Chapter 15 Long-planned Scheme

As Eleanor walked towards them alone,the hesitant reporters rushed up and bombarded her with all sorts of tricky questions.
Eleanor's small frame was sandwiched in the crowd. She felt herself being constantly pushed,jostled and pulled. Her sick and feverish brain was not agile enough to handle these sharp gazes and questions. She had a feeling of being devoured alive.
In the chaos,there was a loud "bang!" as someone's camera hit Eleanor's forehead. The sharp edge grazed her skin,leaving a small cut that oozed fresh blood into her eyes. Everything turned red before her eyes due to the stinging pain caused by the blood flow. Eleanor had to close her eyes until she could adapt to this stimulus before opening them again.
The reporters in front of her seemed oblivious to her injury and continued pressing forward with their microphones raised high. One reporter asked an irrelevant question: "Ms. Stone,is it true that your affair broke up Mr Hastings' engagement four years ago?"
As soon as he finished speaking,there was an uproar among those present at this revelation about how Sebastian and Eleanor got together after his previous engagement ended abruptly four years ago because of another woman - who turned out to be none other than Eleanor!
Being a mistress or third party is considered taboo in society; hence everyone looked down on such people.
Eleanor wiped away the blood from her forehead with one hand while smiling brightly for the cameras with coldness lurking behind it like some kind of grimace.
Every little move she made would be magnified infinitely by these journalists; if she didn't speak then it meant she agreed; if she smiled then it meant mockery or disrespect for others - typical shamelessness!
Just when they were about to continue questioning her further,Eleanor suddenly stood on a space nearby and knelt on one knee. She still kept her back straight,as if nothing could break her.
The reporters were stunned for a moment before they started to boil with excitement - the heiress of the Stone family had knelt down in front of the camera!
Various headlines appeared on various platforms online:
- Eleanor kneels down to try and win back her husband and apologize to his ex-fiancée.
- Eleanor kneels down in repentance for her "murderer" father.
- The Stone family's young lady is a mistress? Kneeling on the street begging for forgiveness from Sebastian's ex-fiancée.
All cameras focused on her kneeling posture,capturing this moment forever.
"Ms. Stone,now that the Stone family is facing bankruptcy,will Mr. Hastings divorce you?" asked another sharp question from one reporter.
Flashlights focused on Eleanor's face trying to capture every subtle expression but she remained expressionless throughout despite being surrounded by noise and chaos. A sense of loneliness engulfed her from all sides like it was going to swallow her whole.
The dark clouds above grew heavier and seemed about to collapse at any time. After several muffled thunders,strong winds blew up suddenly followed by large raindrops hitting Eleanor's nose causing even her eyelashes to tremble slightly.
As soon as he saw that it was raining heavily outside,the cameraman immediately retracted his equipment while reporters left one after another looking for shelter under some cover nearby except for Eleanor who remained kneeling there alone in pouring rain drenching through clothes making them stick tightly against skin which felt cold enough penetrating into bones; even soul shivered along with body!
Sebastian stood not far behind watching as she knelt like a puppet in the rain while Michael arrived with bodyguards when most people had already dispersed. The guards formed a circle around Eleanor preventing curious bystanders from getting too close.
Michael didn't know what happened earlier so he was surprised and asked Sebastian,"Why is Ms. Stone kneeling? How long has she been doing this?"
"Not long,just half an hour."
Michael glanced over and saw that it was Sebastian who made Eleanor kneel,but he didn't know why she had to kneel. Sebastian said half an hour of kneeling meant exactly thirty minutes,not a second less. Michael looked at the woman in the middle of the road and suddenly felt sorry for her.
The family of the deceased somehow found out that Eleanor was kneeling here. A group of people ran over despite the heavy rain and threw garbage they had prepared for a long time towards her. A green soda can hit Eleanor's forehead wound directly,and yellow liquid flowed down her blood-stained face.
After a few seconds of silence,a woman's voice came sharply from the crowd: "Eleanor,your father deserves to die! You are no good either! Your whole family is like locusts! Scum!"
"The Stone family has no good people. John died to rid society of harm and harmed so many families."
"Throw it! No one cares anyway. Throw it on her face so she won't have any shame!"
...
For a moment,chaos erupted around them as everyone threw whatever they were holding in Eleanor's direction. The bodyguards standing in front of Eleanor were also hit by some objects but dared not move with their brows furrowed tightly.
At this moment,Eleanor was like a mouse crossing the street being shouted at by everyone; her dignity was slowly crumbling away bit by bit.
Amidst all this confusion,Eleanor's thin body swayed back and forth; everything hurt...her head hurt,her stomach hurt,her knees hurt...there wasn't any part of her body that wasn't uncomfortable.
Eleanor still had empty eyes while tightly pursing her lips with bluish-green color; she sniffled once before taking in cold air into her chest causing even more pain throughout every inch of her body.
Sebastian frowned deeply as his profound eyes turned pitch black like two drops of ink. No one could understand what he was thinking. Michael carefully asked,"Mr. Hastings,do you need help?"
The rain was pouring too heavily; the ground that had just been flat was now full of puddles. Raindrops fell and splashed into ripples,making Michael feel chilly as he looked at Eleanor kneeling on the ground.
Sebastian pursed his thin lips without saying a word while scanning his gaze over to Eleanor who seemed to be crying. He usually didn't care about her tears but today for some reason,his mood was as scattered as the rain in the sky.
He glanced at his wristwatch; half an hour had passed exactly - not more or less than expected. He reached out his hand and said: "Give me your umbrella."
Michael hesitated for a moment before quickly opening up the umbrella in his hand and handing it over to Sebastian.
Sebastian held up the umbrella and walked slowly toward Eleanor in the rain with stone-like droplets hitting it causing frequent glances from passersby due to his inherent temperament.
He stood in front of Eleanor holding up an umbrella to shelter her from the rain. It wasn't until then that she reacted slightly by looking up intently at Sebastian as if seeing another person through him.
The two stared at each other like this - one standing while one kneeling; she felt lowly like mud while Sebastian towered above her high and mighty.
Rainwater flowed into her eyes mixing with tears making them hot; trembling voice hoarse,she asked: "Is time up?"
"Yes,you can get up now," replied Sebastian calmly.
Eleanor didn't move because it wasn't that she didn't want to stand but rather couldn't stand anymore since her body was already weak enough after being locked away for four days followed by half an hour of kneeling under heavy rainfall which even made herself wonder how she managed to hold on for so long.
The cold invaded her knees like needles piercing through the bone crevices causing her to cough lightly,almost spitting out blood.
"Sebastian,how many years have we known each other?" Eleanor asked inexplicably. Sebastian suspected that she had frozen her brain but still answered: "Six years."
Eleanor shook her head and said mysteriously,"Not six years; it's been sixteen years."
That spring day with a warm breeze blowing past them,she didn't think of anything else except remembering him and loving him wholeheartedly. She had thought about it for a full sixteen years.
No matter if it was meeting six years ago or forcing him to marry four years ago - everything was planned by herself over ten long years. However,what she hadn't expected was that Sebastian would be so ruthless towards her.