The Billionaire's Ex-Wife Returns!
Chapter 49: Walking Past Each Other

Chapter 49: Walking Past Each Other

Lucy froze as her eyes landed on Landon standing across the street while Yvonne appeared right behind him. The two spoke to each other, but because she was standing across the street, she couldn’t hear what was being said.

However, the sight of Yvonne touching Landon’s arm hit her like a punch to the gut, and her breath stopped. For a moment, her mind slipped into the painful past she thought she had already left behind. Memories flooded her—of being by Landon’s side, yet always feeling like a distant spectator.

It was also like this in the past. She was his wife, but back then, she always ended up feeling like an unwanted audience to their closeness.

A shaky breath escaped her, snapping her out of the daze. No, she shouldn’t think of what happened in the past.

It’s over. She shouldn’t live in the past anymore!

Lucy’s eyes darted back to Landon, where he stood in front of the Westwood Group’s entrance. He looked regal and as gorgeous as she had remembered him. He had always been the center of attraction.

She should’ve walked away, but she found herself staring. At how he had turned around and leaned forward to Yvonne, whispering words that Lucy couldn’t hear from the distance. Probably whispering sweet nothings to his sweetheart now that Lucy was out of the picture.

Lucy hissed when she felt pain stab through her in her palm.

Looking down, she saw deep crescent moons on her and blood seeping out of the tiny slits.

"What are you doing, Lucy?" she said softly to herself. "Get your act together!"

Lucy brought her palm down and took one more look at Landon. A disturbing calm filled her as resolve burned inside her. She should burn this image in her eyes so she could never waver!

But her heart jumped when she saw Landon turning around just as her eyes fell on his back.

He scanned the area with a familiar, searching look. A deep frown etched on the spot between his eyebrows.

No one knows what he was looking for or what made him suddenly turn around.

Yet, panic bubbled in her chest, and without another thought, she spun on her heel and retreated into the warmth of the café, the glass door swinging shut behind her with an abrupt chime.

She looked around the place, searching for a spot to hide. Lucy didn’t know if Landon saw her or not, but she couldn’t take the risk of him finding her now!

"Miss, is there something wrong?" a staff of the café approached her.

Lucy glanced at the café staff, her pulse quickening as she caught a glimpse of Landon crossing the street, his eyes locked on the café!

"Restroom... where is your restroom!" Lucy asked, her voice came urgent and loud.

The staff was surprised, but still pointed in the direction of their establishment’s restroom while thinking that Lucy was in a hurry to use it.

Fear gripped her, the kind that made the tips of her fingers tingle.

Lucy didn’t dare turn around as she heard the door chime again. No, don’t let it be him!

"Lucy!"

The voice startled her, forcing her body to stop despite her desire not to.

Chelsea came rushing toward her with strands of wet hair sticking to her face as she came out of a door where the staff pointed the direction of the restroom to Lucy.

"I’m so glad you’re here! I was about to chase you down the street, hoping you’d still be here." Chelsea sounded anxious and excited in contrast to the fear-stricken face Lucy was wearing.

Lucy couldn’t stay there. She didn’t want to deal with Chelsea while Landon might be after her!

She walked past Chelsea and headed toward the restroom, the only place that could hide her from Landon.

"I’ll do it—no matter what you ask of me, I’ll do anything!" Chelsea hurriedly spoke.

Lucy paused as her mind quickly worked inside her head.

"Will you really do anything?" Lucy asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

Chelsea nodded firmly, her eyes burning with fire. "Anything, Lucy. I promise."

Lucy took a step toward her and gripped her shoulders. "Then, come with me."

***

Landon’s breath came in sharp gasps as he had just sprinted across the bustling street and dodged the honking cars that could have easily killed him.

The air was crisp, stinging his lungs with each breath he took. But he hardly noticed; his focus was on the café before him.

It was a place he had passed countless times but never had the chance to visit.

His heart pounded in his chest. Hope mixed with fear surged through him like a tidal wave, making him hesitate and hover his hand above the doorknob of the café door as doubts arose within him.

What if he was wrong? Would Lucy really be inside the café? Maybe he had seen wrongly and his brain making up some illusion because he yearned for Lucy for so long.

This was not the first time, after all.

During the past years, Landon had been seeing Lucy in his dreams. She haunted him like no other, and when he woke up from a thirty-minute nap, he would then see himself alone, reaching out to the ghost of her.

This repeated a couple of times. And each time, Landon wished they were all true. That Lucy was right in front of him.

His hand will reach for her and softly caress her cheek and wipe away the tears that slipped from her eyes. He would whisper his sorry to her and grab her into his arms in a tight embrace. But his hands would pass through her and Lucy would vanish as if she was never been there.

Landon would always find himself hopelessly imagining she was right there next to him.

But what if he’s right? What if it was her? What if she was back and he took a step away from that place, only for her to disappear again?

He needed to see it for himself.

And if she was really inside the café, he would say everything he should have said before. He would apologize for all the ways he’d hurt her and beg for her forgiveness.

But above all, he needed to tell her how much he still loved her, how much he missed her, that he would give anything in this world just for a single touch from her.

As Landon pulled the door open, the bell chimed above his head.

He cast a sweeping look around the café, scanning the faces of the customers huddled over steaming mugs and laptops, and chatting quietly at small tables.

But the figure he was chasing after wasn’t there.

His heart twisted painfully in his chest, the hollow inside him turning deeper and deeper as he realized he had been mistaken again.

The air inside the café was warm, filled with the rich aroma of coffee and pastries, but to him, it felt cold, empty.

He swallowed hard, clenching his fists to steady his trembling hands.

"Sir, are you here to order?" the cashier asked behind the cash register. She had never seen such a handsome man like him before. Tall, dark, and mysterious.

And most importantly, the suit he wore screamed of money.

"We have everything freshly baked and out of the oven!" the cashier was happy to serve this beautiful man, for as long as he could place his attention on her.

Landon didn’t want to respond to her question at first, but suddenly, he thought of something. Walking toward the cash register, Landon placed both his palms against the cold and hard counter as he asked the cashier a question.

"Just now, someone came into the store, right?"

The cashier took a huge gulp when he suddenly loomed over. What a handsome man!

"Wha—what?" the cashier didn’t listen the first time. But after Landon glared at her, she quickly nodded and said, "Yes... they came in right before you entered."

"Where are they right now?"

The cashier raised a finger to point at the corner where a small hallway led toward the restroom.

Before the cashier could speak a word where exactly, Landon straightened his back and marched in that direction.

He was feeling expectant.

As he reached the hallway, a woman walked past him and brushed against his shoulders.

However, his attentiom was elsewhere as the closed restroom opened and another woman walked out of it, wearing the same clothes he had seen from the figure he was chasing earlier.

The face that had been burned in his eyes forever and he will never ever forget didn’t reappear before him.

No, the woman who had just come out of the restroom was not her.

It’s not Lucy...

Landon confirmed with his own eyes and he felt the air in his lungs leaving his body.

Once again, he was filled with the ache of her absence, as sharp as the day she’d left.

Amid his loss, the door to the café swung shut with a soft chime.