The Millionaires Pursuit

Chapter 54

It was five o'clock when Erik had finished tidying up his home and sprucing up his appearance. He was currently seated against the leather of his couch, pondering how the night ahead might transpire between him and Rosaline. Despite spending endless hours trying to convince her to speak with him, it seemed now that she had reached out and wanted to see him, Erik didn't feel entirely ready himself for what might happen when they inevitably begun to talk. Having spent so long trying to make amends, it almost seemed fruitless to even bother trying to help her see the truth. Sadly, a large part of Erik believed that Rosaline only wanted to see him tonight in order to end their relationship once and for all. As much as he didn't want to admit it, he was allowing his fears of losing Rosaline to control all of his stable and reasonable thoughts. It was a difficult thing being a man in love, but he knew without a doubt that his sufferings and eternal fate would have been far worse had he never met Rosaline. Her innocence, inner beauty and pure heart had brought him a world of happiness unlike any other he had ever experienced and he would forever be grateful for having her in his life, even if she decided that she could no longer love Erik in the way he vowed to always love her. Pulling him from his thoughts, Erik heard the doorbell ring. He hadn't realised how long he had spent dwelling over his relationship, but it didn't seem to matter in that moment because in a matter of seconds, Rosaline would sweep in through his front door and hopefully tell him everything he would ever need to know. Standing from his couch, Erik walks towards the entrance foyer of his home where he takes a steady breath before unlocking the door. Stood just outside is Rosaline, whom looks breathtakingly beautiful yet appears consumed by nervousness and angst. Deciding the try and ease both their worries, Erik speaks first.

"Good evening. Please, come inside." He warmly greets her.

Rosaline silently accepts and saunters in through the door, patiently waiting for Erik to guide her further inside his house. Feeling uneasy himself, Erik decides to remain quiet as he leads them both to where he was sitting previously. Taking their seats across from one another on the textured sofa, Erik can't remember a time where he felt so incredibly apprehensive. Fortunately, Rosaline's voice drew him out of his overactive thought process.

"Thank you for agreeing to see me." She gently begins.

"I know it hasn't been easy waiting for me to decide when I would finally be ready to talk about things between us, but I can't keep delaying the inevitable. It's time we discuss everything that has hurt us." Rosaline continues with a partially strained voice.

"I couldn't more agree." Erik says, whilst mentally preparing himself for what simply might be regarded as the single most important discussion in his life.

"If it's alright with you, I think it's only fair that I start, as there are a number of events leading up to your birthday party that I'd like the chance to talk about first as they all in some way play a part in what occurred." Erik calmly proposes.

Upon mentioning her birthday party, Erik notes the visible discomfort in Rosaline's expression. He despises seeing her visibly flinch at the thought of replaying the brief kiss he shared with Bianca. Despite her pain, he knows that he will only cause her further grief if he doesn't come clean with the entire truth, which is why he decides to instantly continue speaking after he observes her muted plea to explain himself.

"Five years ago, I ended my relationship with a woman named Bianca Vettel, whom you know by the name of Meghan. At the start of our relationship, I'll admit that we enjoyed each other and our time together, but what I didn't know was that it was all a lie, a scam, a ploy to help her achieve her dreams of attaining fame, stardom and money. I suppose I was blinded by what I thought was my love for her to see that she was simply using me in order to get close to what she had become obsessed by; greed. Eventually, her true intentions were revealed to me but by that stage I had sworn off of women completely and only wanted to engage with them for casual sex because I was so consumed by fear that I would be hurt again. I didn't want to believe that someone could love me for more than just my money because I had been proven wrong and fooled for so many years by the one person who I thought loved me. Although it took a very long time to put all that behind me, the one and only person who changed my perspective about love was you." Erik confesses in a low, weary voice.