Hush, My Sweet Darling

Chapter 49: His Past

Violet stared at him with nervous curiosity in her eyes. Those eyes were so bright and clear, they reminded him of black diamonds.

Kai knew which blouse she was talking about, and he suddenly felt the urge to smoke. He instinctively reached into his pocket for a cigarette but realized he didn't have any. Not wanting to smoke around Violet, he'd deliberately left his pack of cigarettes in his car.

He never intended to hide his past with Rachel from Violet. He just hadn't expected to reveal it this soon.

Truthfully, he had forgotten about that blouse. He'd sent all of Rachel's belongings to her father when he'd moved into his current place from the apartment they'd used to live in. He only kept that one clothing piece because it was something she'd worn to her final police academy interview, after which she'd been accepted. She'd told him it was one of the happiest days of her life.

Just like people, memories aged and faded with the passage of time. In the same way that his memories of Rachel had slowly grown faint over time, so had his recollection of that blouse.

He leaned back in his chair, searching her eyes for any hints of her thoughts—any sign of how he should proceed.

This woman.

Out of the left field, she'd just slid right into his heart. In such a short time, she'd managed to occupy it, as if she'd always owned it. One minute he thought he was standing steady on the ground, having full control of his emotions. The next, all he could feel was this tightness in his chest—one that wasn't from pain, but from the fullness that was almost overflowing. 

She was the one responsible for it, and she did it so easily, without even trying.

It didn't make any sense, but he'd stopped trying to understand. Because what was the point when he knew he'd never stood a chance? 

There was only one way to proceed.

It was to bare his heart and show her around its each and every corner, including the deep, the dark, and the cold—and hope to everything that he knew was good and holy that it wouldn't terrify her.

***

Violet waited for him to respond with bated breath. She had no idea why her stomach knotted the way it did, but his silence made her dread his answer. 

Finally, he opened his mouth. "Was that why you thought I regularly bring women to my place? That one of them had left the blouse behind after spending a night with me?"

Holding his gaze, Violet nodded hesitantly.

"It's my ex-fiancée's."

"Oh," Violet murmured. Her brows furrowed, and her stomach clenched even more. She didn't know what kind of answer she was expecting, but that certainly wasn't it. 

That answer meant there had been someone he was planning to marry. That answer meant he'd loved this person enough that he'd almost made her his wife.

The relationship might have not worked out at one point, but the fact remained, he was still keeping that person's belonging at his place. Inside his closet. So what did that mean? Was he still hung up on his ex-fiancée?

If that was indeed true, why the heck was he even here, wooing her?

Violet's chest was starting to feel stuffy with an overwhelming sense of insecurity.

"Why do you still have her blouse?" she burst, along with the jealousy that rose inside her like a broken dam. This was the first time she'd ever been infatuated by a man. The thought of him still having someone else in his heart pricked hers in a way she'd never imagined. Tears brimmed in her eyes. "Does that mean you still love her?"