Each layer is
composed of a liquid that is different in density with the neighboring ones. So
when they are placed together, the colors will layer out like this.” He
grinned. “It’s all
Physics.”
She looked into
his eyes, feeling like she always felt when sitting across from him: enwrapped
in the mystical and romantic web he weaved around her. Everything seemed dreamy
and magical, like the vibrant liquid that whirled in her glass. She had never
thought it possible, that one day, she would be sitting across from Darien
Fielding, watching him laughing, listening while he was telling her wonderful
things, munching popcorn with him, and staring into his
eyes.
The faded lights
and dancing shadows lulled her deeper into a dream. Serena smiled gently,
wishing…
Darien Fielding
raised a champagne glass to his lips, watching the stunning couple greeting
their guests. In a forest green
cocktail dress with matching scarf, and blond tendrils caught in a sophisticated
chignon, Serena Lamperd looked like a regal princess who entertains her guests
with ease. Gregory Laurence held
her hand, publicly playing the role of her fiancé.
They looked
perfect standing together. Darien
tightened his fists when he saw Greg lowered his head to whisper something that
caused Serena to smile.
Today was her
twenty-ninth birthday. And Darien remembered celebrating her twenty-eighth with
her. But then, his mind had been
helplessly fixed on Beryl Merlin to really pay attention to what she was telling
him. Yet now, when he’d wanted to take the role as her fiancé, standing beside
her and cupping her elbow in a possessive and tender fashion, he is deprived of
his chance.
By himself. He had deprived his chance
himself.
“Darien?” Serena
looked up at him with worry. “Are
you not feeling well?”
Beryl Merlin’s
haughty smile drifted in his mind, smiling with auburn curls and sensual red
lips. He felt like been drunk,
helplessly drawn to her.
“Darien?”
He snapped out of
his trace, directed his unfocused eyes on her. A fair-faced blond had been gazing at
him with concern. Then he
remembered that she was his fiancée.
Right, Serena
Lamperd was his fiancée.
He offered her
his arms, guiding her toward his waiting father, and pasted on an attentive
smile. Charles Fielding has wanted
this engagement, not him. But he
would play along, just for the old man’s sake.
Guilt streamed
heavily in his heart when Darien remembered the unjust ways he’d treated her and
the impatient frowns he tossed her.
But he needn’t worry, he thought with a bitter smile. Serena Lamperd was no longer his
fiancée. She now belongs to Gregory
Laurence.
Darien raised his
glass in a bitter toss to himself.
Standing a few
feet away from Serena, Darien narrowed his eyes when he saw Greg pulling out a
small black velvet box that undoubtedly contained an engagement ring. He slipped his right hand into his pants
pocket, tightened his fist with tension.
Serena shot the
gentle, smiling man in front of her a wild look. She saw the box and she knew what would
happen next.
Greg is going to
propose to her!
He’s going to
propose to her. She chanted
frantically. Happiness made her heart swell with a poignant tenderness that got
quickly turned into heavy dismay when she remembered Darien, remembered that
serene evening when they sat in a little unknown café, drinking some fascinating
drink and munching on popcorn.
She knew so well
that if Greg had proposed to her, right now, she couldn’t, and wouldn’t publicly
humiliate the man by refusing him.
Because, god helps her, Greg loved her!
But she knew too, and
just as well, that if she’d accepted the ring, she would forever severe herself
from Darien.
And the thought
tore at her heart.
She knew he loved
Beryl Merlin. But she knew just as
well that she loved him. Especially
when recently he’d been gazing at her with some tender gentleness, and whenever
she speaks up during a meeting, she’d seen something in his blue eyes that
suspiciously resembled pride.
“Cherie.” Greg
whispered softly, his hand already opening the lid of the
box.
“Yes?” Serena
smiled shakily, dreading for the upcoming moment.
“Have a happy and
memorable twenty-ninth.”
Under the
chandeliers, Serena forced herself to look into the box. What she saw in there
made her sighing with relieve.
With shiny eyes
composed of expensive sapphires; a black cat exquisitely craved out from an
entire black diamond glittered.
“It’s so
beautiful.” Serena breathed.
Greg smiled,
pinning the cat to her cocktail dress.
Then stepped back to admire her in a heart-shattering gentle
way.
She looked up at
him too, her eyes shiny with gratitude, happiness, and a million of other
feelings mixed together.
Standing on the
large balcony adjoining the ballroom in her father’s estate, Serena watched the
stars with thoughtful silence.
She knew that in
her heart she’d betrayed Greg.
Because the moment she thought Greg was going to propose, she instantly
made up her mind about a gentle refusal. She knew for a long time that Greg had
loved her. But she didn’t want him
to know that she knew how he felt.
Back to eight
years ago, Gregory Laurence had acted like her elder brother, responsibly
shielding her from the world’s harms.
She knew he loved her, because the feelings he had for her were written
in his eyes. And she also knew that
sooner or later he would propose again.
She loved him
too. But it was a sisterly kind of
love that can’t be brought to comparison to the tender happiness she felt when
Darien was around.
She knew she
would never able to marry Greg without regretting later in life because she had
been helplessly in love and obsessed about Darien Fielding. No matter what he’d done to hurt
her. She would always love
him.
Only because she
loved him.
She didn’t want
to hurt Greg either. But then, she’d already betrayed him in her heart by loving
Darien. The hurt would be damaging
to Greg, to have a wife who’s constantly obsessed about another man. And that wouldn’t be fair. Because Gregory Laurence deserved so
much of a better woman who will offer him totally devoted
affection.
And he was never
hers to have. Not even from the
beginning.
She would tell
him that, because she wouldn’t bear to hurt him more than she had already
did.
“Were you talking
to the moon fairy?” The deep timber of a male voice whispered from her
back.
She turned
around; saw Greg standing a few steps away from her.
“Moon
fairy?”
“Were you talking
to her?” He grinned.
“I was
thinking.”
“About?”
“Us.” Serena
admitted, watching him walking up to stand beside her.
Standing under
the moonlight, with shiny gold curls, along with shadows and lights dancing on
her slender form, Serena Lamperd looked like a moon fairy
herself.
“Are you happy?”
He suddenly asked.
She nodded.
“Thank you.” She whispered achingly.
“For what?”
Serena breathed,
knowing it’s the perfect moment to tell him how she felt and how sorry she was
because they were so wrong for each other.
“For been
everything you had been for the past eight years. For being there to see me through life’s
worst nightmares, and for being a caring brother to me.”
“A brother?” He
said stiffly. “Is that what I am to
you, a brother?”
Serena looked
into his shattering brown eyes, saw the unbearable pain in them. She braced herself, and
nodded.
He stared at her,
long and hard.
An eternity
seemed elapsed when he finally spoke to her again, his voice hoarse with
emotion. “I’ve always guessed it’s
going to end like this. It’s Darien, isn’t it?”
Serena laid her
hand against his cheek, trying helplessly to soften the pain in his eyes. “I am so sorry Greg,” She murmured
chokingly, “we were never meant for each other.”
He nodded
finally, accepting fate. Smiling
weakly, he tried to smooth away a tendril behind her ear. Greg remembered the small ring box
placed in his tuxedo pocket. He’d
purchased the cat and the ring together, and prepared to propose to her
privately after everyone had given Serena her presents. But now, it seemed that the ring has no
particular use anymore.
He breathed
deeply, looking at the woman he loved to distraction, at the woman who has the
enchanting smiles that haunted his dreams.
He loved
her. And he wanted her to be happy
as well.
Greg ignored the
ring box that weighed like heavy lead in his pocket. He picked up the two champagne glasses
he carried, offering one to Serena.
“A toast for your future happiness.”
Glasses
clicked.
But neither of
them drank from it.
Having parked her
car, Serena Lamperd walked up to Sintrade’s Chicago headquarter, a smile lifted
the corner of her lips.
She now has no
doubt of Darien’s love for her. She
knew it, and knew it deeply in her heart.
Ahead of her, life stretched with promising possibilities and enchanting
visions.
But when she
neared the entrance, Serena stopped in her track because she heard a man’s voice
talking. Taking a step further,
Serena saw Darien Fielding conversing with a woman.
He took the
woman’s hand in his. She raised her
tear-streaked face to him, “Darien…”
Serena heard him
say, “Come back to me.”
“I-”
Darien pulled her
into his arms, “I know it’s not you fault.
Come back to me…”
The woman turned
her face into his chest when Serena walked up to him. Darien looked up and saw her. He let go of the woman and tidied his
jacket.
“I can’t go to
dad’s dinner.”
Serena looked at
him, his face devoid of guilt or any emotion at all, as if nothing had just
happened.
“Tell him not to
wait for me.” He added.
Serena looked at
the woman he had been holding, she nodded mindlessly and turned to walk
away.
Darien watched
her disappearing back, his face expressionless.
“Who is she?”
Serena heard the woman’s voice say.
But she didn’t care what she said anyway. Because the moment she saw them,
something inside her had again died.
She closed her eyes against the sun, knowing that Darien Fielding has
slaughtered her last hope with bare hands.
As for the woman,
Serena didn’t want to think about her at all, because that’s a face more than
just familiar to her.
Beryl Merlin’s
face.
The rain poured
down from the mournful sky. Serena
stood by the large windows in her office and watched. Ami had long retired for the day. But Serena didn’t want to face the quiet
death of her apartment.
Not
yet.
She hadn’t seen
Darien for days, but gossip columns on newspapers spread his whereabouts, and
rumored that he’s preparing to wed Beryl Merlin, American’s sweetheart. There
was even a report stating that their engagement would be soon announced during a
joined conference given by Sintrade.Inc.
Serena
sighed. Darien Fielding wasn’t her
husband. He wasn’t even her
fiancé. Thus, he wasn’t even
entitled to offer her an explanation.
Not even a word.
The phone rang
and Serena picked it up.
“Serena Lamperd’s
office.”
“Good evening,
Miss Lamperd.” A spoiled feminine voice said. “How have you
been?”
Serena dug her
long, tapered nails into her palm, because she recognized the silky voice
belonged to none other than Beryl Merlin.
“I believe you
have important matters to address to me, Miss Merlin.” Serena said calmly. “Why don’t we
begin?”
Beryl laughed.
“Lawyers are just lawyers.”
Serena
waited.
“Darien and I
used to be very good ‘friends’.” She said. “I figured you already knew
that, didn’t you?”
“’Used to?’” Serena smiled. “Everyone has a
past.”
Beryl’s voice
turned from silky to coldly vicious. “But that ‘past’
haven’t passed yet.”
“Well?”
“Darien is going
to marry me.” She laughed. “Did you hear me? He’s going to marry
me.”
Serena didn’t
reply to that question. She hung up
on Beryl Merlin with immense satisfaction.
The rained had
stopped. Serena looked happily toward the peering sunshine before dusk started
closing in.
Sensing someone
standing in the room, she turned very carefully to see Darien Fielding standing
with his shoulder propped on the doorframe.
She looked at
him, didn’t say a word. Then
started to tidy her briefcase.
“Not a word?” He
chuckled.
Serena
persistently refused to talk to him or let him shake the composure she struggled
to display.
“What’s
wrong?” He walked up to her,
reaching out to touch her arm.
“Please
get out.” She dodged his touch. “I don’t want to be a part of your game
anymore.”
“Game?”
He lifted a brow with surprised innocence. ”What game?”
Serena stilled
her hands, suddenly hating him for lying to her and remaining utterly cool and
unaffected by what he had done. Looking at his handsome face, she decided to get
her words out for once and for all.
“I’ve come to
talk to you.” He took a seat in front of her desk, idly toying with her
stationeries. “But we have to do it fast, because I am giving a conference
tomorrow.”
She stiffened at
the mention of a conference. Then nodded.
“Right. If you wish to talk,
then we will talk.”
Seated calmly in
her chair, Serena looked toward her phone. “I assume you already realized that I
knew Beryl Merlin all along. In
fact, she had just called two minutes before you entered.”
He inclined his
head curtly.
“I guess there is
nothing more between us anyway, but I want you to know how I felt. And I want you to answer a couple of
questions truthfully, maybe just this once.”
“Did you,” she
breath, “at any point in your life, truly love me?”
He
nodded.
“And Beryl
Merlin?”
He agreed
again.
“Then what is
this?” She looked at him with scornful distain. “Is this some sick joke of
your?”
He didn’t utter a
word and Serena took his silence as a yes.
“I
loved you too.” Smiling bitterly, she said, “Now you can laugh at me for my
blind obsession with you. Go ahead
and gloat.”
He
didn’t laugh.
“I had
knew all along that in your eyes, I am always the naïve and gauche girl who
never grows up. That was how you
felt.”
“That’s-”
“Like some
besotted fool, I waited for you, trying my best to win your attention.” She cut
him off. “But then, what did you do to me?”
“A broken heart
and public humiliation. Those are what you’ve given me.”
“Serena-”
“Don’t start, let
me finish first!” She looked shattered.
“I can keep on loving you forever and waiting for you to turn around
again. But the difficult part is
not simply waiting. It is wondering
whether if you will finally turn around and take notice of me, thinking, whether
if you’ve finally decided that I am not worth your attention at all. That will break my
heart.”
“Don’t-”
“I am not going
to deny to you or myself or anyone else that I love you and still do. But I want the same feelings to be
returned too!” Her words came out
from trembling lips like choked whispers.
Determined to salvage her remaining pride, Serena refused to shed tears
in front of him. She tried to force
up a weak smile, then she turned, picked up her briefcase, preparing to leave
the man she loved so dearly.
An arm pulled her
back. “Can I drive you
home?”
She opened her
mouth to refuse the offer because she really didn’t want to have anything to do
with him right now. But the gentleness in his blue eyes softened her
resolve.
Serena Lamperd
finally nodded yes.
The drive back to
her apartment was both lengthy and silent.
As the
car glided out from the underground parking lot, Darien suddenly took her hand
in his. He brought her slender
fingers to his lips and kissed them gently.
Serena turned to
him in surprise. But he didn’t look
at her.
Darien moved her
hand to where his heart is, held it there and continued to drive. “Believe me,”
He murmured, “just believe in me.”
Till they pulled
up the street where Serena lived, he finally dropped her hand.
To be
continued…
Neo-Queen Serenity's Crystal Tokyo was originally established on August 18th, 1998.
It is owned and operated by Neo-Queen Serenity
