The Way Back | ✓

1.5

note: hello lovelies! Firstly, sorry for not being able to update on Tuesday as promised in the earlier chapter. Exams are killing me and I didn't have enough time to proof read any chapters. Today I managed to squeeze in some time (though the proofing was rushed) and since this chapter is short there'll be another update today! 

For all those in the middle of finals (like my suffering soul) GOOD LUCK! We can do this!! 

And happy reading!

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Andrew Cai did not go back to his parents house after his failed attempt at a date. Clearly, after having not done this for several years, he was bad at it. He was out of practice and out of shape.

He felt like he was drowning. He needed someone to talk to, someone to understand the dilemma he was in but if he confided in his friends they would only tell him how lucky he was to finally get out of something that was making him miserable. What they wouldn't understand was that even though he wasn't particularly happy with Talia, he was absolutely miserable now that a divorce had been filed. Signing the papers was the only way he could put his misery in check, the only way he was going to move forward. He was stuck and while he had the ability to carry on, he refused. Because he had a daughter he loved, he had a daughter whom he wanted to raise.

Andrew, using his heart instead of his brain, turned the wheel, and headed back to someone who always, despite their differences, would listen to him and help him come up with a solution.

He went home, something hopeful stirring up in his chest. Perhaps they could work something out, perhaps this divorce was not going to ruin his life. If he had her promise he would not be hesitating to sign the papers. He needed her word, he needed his daughter and he was not certain that he could trust the words in the divorce papers. 

He expected his wife and his daughter to be enjoying a meal, but seated in his car he got a clear view of how good of a time they were having. They sat outside on the porch, laughing, enjoying their time together and under normal circumstances this would make him smile as he approached them but this wasn't normal circumstances and looking at them only reminded him of how brilliant Talia was as a parent to Aurora. Andrew loved being a father and he never doubted his parenting capabilities until now. And despite his concerns and his worries, he would get out of the car to spend time with them, to talk to Talia so he could figure it all out but his legs refused to move, his heart thudded within his chest and it took a lot of restraint to not roll down the window and spit vile expletives towards his home, because Talia and Aurora were not alone.

He was there again. Simon fucking Allerton.

Simon Allerton was the last string that undid Talia's and Andrew's marriage. He was smart, charming and highly romantic. All things Andrew wasn't — anymore.

The anger and the regret he'd tried to bury for all these days came brimming back to the surface in a hot second, all his restraint gone down the drain. He'd gone to Dubai on a business trip, where he had spent a week closing deals and making both his bank account and his company happy. Business was booming, everything was great. All expect the building tension with his wife so he had taken an earlier flight home, bought champagne and her favourite treats from the pasiterre they loved going to on his way home before driving home with confidence inflating in his chest. He wanted to fix things, wanting to make things exciting again.

He wanted to feel alive as he did all those years ago, he wanted to love her as he did all those years ago. The Andrew Cai that drove home from the airport that day was foolish and blinded by naivety. 

He had changed. She had changed. They had both changed but not together, and that ultimately caused a rift in their relationship. A rift so wide that a bottle of champagne and sweet treats were not going to fix.

He had caught Simon Allerton bedding his wife that day. He should have been smarter and should have come home with his designated flight. That way he could have been living with his routine, he could still be living with his daughter.

It hurt to see them like that. Simon had his arm around Andrew's wife and sweet, little Aurora sat between them, hiding her giggles behind those cute hands of hers. His heart ached to watch but he could not tear his gaze away from them. His eyes seared, his heart twisted, jealousy ran through his veins. That should have been him up there, not Simon fucking Allerton.

It was only when a tear slipped down his fair cheek that he was able to pull his gaze away. Fuck it, he thought, roaring the engine to life so that it would get their attention. He knew, as he drove away, that their eyes were trained on the car and because Talia and Aurora knew very well what car he drove, they would know it was him. He imagined Aurora asking her mother where Ba was going and her mother falling short of an answer. He looked through the rearview mirror as he drove away and spotted Aurora, toeing the edge of the road and looking at his retreating car.

His heart broke in two.

His plans for the night had been to take his parents out to dinner at that fancy restaurant, Tollerz, they liked so much to thank them for their hospitality, but since he wasn't ready to confront his mother after the way he left things so disrespectfully with her that morning and because he knew she'd find a way to persuade him to stay and relax at the house, he went there alone.

Hours flitted by and an overly priced meal gave way to a drink, which ended up with him ordering the whole damn bottle. It was much better to drink away his problems than to face them head on, or so it seemed in that moment.

He drank away his feelings, trying to numb the anger and the betrayal, sadness and self-loathing. Maybe it was his fault. Though not knowing how it could be his fault given the lack of evidence, he honestly felt so in the moment and when his eyes burned yet again for the millionth time that night, he tipped his glass up and swallowed the rest of the contents with one single gulp.

He must have had a lot more to drink than he thought because someone in black trousers and a colourful top approached him, someone he didn't think he'd see ever again after he managed to mess up his chance, a chance he didn't even want till he bumped into her that very morning.

With a hand poised at her hip and an immaculate eyebrow drawn upwards, London asked, a hint of a smile on her lips, "Are you stalking me, Andrew Cai?"