Chapter 6 Gabriel's Beautiful Lie
"What did you just say?" Jessica couldn't believe what she was hearing; she trembled, uncontrollable shivers coursing through her. A chill crept from the soles of her feet, cold and relentless, shaking her to her core.
Remembering back, Xavier had once asked her, "Jess, if Gabriel wanted to be with you, to marry you, would you accept?"
"Was it his own choice, Xavier?" she had asked him then, already knowing that his heart belonged to Diana. That's why she questioned Xavier as she did.
She had made a pact with herself that if Gabriel was being forced by Xavier, she would never agree to it. She didn't want to trap him in a marriage.
She didn't want to own him that way.
"Don't be silly,” Xavier had dismissed her fears. "With Gabriel's stubbornness, if he wasn't willing, do you think anyone could force him?"
Later, she also confronted Gabriel.
She had asked him, "Did you choose to marry me of your own free will? I know Xavier is incredibly fond of me, but I don't want you to marry me just because he said so. I don't want to put you in such a position."
And what did Gabriel say to her?
He had responded, "It was my choice. Diana and I have broken up. Let's make a deal; a three-year term. I'll try to fall in love with you, and if after three years I still haven't, we can get a divorce amicably. Do you agree?"
"Absolutely!" Her laughter was radiant that day.
Gabriel had asked her, "Why did you agree to marry me? Don't you have someone you love? Are you willing to be tied down by marriage without chasing your own romantic dreams?"
She admitted she'd been in love for eight years. Then she shook her head and said, "I'm not chasing it anymore."
Because now she was his wife, her love had seamlessly transitioned into marriage, marking a significant leap in her life.
But now, Diana was telling her it was all a sham.
If what she said was true... Then it meant that from the very beginning, everyone had been deceiving her.
‘A three-year term?’ As Jessica counted on her fingers, she suddenly wanted to laugh. Love was just a facade, a stark lie.
She had once been moved to tears, believing Gabriel had truly forgotten Diana and wanted to start afresh with her.
Yet, the fact of the matter, she was the naive one, completely fooled and led in circles.
"Jessica, you're endearingly naive. To think that the one he truly loves is me. How could he possibly marry you willingly? Do you know why he proposed a three-year term? It's so that after three years, you'd have no grounds or resentment to divorce him, setting him free to return and marry me.
"He knew that only if you suggested it to Xavier, Xavier would agree. If he approached Xavier, there would have been no chance. To be with me, he indeed exerted a lot of effort, even to the point of... setting this beautiful trap," Diana taunted.
Diana's words plunged Jessica into a cold abyss. A chill enveloped her tightly; she felt so cold, so very cold.
If all of this was false... Then all those nights, was he just acting? And those evenings... When he held her passionately and tenderly. was that all pretense, too?
Was not a single thing real?
Jessica's heart soured with bitterness. She suddenly felt like a complete fool, played by Gabriel's intricate schemes.
"I won't believe it, unless you tell me how Xavier coerced him." Jessica clenched her fists. She knew Gabriel too well after all this time.
If it weren't for some crucial leverage, considering his character, Xavier could never make him bow down, not even with a knife to his throat.
Diana's smile held a trace of mockery. "Jessica, you don't give up until it's over, huh? Since you want to know so badly, I'll tell you. Xavier threatened him.
"Because if he didn't marry you, Xavier would send me abroad, ensuring that he and I would never see each other again for the rest of our lives. He couldn’t stand beside me, but to meet me again, he compromised."
Jessica bit her lip, the discomfort overwhelming her to speechlessness.
But Diana was relentless in her attack. "And as for my legs, do you remember how on your wedding day, Gabriel received a call and nearly bolted from the ceremony?"
"Uh-huh," Jessica replied. It was her wedding day; of course, she remembered it vividly.
"I was en route to your wedding when I got into a car wreck. I nearly died, and after fighting for my life for a day, I was barely saved, but my legs were permanently damaged," Diana explained.
No wonder he had rushed off immediately after the ceremony ended. She had even asked him later if there was some emergency at the company.
He told her a friend was in an accident and he wanted to be there, but Xavier advised against it, so Gabriel had asked her to cover for him.
She remembered Xavier calling to make sure that he didn’t go against his wishes, "Hey Jessica, Gabriel sticking close to you and is at home, right?"
"Yeah, Xavier, he's right by my side." She had naively covered for him, resulting in him not coming home on their wedding night.
It turned out he spent their first night as a married couple with another woman. In the days that followed, he was always out early and back late, looking utterly exhausted. But he never mentioned that his "friend" was Diana.
If she had known, would things be different?
Jessica managed a bitter smile. Even if she had known, she would've covered for him anyway. How could she not, when she loved him so much and couldn't bear to have him scolded by Xavier?
"So, what's your point in telling me all of this?" she asked.
Jessica faced her, suddenly prickling like a defensive hedgehog, her soft body encased by spikes. "Are you saying your injury is my fault? That I'm to blame for your lame legs?"
"Jessica, you know deep down, don't you?" Diana’s voice rose with emotion.
"If it weren't for you, Xavier wouldn't have pressured Gabriel. He wouldn't have married you reluctantly, and I wouldn't have had that crash on my way to your wedding. My legs wouldn’t be useless.
"Had it not been for you, I would've been the one married to Gabriel by now, maybe with a brood of children at our feet," Diana shamelessly blamed Jessica.
Jessica fought to keep her composure.
After a moment, she looked up, her response measured and cool. "It's not because of me. You're just looking for a convenient excuse for your handicap, a scapegoat for your situation.
"I trust Xavier. He loves me deeply, and his disapproval of you and Gabriel must have a reason. If you truly met his standards for a wife for his grandson, not a single Jessica, not a thousand, not ten thousand Jessicas could take that away from you.
"Just like you said, Xavier wouldn't have gone to all this trouble to drive a wedge between you both if there wasn't something off about you, Diana.
"Look, I may not be some heiress, but I'm not anybody's punching bag either, so don't you even think about pinning every crime on me. Nobody invited you to this wedding, and nobody told you to drink and drive."
Jessica delivered each accusation with a stern voice, each statement dovetailing into the next, leaving no room for counterarguments.
Diana looked at Jessica in disbelief.
After two years apart, she couldn't have imagined how this once timid girl, always blushing and speaking in hushed tones, had become so bold and assertive.
"Do you think I'd miss the wedding of the person I love most?"
"The person you love most?" Jessica scoffed. "Diana, you might think your secrets are well kept, but they're not from me. Don't push me to air all your dirty laundry from back in the day."
"That's slander! I'm innocent; how can you accuse me like this?" Diana exclaimed. In a moment of agitation, Diana stumbled and fell from her wheelchair.
That's when Gabriel returned.
He put down his thermos and gently lifted Diana. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he asked coolly, "Can someone tell me what exactly happened here?"
