My Vampire Beloved Husband
Chapter 80: Those three words

Chapter 80: Those three words

Zylan stood still, his piercing crimson gaze locked onto Naomi. The room felt heavy with unspoken tension, the silence between them stretching longer than it should. Finally, he broke it, his voice calm yet unyielding, slicing through the air like a blade.

"That’s enough. Let’s go."

His words were simple, but they carried a weight that left Naomi momentarily stunned. Her golden eyes widened slightly, confusion flickering in their depths as she stared at him. Before she could say anything, Zylan shrugged off his jacket in one smooth, deliberate motion and draped it over her shoulders with an ease that belied the turmoil brewing beneath his stoic exterior.

"Wear this," he instructed, his tone brooking no argument.

The jacket was far too large for her, swallowing her slender frame in its warmth. She obeyed without question, slipping her arms into the sleeves. Yet the gesture, meant to comfort, only deepened her confusion. Her mind raced. Had she said something wrong? Was it her fault he seemed so distant?

The warmth of the jacket was undeniable, but it did nothing to soothe the cold knot of uncertainty tightening in her chest. Unable to keep her thoughts bottled up any longer, she hesitated before speaking, her voice soft yet tinged with frustration.

"What? You don’t want us to... do it?"

Her words hung in the air, raw and vulnerable, and Zylan froze as if the question had physically struck him. He continued fastening the buttons of the jacket, his movements slow and deliberate, as though it gave him time to gather his thoughts. His expression remained carefully blank, giving her no clues to the storm that brewed inside him.

"You don’t..." Naomi’s voice faltered as her confidence wavered, her gaze falling to the floor. When she spoke again, her voice was barely above a whisper, trembling with unspoken hurt. "You don’t tell me anything. I don’t know anything about you—not even the smallest things."

The honesty in her words cut through the quiet like a sharp blade. For a moment, neither of them spoke. Zylan could see the flicker of pain in her golden eyes, a reflection of the insecurities she tried so hard to hide. The sight stirred something deep within him, something he couldn’t quite name.

"Some things are better left unsaid," he finally replied, his voice steady but distant.

The answer only fueled Naomi’s frustration, her emotions bubbling dangerously close to the surface. "But how am I supposed to know you if you won’t let me in?" she demanded, her voice breaking under the weight of her feelings. "How do you expect me to—"

Her words caught in her throat as she struggled to keep her composure. Taking a shaky breath, she whispered, "But I do want us to do it."

Zylan’s crimson eyes darkened at her confession. His jaw clenched as he wrestled with his emotions, his body tensing like a coiled spring. "You’re drunk," he said firmly, his voice carrying an edge of finality. "You don’t know what you’re saying."

"I’m not drunk," Naomi retorted, a hint of defiance creeping into her voice. Her vulnerability mingled with frustration, creating a volatile mix of emotions that threatened to spill over.

Zylan didn’t respond immediately, his silence only serving to embolden her. "Is it because of someone else?" she pressed, her voice trembling. "Is that why you can’t... do it with me?"

She bit her lower lip hard, questioning if she sounded desperate. Pain gnawed at her chest as she realized how far she was willing to go—willing to endure—just to reach him. Yet it seemed he had built a door, an impenetrable barrier she couldn’t open. A door he refused to unlock, denying her even the smallest glimpse inside.

Her words hit him like a blow. His head snapped up, his gaze sharp and searching as he studied her face. "What are you talking about?" he asked, his tone low and dangerous. "Did someone tell you something?"

Naomi hesitated, twisting the oversized sleeves of the jacket nervously in her hands. Her gaze flickered away from his, as if she couldn’t bear to meet his intense crimson eyes. "Do I remind you of someone?" she asked, her voice barely audible. "Like how I remind your uncle Damon of someone?"

For the first time, Zylan’s composure faltered. The mention of his uncle caught him off guard, but he quickly masked his surprise. His attention returned to Naomi, whose golden eyes shimmered with unshed tears.

Her delicate hands fidgeted with the jacket, the long fabric draping over her thighs like a fragile shield against the vulnerability she couldn’t conceal. The sight of her—so small, so fragile, yet burning with quiet determination—stirred an ache deep within him.

Zylan exhaled deeply, the weight of her words bearing down on him like a storm. He longed to protect her from the truths she sought, to shield her from the pain they harbored. Yet, he knew his silence was carving wounds far deeper than any truth ever could.

Naomi fell silent, the desperation in her eyes giving way to a quiet resignation. The weight of the moment hung between them like a thick fog, suffocating and inescapable. She opened her mouth to speak, but the words caught in her throat. Instead, her emotions betrayed her.

Tears began to stream down her face, silent and unrelenting. She leaned in slightly, her voice barely a whisper as she asked the question that had been haunting her. "Did you marry me because of that person?"

Zylan froze, her words piercing through his defenses with brutal precision. The silence that followed was deafening, each passing second amplifying the tension in the room. Naomi took his lack of response as confirmation, the hurt settling deeper into her chest like a stone.

A bitter smile tugged at her lips as she turned her face away from him, the tears she had fought so hard to hold back now falling freely. She bit her lower lip so hard, but the pain did nothing to dull the ache in her heart.

’What had I expected?’ she thought bitterly. ’From the beginning, I was never meant to be loved. I was never meant to be cared for.’

She had dared to hope that Zylan was different—different from her family, different from everyone who had treated her as a burden her entire life. But now, she realized, he was the one who would hurt her most of all.

"I hate you," she whispered, her voice trembling with the weight of her pain.

The words slammed into Zylan like a physical blow, shattering the walls he had so carefully built around himself. His crimson eyes widened in shock, and his hands trembled uncontrollably.

He sat there frozen, unable to move or speak, as the realization hit him like a punch to the gut. Naomi’s emotions—raw, real, and unfiltered—had broken through the haze of the drugs that had clouded her mind. It wasn’t just her anger or pain that had shattered the fog; it was the depth of her heartbreak, the sheer force of her feelings, that had pulled her back into clarity.

The truth was undeniable. She didn’t need to seek release through s*x, as the drug had intended. Her feelings had shattered that illusion, leaving only raw emotion. Her emotions were real, and they were aimed at him.

Should he feel relieved that she no longer craved s*x.

Zylan didn’t know how long he sat there in silence, time stretching endlessly as her words echoed in his mind. But it was Naomi’s voice that finally broke through the chaos.

"Let’s go home, Zylan," she said softly, her tone devoid of the fire it had held moments ago.

Her simple request pulled him back to reality. Moving slowly, as if in a daze, he stepped out of the car, his jaw clenched tightly. The sound of the door closing behind him brought him back to reality.

Sliding into the driver’s seat, Zylan gripped the steering wheel with white-knuckled intensity. His thoughts raced, but all he could focus on was the sound of her voice and the weight of her words.

’I hate you’

Zylan could never believe that just three words leaving Naomi’s lips could crumble down his walls. He wanted to laugh—laugh at himself for how pathetic he felt—but even that escape eluded him. His mind fought to regain control, yet his body refused to obey, paralyzed by the weight of those words.

The words reverberated in his mind, louder than anything else. They were inescapable, an unshakable truth that left him grappling with emotions he didn’t know how to face.

He didn’t look at Naomi as he drove, his crimson eyes fixed firmly on the road ahead. But the weight of her presence beside him was undeniable, pressing on him with every mile.

The silence between them was suffocating, louder than any argument could have been.

The car was silent, the stillness pressing down on the air. As the car came to a complete stop, Zylan glanced into the rearview mirror. His eyes widened slightly when he saw that Naomi had fallen fast asleep. A wave of confusion washed over him.

He cursed under his breath, a slow, deliberate smile spreading across his lips—a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. Naomi was soundly asleep, yet here he was, crumbling under the weight of everything he couldn’t face.