CHAPTER NINETY-EIGHT : “LET’S GET MARRIED”

~CHARLES~ I failed to process her words in my head until after a few seconds. I took a step backward, shaking my head sideways in disbelief as I watched her tears fall. I knew I didn't look good but wasn't so sure of how exactly I looked. The last time my gaze landed on a mirror that fell off from one of the officers, I'd grown beards, and my hair needed to be trimmed. “You don't mean it, right?” I shook my head negatively again, trying to believe it was all a prank. “I’m sorry, Charles, I just wanted you to feel pain too,” she said, and I felt a teardrop on my cheeks. Though I'd initially accepted my fate to pay for the sin I knew nothing about, I still felt so pained, and then it dawned on me that the pain I'd caused her was as excruciating as the one I was feeling. “You made them arrest me for a crime I knew nothing about?” I still wanted more confirmation because it felt like a dream. She nodded, and I exhaled deeply, feeling disappointed and frustrated. “You could have just