chapter 36: Gotta Go My Own Way

Autumn
The strong wind hit my wounded body, making a shiver run down through my spine. This was my death.
Ian, thank you for being a part of my life.
I thought my body had hit the ground, but I landed on soft pillows.
"Wow! Looks like Ian really knows Lennox very well. He was sure that bastard would throw you off the cliff. Thus, he made me cover the entire ground with pillows. I had a hard time finding those," a familiar voice said as he helped me to get up. "I had to go to a pillow shop and threatened them to hand over all the pillows. Basically, we are in pillow-zone now."
I was dumbstruck when I saw the blue orbs. "Steven?"
He smiled. "Indeed. The one and only. You thought you could die while leaving Ian on his periods to us? Not happening. We cannot handle a cranky Ian. Only Aunt Ada and you have that ability."
He put me in an ambulance. John, the son of Mr. Winer, smiled at me. "Nice to see you, L.L. Sabrina couldn't come because this mission was dangerous. But don't worry. I will heal the wounds." He started looking at my cuts. "It's really very deep, but you are strong. If someone else was in your situation, that person would die after a day."
What the hell was happening? Was I in heaven? I glanced at Steven, who was sitting next to John. I was not in heaven because seeing Steven made me believe we landed in hell.
"I wanted to see Ian kill Lennox, but he made me babysit you," Steven said and groaned.
Ian was here. I was saved. They saved me. They were really here. I was not dead. This was the real Steven. I was not dreaming as well.
"I have to give her a sedative," John said to Steven, who nodded.
I grabbed Steven's hand. "Tell him not to kill Lennox," I mumbled before darkness overtook me.
I woke up only to see the familiar suite. We were still in Paris. My wounds were bandaged, and the pain lessened. I was feeling better than before. I was lying on the bed.
"At last, you woke up!" mom let out a sigh in relief. She was sitting next to me. "I better text everyone."
She took out her phone and did her work. Then she helped me to get up. "You were on the bed for five days. John had to give you sedative regularly so that you didn't get up. If you got up, the pain would hurt you more."
"Mom... where's Ian? What happened to Lennox?"
She pulled me into a hug and let her tears out. "I was scared to death. If I lost you that day, I would have shot your father right through his eyes. Besides, your live video scared the shit out of us. Why would you even think of dying?"
I smiled softly. I didn't know that I would see this day again. I hugged her back tightly. "I missed you, Mom."
"You are precious to each one of us. What were you thinking when you decided to jump off the cliff on your own?" Aubree got in, followed by Steven.
Steven retorted, "She wanted to commit suicide, leaving that grumpy asshole to us."
Aubree hugged me. "I am so sorry, Autumn. It was all my fault. I was scared when Lennox escaped and I begged Ian to not tell you. I promised him that I would find Lennox before something happened. But I was wrong."
So, this was the reason Ian didn't tell me. I knew he had a reason. I patted Aubree's back. "It's okay, Ev. I am fine. That's all that matters, right?"
"What's with the live video, huh? Tell me, you were not serious about me getting married." She narrowed her eyes.
I grinned. "I was serious. You have to get married one day. You cannot stay single forever! You deserve to get love."
Love... that reminded me of Ian. Where was Ian? I just wanted to see his handsome face again. Only then, it would give me peace.
"How are you feeling now, sweetheart?" Dad entered the room.
"Better."
"Then, I guess we can go home."
"What happened to Lennox? Is he alive? I want to kill him myself and��" I was interrupted with the voice I longed to hear.
"I kept him alive so that you can kill him. Though he is not in a stable condition, I can assure you that." Ian looked at me, with a blank face. Only I knew how much I missed this guy!
"He was with Lennox for five days," Steven whispered.
Ian approached me. I was disappointed with his facial expression. I thought he would look at me with love like he used to. But he was acting with me the way he behaved with Ilian, Isabel's boyfriend.
"Okay, I think we should give them some privacy now," mom clapped her hands, breaking the silence.
"Why w��"
"Cruz, let's go," she interrupted dad and pulled him out along with her. Aubree and Steven followed them before closing the door.
"Ian, thank you for saving me." I was about to hug him, but he took a step backward. His face held the same expressionless look. It was as if he practiced this look while I was gone. "What's wrong?"
"Once you kill Lennox, you can go to your house. I will chop his body into pieces before going back." He took a seat on the couch and took the Rubix cube from the table.
I sat next to him. "We can go together. I can wait."
He kept shuffling the Rubix cube, without our gazes meeting for once. "No need."
"But I want to wait. It's okay for me and I just want to be with yo��"
"Autumn, I clearly told you no need. Did Lennox injure your eardrums too? I guess John forgot to check it," I was dumbstruck by his rude response. This was definitely not the real Ian.
I asked, getting irritated, "What's wrong with you? Why are you acting insanely crazy? I told you that we would go together and that's it!"
"What's the point of going together if we are not going to stay together?"
I gasped. "What do you mean by that?"
His eyes were glued to the Rubix cube and he spoke, "I meant what I said. It's time to part ways. You can go back to your house with your parents."
I didn't believe what he told me. Did Lennox really damage my eardrums?
"You cannot do that. Ian, we can easily solve our problems by talking about it. If there's any, just tell me. Don't push me away from you, please." I held his hand, but he pushed it away.
"I am not up for emotional craps. Just go home and wait until I send the divorce papers. You can sign them and be free."
Why was he behaving like that? I just survived from dying and there was already the next drama waiting for me.
"We have a contract. We cannot part ways until six months are over and after that, I decide whether I want to stay in this marriage or not. It was your condition, Ian," I pointed out the only fact which might stop him from pushing me away.
He smirked. "There has been a typo mistake in the contract, which we failed to notice. Instead of stating that Ian wishes Autumn to stay in this marriage at least for six months, they wrote, With Ian's wish, Autumn can stay in this marriage for six months."
I gaped at him. "No, it is not possible. I signed the contract and I��"
"You did read it, but you were angry at that time and you couldn't read it in depth." He kept the cube back on the table. "So basically, when I say we part ways, we have to."
"What about the gangs?"
"I already talked with Cruz. We will merge the gangs, with a new name." He got up. "After lunch, I will take you to Lennox. You can kill him and go back with your parents."
I looked at him, not believing a word he said. He really didn't mean it when he said that we're parting ways, did he?