Way Back Into Love (Essie)

When the other two men saw this, they were so scared that they nearly peed their pants.

"Let him go. He already stopped," Essie said, consoling the thin, tall man as she glanced towards him.

The tall man looked at Essie with gratitude.

"Fuck off," Zac growled before he let him go. The man rushed out and disappeared in a flash.

Zac turned to face towards Valery and with a face contorted with venomous rage, he growled, "Look straight into my eyes and don't you dare blink! If you do anything harm my woman again, I swear to you, by the time Baron comes to collect your dead remains, they would need DNA testing to figure out that the body belongs to you!"

Valery was clearly frightened and angry, but resorted to stamping her feet on the floor with her hands on her belly.

Essie was silent, but her deep black eyes glared at Valery coldly. Despite not uttering a single word, her eyes manifested a certain kind of void that was filled with gloom and emptiness. They spent two days in the hospital, making sure that there were no other issues with Essie's body. Zac finally took her back to his villa by the bay to avoid any trouble from Finney.

During that whole period, Zac was dedicated to staying closely by her side. However, Essie did not say a single word throughout.

In the morning, he ordered his servants to prepare bird's nest congee to bring to her room.

He stayed by Essie's bed to make sure he could take care of everything for her. When she tried to get up, he wanted to help, but when he reached his hand out, Essie quickly pushed his hands away. "I wouldn't dare bother you, Mr. Zac!" she said, finally opening her mouth after two days of ominous silence. However, this time, her voice was alienated and cold.

There were four families of great power in Dragon City, these consisted of the families of Zac, Jim, Valery and Leila.

Amongst them, Zac's family was the richest in the East, and naturally this came with also having the most power amongst the four families.

Essie had spent months with this man thinking he was simply a poor hobo, and never expected that he was actually a rich, young master. The most shocking part, was that he was the fiancé of her half-sister, Valery.

In her youth, before she turned seven years old, she was born into a noble, upper class family. Her original family had a good relationship with Zac's. They might have even met when they were young.

But this didn't seem to leave any kind of impression on Essie. When she was seven years old, she suffered a catastrophe caused by Valery and her little brother. The experience left her completely traumatized She suffered lygophobia and even lost some of her memories.

Zac placed the bowl of congee on the bedside table and said, "Essie..." He had been waiting for days to speak to her, but stopped as soon as he noticed the look on her face. He released a heavy sigh, completely lost about what to say.

"You spent all this time lying to me, pretending you were poor. What was the point? Were you worried that I would crave you or your money?" she sneered at him, with a heart full of sadness and suppressed rage.

She was still in shock from Antony's lie, when he faked his wealth throughout. Despite Zac lying about the opposite thing, it didn't change the nature of a lie.

Essie always thought that Zac was a simple person, and it was his warmth that made her trust him.

The last thing she expected was that Zac was simply scheming the whole time. The truth was, he was just a cold, empty man who was guarded all the time.

Essie felt like he could have won an Oscar for how well he acted. However, she felt the most foolish for believing his words all throughout.

A wry smile appeared on Zac's face. "If you were greedy, and wanted me, then you are giving me exactly what I want."

"Sorry to let you down, but I don't care about your money or you," she said with irritation. Her words were sharp, cruel and direct.

A glum expression was cast on Zac's face and he eventually said, "I know." His voice became hoarse when he said this and his face conveyed repressed frustration and confused despair. He was a man of power, but he was not ruthless. Only Essie could see that kind of reaction from such a cold hearted man.

She chose to ignore it because she found it hard to believe a man who spent months lying to her. From now on, she wouldn't believe his words and expressions so easily.

She sat up and leaned against the head of the bed. Picked up the bowl of porridge and began to sip it slowly. "Tell me what happened between you and Valery." She said this in such a passive tone, as if she was just here to talk about the weather. In reality though, if it had nothing to do with Valery, then she wouldn't have such an interest in his private affairs.

"What would you like to know?" he said as he straightened his back and leaned against the back of his chair.

"Is the child yours?" she asked in a stern tone.

Somehow, he already expected that she would've wanted to ask about this.

"That's something I can't answer right now. When the baby is born, it will all unfold naturally," he spoke in a clear, respectable manner. It wasn't because he didn't trust Essie, but he just couldn't take any risks with this one. The child was important to him, and he had to make sure that it would be born into the world safely.

Essie, on the other hand, could not interpret what he meant by this.

'Huh? Did that mean a yes or a no?

It's not like a difficult question to answer, why do I have to wait until the baby is born?

Is this some kind of trick? What is the mystery behind this?

Could it be...'

"Is it because you don't know whether the child is yours or not? Are you waiting for its birth so you could take a paternity test?" This was the most reasonable explanation she could think of in that moment. Whenever she was in front of this mysterious and unpredictable man, it were as if Essie's brain cells weren't capable of working functionally. It would be useless to exhaust her energy trying to figure this out. Zac choked, covered his mouth and coughed as if trying to hide his laughter.

He thought about how her big brain had such erratic imaginations. However, his reasons were much more complex than that.

"You can ask anything else. I can answer all your questions, except about the child," he said, immediately changing the topic.

She was well aware that he was capable of hiding anything that he didn't want her to know, just like how he had concealed his true identity all this time.

The problem was that he didn't trust her enough.

The idea that he didn't trust her made her feel a bit heavy in her heart.

She finished her porridge and with her last sip, she drank some water silently.

After a lingering silence, she asked, "Do you like Valery?"

"Can't you tell?" he asked in response. He couldn't understand why she would ask such things as it was obvious how much he despised her.

She shrugged her shoulders. It was clear what he had meant, and she was satisfied with his answer, but she couldn't help but ask more.

"If you didn't like her, then why did you sleep with her?"

'Is it true that men only think with the lower half of their bodies? It seemed that they weren't capable of using their brain to solve such problems,' Essie pondered in the middle of their conversation.

Zac coughed several times to put some ease towards the uncomfortable atmosphere. He really wanted to let this dense woman know that she was the only woman he had been in bed with. He had dedicated and given himself only to her that night. However, it wasn't the time to tell her, as it would only indirectly reveal the child's secrets.