However, knowing full well that he did not have the authority over his own love life, he decided to ignore all of Rosalie’s attempts to woo him at first.
Unfortunately, Rosalie had an iron resolve, and her efforts merely intensified.
Two months later, she finally decided that she had had enough, and she confronted him directly. “Stephen Musgrave! Just tell me if you’re interested in me or not!”
His truthful answer would have been ‘yes’, since all he could think about all day was how determined she was and how much he admired her for it.
Even so, he had no choice but to reject her, since he knew that there was no way his parents would approve of their marriage.
Devastated by his rejection, she spent the next few days cooped up in her own room before returning home.
It was only after her departure that Stephen finally realized just how deeply in love he had been with Rosalie.
He decided that he no longer wanted to live under such restrictions anymore, and he set out to look for Rosalie.
When they finally met, their emotions got the better of them, and Rosalie ended up getting pregnant.
When Stephen heard of her pregnancy, he decided to marry her.
However, Rosalie could tell that something was bothering him, but he refused to tell her the truth no matter how many times she tried to ask him about it.
The last thing he wanted was for Rosalie to find out that his parents had forbidden him from marrying her.
In the meantime, he started to make plans to elope with Rosalie should his parents try to intervene. He figured that starting a small clinic of his own would be more than enough to support his family once the child was born.
However, Rosalie suddenly suggested that they break up one day, much to his dismay.
“Are you serious, Stephen Musgrave? Can’t you tell that I was just messing around with you? The kid’s gone, and I’m marrying the man I love. Stay away from me from now on,” she told him.
Stephen was shocked, for he had not seen that coming.
He was sure that he had convinced her to stay.
In order to find out if she had been lying, he followed her around until he ran into the man she had been talking about.
The man loved her and treated her like a princess.
Rosalie had pointed her finger at him and yelled, “I’ll only love the ones who’ll love me back! You don’t have the right to force me to be responsible for your life! You’re so shameless, Stephen Musgrave!”
He took in the disappointment in her eyes as she spoke, and it reminded him of how he had naively believed her when she told him that she was different from all the other girls out there.
As he gawked at her, the man beside her stood up and put on his coat before dropping yet another bombshell on him. “Did you actually think that the child was yours? How stupid! The child was mine, not yours!”
Stephen did not know what to say in return.
Dejected, he returned to the estate after witnessing how happy Rosalie seemed in the man’s embrace.
Soon, news of her marriage got to him, and it smothered the very last spark of hope he had.
Just a few months later, his parents forced him into an arranged marriage with his current wife.
A few more years passed before his mentor Wesley informed him that Rosalie had given birth to his daughter, which finally revealed the truth to him.
His parents had tried to break them up, but he had adamantly refused. As a last resort, they sought out Rosalie and told her to leave him.
The truth about his family background came as a massive shock to Rosalie, as she had thought that he was just the son of one of those rich businessmen. She began to feel inferior to him.
She figured that culling the relationship as soon as possible would be the best option for both of them, and therefore she decided to put up an act before him when he went to find her that fateful day.
…
When he was done with the story, Stephen looked at Nicole apologetically. “It’s all my fault! If I hadn’t believed her, we would have lived happily ever after…”
Nicole merely stared at her mother’s painting in silence.
“I’m sure my mother didn’t make the decision on a whim,” she said after a long moment of silence. “She felt inferior to you, and she didn’t want you to get into trouble because of her.”
