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Eveline felt a slight pain in her heart. “How so?”

“We do not have to pretend that ours is not only a marriage of convenience.”

She gasped. His words made her dizzy, and she had to put her hand on the table to steady herself.

“Marriage of convenience?” she repeated. “But… but… all these times. We…”

“We are only friends. There is no reason to pretend that we are something more,” he continued, rather cruelly.

Tears welled up in Eveline’s eyes. “But…”

“Eveline,” he said, “you cannot deny the fact that there are no feelings involved. We are only friends staying under the same roof. We do not have to change things.”

Eveline stared at her husband, trying to see if there was even a hint in his eyes that could give her an explanation as to why he was suddenly saying this.

His expression, however, was shuttered. She had never seen something like it before.

“How could you ever say there are no feelings involved?” Eveline choked out, her heart breaking. “Why are you saying these things?”

William shrugged. “Because they are true. You cannot possibly say that feelings are involved.”

“But my feelings are true!” Eveline shouted. “I love you, William.”

The tears she had been holding back now brimmed in her eyes, threatening to fall in torrents.

She quickly looked away and wiped her eyes, determined not to let him see her cry. When she looked back at him, he still had the same shuttered look on his face, as though he was not the one ripping her heart in two.

Her heartbreak gave way to anger.

“William, do you truly want to tell me that you do not have any feelings for me? No matter how little?” she asked, breathing heavily as she tried to keep her anger at bay.

William was silent, and for a moment, Eveline could swear that she saw a flicker of sorrow in his eyes. However, when she blinked, it was gone. His face was devoid of any form of emotion.

She had hoped that he would at least be truthful in his answer. Her fragile heart could not take another blow.

“I truly do not have any feelings for you. I never promised you anything, after all. We were only friends,” he said.

The dull pain in Eveline’s heart grew more intense, spreading across her entire body. She simply could not believe her ears. She wondered briefly if she had been dreaming, and yet she knew she was not.

This was worse than a nightmare.

“If you did not feel anything for me, why did we share a bed then? Why did you sleep with me?” she asked.

“Even if we have shared a bed, that does not change the reality of things.”

Eveline could not take it anymore. She could not take any more of his hurtful words.

She blocked her ears with her palms. “I do not wish to hear any more!” she yelled.

William seemed taken aback, but he finally stopped talking.

How could he ever say that the nights they shared together meant nothing? Did she indeed mean nothing to him?

Eveline looked carefully at him, trying to glimpse even a sign that could reassure her that he did not mean the words he had just said.

And yet the only thing that stared back at her was a pair of hollow eyes.

“William, do you truly expect me to still live in the same house with you, knowing that you never loved me after every moment we shared?” she asked in disbelief.