He Counted Seconds With Me and Seasons With Her Chapter 09

He Counted Seconds With Me and Seasons With Her Chapter 09

When Nathan found me, I was browsing the morning market in Denver.

Meatballs, crispy and golden. Fried chicken, perfectly browned. Fresh doughnuts, crisp from the oil.

Just as I took the bag of doughnuts and was about to hand the vendor cash,

a pair of large, long-fingered hands beat me to it.

“I’ll pay.”

I turned around. What came into view was Nathan’s familiar face.

Still handsome, but the radiance of the past was gone.

Now, his eyes were sunken, his jaw covered in stubble. Even his always meticulously tailored coat had

become wrinkled.

The moment our eyes met, Nathan’s lips trembled.

“Clara… I’ve finally found you.”

I instinctively turned to leave, but Nathan grabbed my wrist.

“Do you know how long I’ve been looking for you? Ever since I found out you divorced me, for this entire month, I haven’t been able to eat or sleep. Every time I close my eyes, what comes to mind is your face.”

“I sent so many people to track you down. Every time someone said they’d seen you in some city, I would immediately go there myself.”

“South, north, west, even abroad. Every place you could possibly be, I searched it all.”

“On the way to those cities, eyes open, eyes shut, thinking, dozing-all I thought about was you.”

I lifted my head and looked at Nathan’s eyes, bloodshot from chronic insomnia.

I laughed.

“Mr. Hale. Your time is the most precious thing. There’s no need to waste it on me.”

“You need to attend meetings. You need to take your company public. Even more, you need to accompany someone else through the scenery of all four seasons.”

“Can’t we just go our separate ways in peace?”

“Mr Hale”-those two words were like a sharp blade, thrust viciously into Nathan’s heart.

“Clara, since when… did we become so distant?”

“Distant?”

It was as if I had heard a joke.

“Nathan, isn’t this how you’ve always treated me?”

The floodgates of memory swung open. The past came rushing back.

“The first time we held hands, you timed it. Three seconds. One more second and you acted like it was a

waste of time.”

“The first time we kissed, you timed that too. Ten seconds. The moment the alarm rang, you turned and walked away, leaving me standing there alone.”

“Back then, I comforted myself. You were just busy. You were just cold by nature. But Nathan, did you time your moments with Scarlett too? When you were kissing in the falling leaves of Salzburg, did you also pull

out your timer?”

Nathan’s face went white in an instant.

I continued.

“The time you spent in bed with me was always capped at half an hour. The moment the alarm rang, you rolled off, got out of bed, and went to the study to keep working.”

“And the day I gave birth. I was hemorrhaging. The doctor issued a critical condition notice. You waited outside the delivery room for half an hour. The timer went off. Scarlett called you and said she was scared of the dark. And you just left.”

“Nathan, when you left, did you ever think that I might die on that operating table? Did you ever think that your child might be born without a mother?”

“During my postpartum recovery, you visited me three times. Each time you stayed less than ten minutes. Each time you pressed your timer and said you had a meeting. But I found out later that during that month, you took Scarlett to the beach eight times. You had twelve dinners. You watched three movies.”

“Every holiday. Every wedding anniversary. My birthday. Our son’s first-month celebration. You missed all of

them.”

“You were always busy. Always had endless meetings. Always had endless proposals to finish. But the moment Scarlett said one word, you dropped everything and appeared before her.”

I took a deep breath and looked at Nathan’s face, now completely drained of color.

He stood there in the flow of the morning market crowd. Around him were steaming breakfast stalls and

people coming and going.

Only he stood there alone, frozen.

Exactly like a man who had lost everything.

“You asked me when we became so distant.”

“Nathan, I was never close to you in the first place.”

“Now you come running here, telling me you haven’t slept for a month. Telling me you miss me.”

“But what right do you have to miss me? In what capacity do you miss me? We’re already divorced, Nathan.

You signed the divorce papers with your own hand. In black and white, perfectly clear.”

Nathan finally spoke. “I didn’t know… What I signed was a divorce agreement… I thought…”

“You thought what?”

I cut him off.

“You thought I was still that Clara Walker who could be placated with a single check?”

Nathan completely collapsed. His voice trembled.

“Clara. I know I was wrong. Give me a chance. Let me start over…”

Before he could finish, my father’s voice suddenly came from behind.

“Sweetheart! Why have you been gone so long? Your mother’s been waiting at home, worried sick-”

My father’s footsteps halted the moment he saw Nathan.