Betrayed Spotlight
Chapter 50: He lost

Chapter 50: He lost

The silence in the hospital room was heavy and uncomfortable. Silas stood frozen, staring at Mason and Sarah like he was seeing them for the first time.

"Your... your husband?" Silas’s voice came out as barely a whisper.

Mason stood tall and confident, his arm moving protectively around Sarah’s shoulders. "Yes. My wife."

Silas felt like the ground had disappeared from under his feet. Sarah was married. To Mason Liu. The man whose face was on magazine covers and business news every single day.

"I... I need to go," Silas said suddenly, his voice shaking. He couldn’t look at Sarah anymore. He couldn’t breathe in this room.

"Silas, wait—" Sarah started, but he was already moving toward the door.

"I’m glad you’re okay," Silas said without turning around. "I’m sorry about the accident."

And then he was gone, leaving Sarah and Mason alone in the hospital room.

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Silas drove his car through the empty streets of Wuhan, his hands gripping the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles hurt. The city lights blurred past him as he tried to process what had just happened.

Sarah was married. To Mason Liu.

The girl he had been in love with since they were children. The girl he had thought about every single day for all these years. The girl he had been saving himself for.

She belonged to someone else. Someone who could give her everything Silas never could.

He pulled into the parking garage of his apartment building and sat in his car for a long time, staring at nothing. His phone was in his hand before he even realized he had picked it up.

"Hello?" came a familiar voice.

"Ben," Silas said, his voice rough. "Are you free? I need a drink."

"Of course, man. Come over. I’ll get the good stuff out."

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Benjamin Wu lived in a nice apartment downtown, not far from where Silas lived. He was Silas’s closest friend, a lawyer who had known him since college. When Silas knocked on his door twenty minutes later, Ben took one look at his face and immediately knew something was very wrong.

"What happened?" Ben asked, leading Silas into his living room. "You look like someone died."

"I wish they had," Silas said, dropping onto Ben’s couch. "It would be easier."

Ben went to his kitchen and came back with a bottle of whiskey and two glasses. He poured them both a drink and handed one to Silas.

"Talk to me," Ben said, sitting down across from him.

Silas took a large sip of his drink, feeling the alcohol burn down his throat. "Today was the worst day of my life."

"Why? What happened?"

Silas stared into his glass, watching the amber liquid swirl around. "Remember Sarah? The girl I told you about? My childhood friend?"

"The one you’ve been in love with forever? Yeah, I remember. Did you find her?"

"I found her," Silas said bitterly. "And she’s married."

Ben’s face fell. "Oh man, I’m sorry. But... maybe it’s not serious? Maybe you could—"

"She’s married to Mason Liu," Silas interrupted.

Ben’s mouth fell open. "Mason Liu? THE Mason Liu? The one of Wuhan?"

"That’s the one."

"Holy shit," Ben breathed. "How did that happen? I thought you said she was a singer or something. How did she meet someone like that?"

"She is," Silas said, finishing his drink in one gulp. "I don’t know anymore. I saw her today at a restaurant, and she looked hurt. I tried to take her home. But then her husband showed up at the hospital and..."

"Hospital? What hospital?"

"We were in a car accident," Silas explained. "It was my fault. I was so shocked when she said she got married that I wasn’t paying attention to the road. She got hurt because of me."

Ben refilled Silas’s glass. "Is she okay?"

"She’s fine. Just a bump on the head. But when Mason Liu showed up..." Silas shook his head. "You should have seen the way he looked at her. Like she was the most precious thing in the world. And the way she looked at him... they’re really married, Ben. Really and truly married."

"I’m sorry, man. I know how much she meant to you."

Silas laughed, but there was no humor in it. "Meant to me? She still means everything to me. Do you know what I’ve done for all these years? I’ve been waiting for her. Saving myself for her."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I haven’t touched another woman. Not once. I haven’t even tried to date anyone seriously because I kept thinking that someday I would find Sarah again, and we would be together like we were supposed to be."

Ben stared at him. "Silas, you never told me it was that serious."

"How could I explain it?" Silas said, his voice getting louder. "How could I make you understand that I’ve loved the same girl since I was eight years old? That I’ve never even looked at another woman the way I look at her?"

He stood up and started pacing around Ben’s living room, his drink in his hand.

"I’ve been to business dinners where beautiful women tried to get my attention. I’ve been to parties where models and actresses wanted to dance with me. I’ve had opportunities, Ben. So many opportunities. But I never took them because my heart belongs to Sarah. Only Sarah."

"But you’re successful now," Ben said gently. "You’re rich now. There are plenty of other women out there who would—"

"No," Silas said firmly, stopping his pacing to look at Ben. "You don’t understand. I don’t want other women. I want Sarah. I’ve only ever wanted Sarah."

Ben sighed. "But she’s married now, Silas. To one of the most powerful men in the country. You have to accept that and move on."

"Move on?" Silas laughed bitterly. "Move on to what? I’ve spent years of my life waiting for her. Years of not getting close to anyone else, not letting anyone into my heart, not even trying to build something with someone else because I was saving myself for her."

He took another drink and sat back down on the couch.

"Do you know what the worst part is?" Silas continued. "I was happy when I saw a few days back that she broke up with her fiance Daniel. I actually felt hope for the first time in years. I thought maybe, just maybe, I had a chance. But she wasn’t single. She was married. To Mason Liu."

"How long have they been married?"

"I don’t know. But it doesn’t matter. She’s his wife, Ben. She wears his ring and lives in his house and sleeps in his bed. She’s completely out of my reach. I’m just a friend now."

Ben watched his friend with concern. He had never seen Silas like this before - so broken, so defeated.

"Maybe this is a sign," Ben said carefully. "Maybe it’s time to let her go and open your heart to someone else."

"There is no someone else," Silas said, his voice firm. "There never has been, and there never will be. Sarah is it for me. She’s the only woman I’ve ever loved, and she’s the only woman I ever will love."

"That’s not healthy, man. You can’t live your whole life loving someone you can’t have."

"I know it’s not healthy," Silas said, his voice getting quieter. "But I don’t know how to stop. I don’t know how to turn off these feelings. They’re part of who I am."

He poured himself another drink, bigger this time.

"I kept thinking that if I just worked hard enough, if I just became successful enough to stand against Mason, maybe I could be worthy of her. Maybe I could give her the life she deserved. But how can I compete with Mason Liu now? He’s literally the richest man in the country."

"Money isn’t everything," Ben said.

"Isn’t it?" Silas asked. "What can I offer her that he can’t give her a hundred times better? I’m just a singer. Grammy winner. He has an empire. I have nice cars. He probably has a fleet of cars worth more than my entire net worth. I have a mansion. He probably has mansions all over the world."

The more Silas talked, the more defeated he sounded. He was comparing himself to Mason Liu and finding himself lacking in every possible way.

"She seemed happy," Silas said quietly. "When he walked into that hospital room, she looked at him like... like he was her whole world. And he looked at her the same way. They really love each other."

"Maybe that’s good," Ben said. "Maybe she’s happy, and that’s what matters."

"I know she’s happy," Silas said. "And I should be happy for her. But I’m not. I’m selfish and jealous and angry. I’m angry at myself for wasting years of my life waiting for someone who was never going to be mine."

He drained his glass and immediately poured another one.

"I’m angry at fate for letting me find her again, only to show me that I’ve lost her forever. I’m angry at Mason Liu for being everything I’m not. And I’m angry at Sarah for being so perfect that I can’t stop loving her."

"Silas, you need to slow down on the drinking," Ben said, concerned.

"Why? So I can think clearly? So I can feel this pain even more sharply?" Silas laughed bitterly. "No, thank you. I want to drink until I can’t remember her face. I want to drink until I can’t remember the way she used to laugh when we were kids. I want to drink until I can’t remember the way she looked at me today, like I was just some stranger who had caused her trouble."

"She didn’t look at you like a stranger," Ben said. "I’m sure she was happy."

"She was polite," Silas corrected. "She was kind because that’s who Sarah is. She’s always been kind. But she wasn’t happy to see me. Not really. She was uncomfortable because she hadn’t told me she was married."

He took another drink and leaned back against the couch.

"I should have known," he said quietly. "I should have known that someone like Sarah wouldn’t stay single for long. She’s too beautiful, too sweet, too perfect. Of course someone would snap her up."

"You couldn’t have known," Ben said.

"I should have tried harder to find her over the years. I should have hired a private investigator or something. Instead, I just waited and hoped that somehow, someday, she would come back into my life."

"And she did come back into your life."

"As another man’s wife," Silas said painfully. "As Mason Liu’s wife."

The alcohol was starting to affect him now. His words were getting slightly slurred, and his movements were becoming loose and uncoordinated.

"I love her so much, Ben," he said, his voice breaking. "I love her so much that it hurts. It physically hurts to breathe right now."

"I know, man. I know."

He tried to pour himself another drink, but his hands were shaking too much. Ben gently took the bottle away from him.

"I think you’ve had enough," Ben said.

"I haven’t had nearly enough," Silas protested.

But even as he said it, he knew it wasn’t true. He would never forget Sarah. He would never forget the way she looked, the way she smiled, the way she made him feel like the whole world was brighter just because she was in it.

"I’m such an idiot," he said, his head falling back against the couch. "I’m such a stupid, pathetic idiot."

"You’re not an idiot," Ben said. "You’re just a man who loved someone with your whole heart."

"And look where it got me," Silas said. "Alone and drunk and miserable."

He closed his eyes, and the room started spinning around him. The alcohol and the emotional exhaustion were finally catching up to him.

"I should go home," he said, trying to stand up.

"No way," Ben said, pushing him back down. "You’re staying here tonight. You’re in no condition to drive."

"I’m fine," Silas protested weakly, but he didn’t have the strength to fight Ben.

Within minutes, he was unconscious on Ben’s couch, the empty whiskey glass still in his hand.

Ben looked down at his friend with sympathy and sadness. He had never seen Silas so broken, so completely devastated. He gently removed the glass from Silas’s hand and covered him with a blanket.

"I’m sorry, man," Ben whispered. "I’m really sorry."