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Chapter 7. Alternative Chapter
Flashback
It was Valentine's Day and Serena and Dan decided to host their annual party. They throw a party every 14th of February ever since they got married. And of course, all of their closest friends and family are invited.
The party was a full swing, guests were happily chatting among themselves, some were dancing and some were drinking on the free bar. Serena, however, was wandering around the place, in search of her husband. Dan had disappeared right after dinner and almost an hour later, Serena still couldn't see him.
"Serena!"
The blonde spun around, meeting a slight drunk Blair, wobbling towards her.
"Have you seen Chuck?"
"No. Ask Nate." When Blair nods and drags her way towards Nate, Serena went back to finding her husband.
She smiles when she finally spotted him on the balcony. He was faced away from her and by the looks of it; he seems to be talking to someone. Serena was just about to walk over to him when suddenly, she stops, hearing a familiar voice.
"I don't want you for my daughter."
"Excuse me?"
"I'm gonna be real honest here, Daniel." Her father's cold, harsh voice rang out. "You're not the right man for my daughter. Serena is better off without a lowly Brooklyn boy."
"I'm sorry?"
"Daniel Humphrey - -"
"No offense, Mr. van der Woodsen, but I think you're wrong about that." Dan defended himself against the man.
"I know what's best for my daughter!"
"I don't think you do, actually." Dan snide commented, making William clench his fists. "You don't know Serena. Not as well as I do."
"How dare you talk to me like that?" William's voice raged with anger. "I am the father of your wife, that's my daughter, Humphrey."
Serena bit her lip. She wanted to go out there and defend Dan but at the same time, she knows that he can handle himself well. And besides, it was a private conversation. One she wasn't even supposed to be hearing or knowing about.
"With all due respect sir, but you've never been a father to my wife. At least, not the way you should be." Dan shots back at him, clenching his fist behind his back.
"Dan?" Serena called out, her voice as if she'd been searching for Dan even though she had found him a few minutes ago. "Dan?"
Seconds later, Serena entered the balcony and walked over to where Dan is. She wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed a light kiss on his neck. Serena decided to walk out now since she had a feeling that their conversation is gonna get uglier.
"Hey." Dan smiles, tilts his head a bit to kiss Serena's cheek. Then he turned back to her father.
"What are you guys doing here?" Serena asks, eyes darting from Dan to her dad as if she's really clueless about the whole thing.
"Your dad and I were just talking, Serena."
"About what?" Good thing she can act.
"Business, Serena." William supplies, eyes glaring at Dan."Nothing important for you, sweetheart."
Serena hears Dan scoff and she likes to think it's all because of the endearment of her father towards her. Nonetheless, she took hold of his hand and squeezed it gently, effectively calming Dan.
"Umm... Dad?" She smiles when her father turned to her. "I think mom's looking for you."
William raises an eyebrow at her but decides to leave. He gave Dan a look which didn't go unnoticed to the couple. Once William was no longer in sight, Dan turned around and snaked his arms around Serena's waist, pulling her closer as Serena circled her arms around his neck, her hands playing with his hair.
"So, Lily... She's - -"
"Not really looking for my dad." Serena giggles, making Dan smile. "I just wanted to be alone."
Dan hungrily kissed her once she finished talking which Serena gladly returned. He pulled her closer as she ran her hand through his hair. The kiss deepened and pretty soon they were against the railings.
"Why do you always look so damn beautiful? Have you always look so beautiful?" She giggles as Dan's mouth left hers to place kisses on the neck and shoulder blades. He sucks on her neck and she's pretty sure he'll leave a mark.
"I love you." Dan murmurs, already on the process of lifting her top, her stomach exposed as he ran his hands on it. Serena suddenly stops, peeling Dan away from her. Dan looks at her, confused which makes her giggle.
"We have guests, Dan." She laughs when Dan groans, throwing his head back for emphasis. She starts making her way back inside when Dan grips her arm and pulled her back.
"I don't care." He whispers, so dangerously low that it makes Serena shiver. He kisses her again, more urgent, more needing this time and he hoist her up as she wraps her legs on his waist and she's already fumbling his shirt, already unfastening the third button of his red plaid shirt and he was actually half way done with lifting her top. Then, suddenly they hear a loud scream – probably Blair – and they pull apart.
If only they didn't host this damn party.
Serena smoothes her top, making sure she's presentable and not looking like she's just about to have sex with her husband in the balcony and when she looks at Dan, she sees him, looking at her lovingly – buttons still undone – and she smiles, bites her lower lip before moving closer to him and fixing his shirt.
They're almost at the door when Dan pulls her back once more.
"What?"
"Happy Valentine's Day!" He said, retrieving a small box from his pocket. Serena gasps, eyes tearing up when Dan opened the box and revealed a silver necklace with an 'S' pendant on it. She lifts her hair up and allows Dan to place the necklace before kissing him quickly.
"Thank you." She whispered, kissing him again before taking his hand in hers and dragging him towards the house.
...
"What is this?" Serena asked as soon as Dan returned home. On her hand was a check named to Dan worth 15 million dollars.
Serena was doing some cleaning in their house the whole day and she came across a check placed underneath the stack of books on top of Dan's table. At first, she thought nothing about it but after looking at it carefully, she recognizes the signature affixed on the check as her fathers. Why on earth would her father give Dan such amount? And besides, if anything, Dan should've told her about this. Dan was never one to keep things like this from her.
Dan stared at Serena for a few moments before snatching the check from her hand. He trudged up to his study with Serena following him. He waits until Serena closed the door behind them before turning around to face her.
"Dan, what is that? Why is my dad giving you 15 million dollars?" Serena questions as she watches him pace back and forth in front of her.
"Business stuff, Serena." He smiles weakly at her.
He should've known that Serena could see past his smiles, making it almost impossible to lie to her. And besides, he's really not that great at lying. According to almost everyone he knew, he rubs the back of his hand until it turns red whenever he's lying which is exactly what he is doing right now.
Serena walks up to her and places her hands on top of his, an attempt to get him to stop rubbing his hands. When he stops, she places both her hands on both sides of his face to make him look directly at him. She asks him one more about the check and she watches as Dan pulls away from her and crosses the room, a few feet away from her.
"Dan?"
He doesn't answer. Instead, she keeps an eye on him when she notices that he's shaking. He's not crying, just shaking hard. When he looks at her, she could see that his eyes were full of sadness and regrets. He went to her and hugged her tightly before whispering in her ear.
"Your dad - - your dad wanted me to file a divorce." She pulls away from him and stares at him in disbelief.
"I don't want you for my daughter."
"You're not the right man for my daughter. Serena is better off without a lowly Brooklyn boy."
"What?"
"Serena - -"
"You aren't considering, are you?" Serena's eyes start to water and when Dan tried to wipe them away, she immediately pushed his hands away and takes a few steps away from him.
"Serena..."
"You are. You're actually considering this." She laughs, humourless, spiteful. She wipes the remaining tears running down her face. She simply looks at Dan before taking a deep breath.
"I thought you love me."
"I do. Serena, you know I love you!" Dan pleads, closing the space between them and grabs hold of her hands. He expects her to pull away instantly and was surprised when she didn't.
"Do I? A couple hours ago, yeah, maybe I do. I'm not so sure anymore."
"Serena, I love you so so much. You have to believe me."
"I don't wanna talk about this anymore." She sighs, finally pulling her hands away from his grasp. "I'm tired, Dan. Can we just go to sleep?"
He nods and Serena retreats back to their bedroom. Dan quickly places the check on top of his table before following his wife to their room.
They slept on both ends on the bed that night, Serena as far away from Dan as possible.
...
The next weeks after that were not better, not for Dan, definitely not for Serena. They barely see each other, Dan was always working late and when he comes home, Serena was probably already asleep. And on such rare occasion that Serena's still awake when he comes home, she doesn't talk to him. He considers himself lucky if Serena even looks at him.
Serena spends all her time with Blair during the day, to the point that Blair almost can't stand her anymore. Whether Blair's at work, at Bass Industries visiting Chuck, or at home taking care of Henry, Serena is there by her side. And when it's night-time, she goes home, sometimes goes drinking at some bar but she's always home before Dan.
There is one night in particular wherein Serena goes home at one in the morning to find the house awfully quiet. Maybe Dan wasn't home yet. Usually she goes home by nine or ten and Dan usually arrives at twelve. She's a bit tipsy and she stumbles to the kitchen to drink a glass of water but instead finds two glasses and an empty scotch and champagne bottle scattered on the table. She doesn't remember drinking before leaving that morning and she's pretty sure Dan didn't drink that before going to work which could only mean that Dan was home and somewhere in the house.
"Dan?" She called out to him. "Dan?"
She clumsily walked up the stairs, stopping to take off her shoes halfway up because she's been wearing those damn five-inch heels all day and it already hurts like hell. She stops in front of their bedroom and took a deep breath but before she could even knock, the door opened and Dan stepped out quickly, eyes wide and looking guilty when he noticed her. She noticed that he was fully drunk and probably can't even see straight.
"Serena." He choked out. She smiles weakly at him, eyes watering.
"Hey, Dan." She steps forward and wraps her arms around him, burying her face against his chest, letting her tears fall. "I'm sorry."
"I'm sorry, Serena. Oh, god, I'm so sorry!"
"Are you drunk?"
He disregards the question, instead justsmooths her hair as he too whispered apologies against her ear. He pulled away slightly to cup her face with his hands and pressed a gentle kiss on her forehead. He wipes the remaining tears from her face with his thumbs before lowering his head to kiss her. Deeply, passionately, his apologies lingering there.
His hands drop to her waist when they pulled away. He smiled sweetly at her before pulling him closer to her, crushing her against him. They stayed like that for quite a while until their bedroom door opens.
And there stood, Georgina Sparks, clad in one of Dan's shirts. Nothing but Dan's shirt.
Serena pulls away from Dam immediately. She looks at Dan then at Georgina before taking a few steps back and shaking her head.
"Oh, Serena. I'm sorry. I thought - -"
"Get out." Serena's voice was low, almost inaudible even but when Georgina didn't move an inch from the door, her voice grew louder, making Dan flinch. "Get the hell out of my house Georgina!"
Serena grabs her by the arm before dragging her towards the stairs, pushing her down, making Georgina stumble a bit. Serena waits until Georgina left, glaring at her as she watches from the top of the staircase. When the front door closed, she turns around and heads towards their room, Dan following suit.
"Serena, Serena, I can explain."
She slaps him before taking a few steps back. But Dan walked over to her and hugged her tightly, even though she's hitting his chest. He doesn't let go, he won't. She's crying and yelling at him and hitting him and when she stops, she pushes him away with all her strength, then sits on the side of their bed.
"Serena..."
"What?!"
"I can explain." She raised her head up to glare at him.
"Explain?! Explain what Dan? That you cheated on me? With Georgina?" She wipes some of her tears away before continuing. "I was – I was ready to fix our problems Dan. 'Cause I hate it when we fight, 'cause I don't want to fight anymore. I was willing to forget that you even considered my dad's offer to divorce me because I realized deep down I knew you wouldn't do that."
"Serena..."
"I was sorry. For doubting you, for judging you so quickly, for letting my dad get in between us. I was so sorry for that. And tonight, I wanted to make amends and this is what I see?"
She stood up, walked closer to him before hitting him repeatedly on his arms, her tears flowing freely. Dan does nothing to stop her because he deserved it. All the hitting, the yelling, the anger directed towards him because honestly, those still aren't enough to make up for cheating on Serena.
"How long?"
Dan looks up, guilt in his eyes.
"Damn it, Humphrey, how long have you been cheating on me?" Serena yells.
"Serena..."
"You know, the least you could do is answer my question. How long have you been fucking her?!"
"T-two weeks."
Serena slapped him.
"I want you out Dan!"
She walks out and returns a minute later, thrusting the check – that caused their fight – into his hands.
"I want you out of my house, out of my sight, out of my life!"
"Serena, I'm sorry." He whispers before turning around. He took a step out of the room before looking back at Serena's shaking form.
"I'll have the divorce papers soon. You can claim the money that dad gave you. Looks like he'll get what he wants."
He nods, letting his tears fall for the first time. He stares at Serena, one more time, before walking down the stairs. He places the check on a table near the door before glancing at the house one last time before finally walking out of the house.
As soon as the front door slams shut, Serena yells, kicks the bedside table before sliding down the floor and burying her face between her knees, crying loudly. She could only think of one thing...
'What happened to their forever?'
.to be continued.
A/N: New chapter! So, basically what happened is that William van der Woodsen didn't want Dan for Serena and bribed him with money just so he would divorce her. When Serena found out, they got into this argument which lasted for a few weeks and one day, when Serena was ready to make up with him, she found out he's been cheating on her for a while now.
It sucks, I know. I'm not that proud of this. I'm not sure when I'll be able to post next chapter, but hopefully soon. Next chapter will be better, I hope.
I hoped you enjoyed! :)