What would you feel when you find out that the person you love, the one you never doubted for a moment, the one you built your world, dreams, and hopes upon, cheating on you?

Anger, humiliation, disbelief, and every plethora of ugly emotions creating the worst collections of feelings possible. 

So, how does one expect Charlton to react on what Serena said? Initially, at the very least? When Serena said those words, she shattered three of the most important qualities in their relationship. Trust, honesty, and respect. 

The emotions of a person who has become a victim of betrayal, was something universal. Geoffrey felt it, and now Charlton was feeling it too. The only difference was that for Charlton it was worse. He was so angry that night that it took all his willpower to walk away from that room rather than saying or doing hurtful things to Serena. 

When he got home, he locked himself in his room.

At first, his emotions kept on alternating between anger and desperation. Anger, for obvious reasons. Desperation for despite what she said, he loved her still.

Her words played on his mind in replay like that of a broken record. It was so painful and agonizing, that if he were a weaker man, he would have been driven to insanity. 

He wanted to hurt her back, to get some form of petty revenge. Then, he also thought of other options. Like, he wanted to cage her. To capture her. To make her his. To force her into submission that she would have no choice but to stay his. But what can he do? He loves her and could not bear to hurt her. 

He could not imagine losing her from his life completely. He does not want to lose her at all. He wants to hold on to her, hold on for as much as he can but he knew that to do so would be like grasping loose sands. 

Then he thought, no. He still wanted to fight for her, for their love, but how could he when she told him herself that she loved Geoffrey now? That her choice was Geoffrey? 

He had to ask himself, what was true love? Was it letting go? Or never letting go?

When he was able to escape all the anger and desperation, what came next was even worse.

His relationship with Serena was built on trust that grew over time and it was undeniable that he drew significant amount of his day-to-day happiness, comfort, contentment, and even self-confidence from it. He made her so central in his world, that the thought of losing her, was like losing hope. It's a feeling of loss of purpose, loneliness, no possible path to feeling happiness ever again. 

He felt disconnected from himself. He felt empty and tired, and honestly, he wanted to stop caring about everything already and just cease to exist.

Like some lost soul, he spent the next 3 days inside his room, not taking a step out, not eating, not drinking, not going to work and when the servants knock, he would just say go away.

Thankfully for him, before he could prolong his suffering in that little bubble he created, his parents arrived.

--

"Charlton!!!! Open this door!!!" Georgina screamed from the other side of the door for the second time.

Charlton was jolted awake from loud banging and his mother's shrill voice. With adrenaline because of his mild panic, he was able to quickly move from the bed to the door. He unlocked it and upon opening, he saw his mother.

Georgina finally saw her son who was still alive. She was so annoyed when he wouldn't take her calls. She has called their mansion a couple of times because she wanted to ask about why Charles was being asked to attend the session tomorrow with utmost urgency, but her good for nothing son wouldn't take calls according to the butler. Thus, she decided to come with her husband. 

Upon arrival, she did not have time to listen to the butler explain about what's happening, she just stormed to see her good for nothing son. She was going to give him an earful. But when he opened the door, what she stumbled on was him with dark circles under his eyes, stubble growing, and lips dry because of dehydration. Briefly, she congratulated herself for having good genes so that she was able to produce a son that still looked good even though he looked like he didn't shower for days. She shook her head. Her anger dissipated after seeing his poor condition.

"What happened to you?" she asked.

Charlton wondered why his mother was there, until he remembered that his father might go on trial tomorrow. He has been so absorbed wallowing in his own pity party that he forgot to worry about his own father. He looked at his mother again. He noted that she seems to have not slept properly the last few days. 

He shook his head not wanting to add more to her worries. "Nothing, mother. Did father come with you?" he asked, his voice sounding hoarse.

Before his mother could answer, he saw his father who was looking at him and his mother from the landing. He was standing proud and tall, but his eyes held concern. He worried about him. 

"Father." Charlton greeted.

"Charlton, you made your mother and I worry." Charles said as he approached.

"I'm sorry. Father, about the king's call…"

"We can talk about it later. You need to eat first and take a bath. I was informed by the butler what you have been up to these 3 days. It's unbecoming of you as a man." Charles lightly reprimanded.

Charlton winced. His father was right. "Yes, father. I'm sorry again. Mother, I'm sorry for making you two worried."

Georgina was about to say something, but Charles shook his head. 

"Georgina, we can talk about it later. Have a rest first. The journey has been long."

Georgina wanted to protest. She wanted to know about what's going on. However, it's rare for Charles not to indulge her, so when he tells her no, she would understand that he means it.

Thus, the two went to their room to freshen up from the journey, while Charlton was left to his devices.

--

TBC

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