Carlton's words echoed in Stacy's ears as she sat cold in her bathtub shivering badly, submerging her head in the tub of water like it would take away her pain and wipe away her reality. Her heart viciously ached with so much pain that it threatened to suffocate her, and she sobbed incessantly because she just couldn't understand why he suddenly wanted a divorce.
The hurtful words, "We should go our separate ways," haunted her throughout the night so much that she couldn't sleep.Her mind traveled back to the message she had received on her phone again and again, as she wanted what was suddenly going on and why she would get such a message.'Who could it be? Was her husband cheating on her? Or was it a prank message? Perhaps a spam message?' her head conjured different kinds of thoughts and scenarios, as she cried harder the more the thoughts came to her mind.But then again, Stacy tried to encourage herself that Carlton wasn't someone like that. Though he didn't love her, he had never had eyes for other women either. She wanted to believe that she was just overthinking it.'But still, he was asking for a divorce now,' her head reminded her and her breath became shallow and erratic again, as she struggled to swallow the tears that were provoked by her thoughts again. Her chest tightened and constricted in pain, as she hit it hard to stop it from hurting. She cried the entire night and managed to stand up from her bed the next day with a puffy face, as she stood in front of the mirror to examine the damage her excessive crying had done to her face.'How would the maids not gossip again now, when she had cried her eyes out now?' Stacy worried as she pressed her red cheeks with her hand. She couldn't let them see any flaw in her. She dressed up in a gorgeous gown like any other day, and wore the perfect make-up which concealed the bags under her eyes. Stepping out of her room, her lips stretched into a huge smile as she sauntered to his room, which was at the other side of the large hallway that led to their room.Disappointment glinted in her eyes when she realized that he had left home so early, without eating breakfast after she opened his door. She hesitated for a few minutes before going downstairs, in fear of what the maids might gossip about after observing like spies.She couldn't make them see that she was breaking, and that there was a crack somewhere in her marriage. However, the untouched anniversary food and cake already gave room for them to talk."Breath, Stacy. They cannot see you break," she whispered to herself, as she walked to the kitchen to choose the food that would be prepared for Carlton by the chefs, with extra care put into the preparation of each meal. She ordered the food be packed and delivered to his office an hour later, with a handwritten note from her attached to it; Have a great day ahead.'She had to act like nothing had happened between them the previous day. She had to. For her peace of mind.' With nothing much to do, Stacy remained indoors all day extremely bored and more tired than usual. She was trying hard not to think or cry, and sat down at the mansion library reading random books. But it was extremely hard because it was hard for her not to think about what ensued between her and Carlton.His phone remained unreachable after she tried calling him several times again, and ended up leaving a few texts for him. He didn't reply to her messages even if it showed that he was active, and she felt like she was losing her mind in fear that he might be ghosting her.Suddenly, she remembered a way to get out of her pain.********A black luxury car glided to a graceful halt in front of a huge building, as the chauffeur alighted and scurried to open the door to the back seat. Stacy stepped out of the car in a luxurious red dress that accentuated her sexy body, as it shimmered under the lights in accordance to her diamond-encrusted heels.Every eye around her turned, transfixed by her presence, and they wondered who she was to step out of such a luxurious car because her face was not familiar. She had been invited as a guest by a friend she made from a bakery class she once attended, and was honoring the event invitation for the first time. She needed her sanity back.Stacy gracefully made her way into the building, even if she was not sure what she was going to do there or what a charity event was all about. Seeing a different world from the one she had been living in for years made her awed, because of the number of A-list socialites, and elites that she recognized who were present. It was a world of opulence and grandeur.'Breathe, Stacy. No one knows you here,' she told herself repeatedly, in order to get rid of her extreme anxiety. Silently and sophisticatedly, she moved through the crowd and stood alone, while observing everyone and everything around her. She was very conscious of everything unfolding before her eyes and people around, because she had not been to such events before.Though she had married a billionaire and lived a luxurious life in her two years of marriage, she had always enjoyed simple things that revolved around only her and Carlton. She had never had the chance to explore outside of her marriage, because no one knew that she was married to someone like him. They had never made public appearances either. And she was satisfied with all that, so far he was with her. She truly was.However, she probably was starting to regret that she had been too enclosed. Her life might not have been so boring and pathetic if she had friends, and took advantage of her social position to get rid of her pain."Oh dear! I am so glad to see you. I thought you would not make it here," Evelyn, the beautiful lady who invited her, caught sight of her and scurried to meet her immediately."Thank you for inviting me," Stacy smiled shyly and modestly as she heaved a sigh of relief to finally see the only person she knew amongst everyone. She didn't know how she managed to gain the attention of a lady like Evelyn from a mere cooking class, whose father owned many major companies in the city. She was a luxury herself."Come meet my friends. I told them about you already," Evelyn grabbed her arm along with her as they sauntered to the other side of the room. The young, beautiful heiress had a natural liking for Stacy, even if she was not interested in a friendship that would warrant questions she could not answer and expose her private life.In a few minutes after exchanging pleasantries with the three high-class ladies she was introduced to, they could not help but admire and feel intimidated by her gorgeousness."Dear me! Is this not the new Hamilton Hamish design? These earrings cost a fortune!" Natalie, one of the ladies, noticed and could not hide her outburst, as her eyes scanned across every part of the new lady that had just been introduced to them."Really? The ones that don't come in pairs and cost twice the amount to get the other?" Jasmine, a young, well-accomplished lawyer, cut in surprisingly as she tried to take a closer look at it, which made Stacy stiffen. She wasn't used to that kind of closeness from people."Fuck, yes," Natalie affirmed astonishingly while wondering if she was indeed seeing the limited edition jewelry, as her eyes trailed down to value the price of everything that Stacy was putting on."Damn. I recognize these heels. They were auctioned in Paris two months ago, and my dad desperately tried to get one for me to no avail. Only two pairs were sold out for a freaking outrageous amount!" Khloe, the third lady blurted out with a deep gasp, with her eyes glistening greedily at her heels. She was determined not to get along with Stacy because she looked way out of her class, and pretended not to hear her friends talking about the earrings.Stacy just stood there as she watched the lady value the prices of the things she was wearing, without knowing what she could say as a reply to sound humble enough. Though they were all ladies of high class, they could help but comment on Stacy's luxurious and impeccable taste."You are so beautiful. Who is your dad? What school did you attend? Have we met before?" Jasmine rushed her question, suddenly having the urge to become friends with her. She speculated that Stacy had to be from an influential and extremely wealthy family, which was well-affiliated enough to get all those limited edition accessories for her.'She was the wife of Carlton Howard. It was only natural if all those things came easily to her,' Stacy thought to herself, 'But how would she tell these ladies in the room that her father wasn't as rich as they thought?'"Thank you," She replied with a modest smile, as she tried to think of what she would give as an answer to who her Dad was. Her head swore in happiness because it had been a while since she had been complemented by someone, and it suddenly boosted her self-esteem, which had been sinking for months."Are you new to town? How come I have never seen you before?" Khloe, who was still swelling with jealousy asked rigidly, unable to stand the fact that she was nowhere compared to Stacy."Isn't that Marilyn Gray?" Jasmine suddenly announced as her eyes darted to the other side of the room, and recognized someone familiar.'Marilyn?' Stacy's brain remembered the name immediately."Marilyn Gray is at this charity event? I thought she had been out of the country now for a long time," Natalie asked incredulously, as her eyes darted to the direction Jasmine was looking."It is really her," Evelyn cut in as she joined the conversation, with irritation lacing her eyes, "Marilyn is so affiliated with a lot of people. Imagine, she could even hold a conversation with someone like Carlton Howard," she added.'Carlton's ex-girlfriend was back?!' Stacy panicked inwardly, as her eyes traced along the movements of the gorgeous lady that was standing at the other side of the room with a charming smile. Even from that distance, the aura of the lady she had always felt inferior to, bashed her and sucked out the confidence that the ladies around her had elevated just a few minutes ago.'She didn't know she was back in the city.'Still thinking of how she could act indifferent to Marilyn's sudden presence, Stacy sighted her husband from nowhere as he made his way into the event. There were hushed tones of people around in awe when they saw him, speculating about what had changed, because he was not the type to attend such events. And he was walking in her direction.'Carlton was at an event with his ex-girlfriend present too?!'"Where are you, Carlton?" Stacy was out of breath as she sat on the lid of the water closet in the bathroom at the party, with her hands trembling intensely as she texted her husband because of what she had just witnessed.She had been trying to keep her mind together for the past few minutes after seeing Carlton and Marilyn at the same event, while assuring herself that nothing was wrong and that she was just overthinking it. However, her head wanted to explode at the imaginations which were conjured up in her head.The most painful part of the scenario was that she had to remain where she was standing like she didn't know him, because no one knew, and could know that she was married to Carlton Howard. Yet, she was losing her mind because she could not even do anything to claim her husband right on the spot. Marilyn and Carlton held a conversation at the end of the room so affectionately, and she was probably the only person who almost died at the sight of it. And like she had n
Carlton strolled into the large, splendor living room at dawn, and dismissed the maids that had come around to welcome him as he made his way upstairs. He pushed the door to his room and slouched onto his bed heavily, as the memories of the previous night came flooding into his head. He thought about the outcome of the party he ended up attending, even if it was unintended in the first place. The second encounter with his ex-girlfriend, and the words she said to him when they went outside together. The fact that he did the opposite of what he swore to do if he ever met her, and his vulnerability that she used to her advantage to apologize. The kiss. The unplanned sleepover. 'Shit! He shouldn't give her a chance to come back to his life. He was done with her the moment she left him at the altar, so he shouldn't allow her tactics to try and come back to him. He really shouldn't.' As soon as he lay there thinking of how messed up things could become, the realization that his wife had
FOUR YEARS LATERCaliforniaWILLAND HospitalThrough the bustling atmosphere which was filled with a sense of anticipation that mingled with the comforting presence of healing and hope, a lady stepped her way into the huge, top-rated hospital of the city with grace and sophistication. Though swelling inwardly with great excitement and anticipation, she looked professional with a perfect radiant face, as she exchanged a few conversations with the nurses at the front desk, and was shortly directed to where she was going. She had just been appointed as the newest addition to the hospital's physiotherapy medical staff, and she had a lot of thoughts going on in her mind about what the new hospital held for her. It was the biggest and grand opportunity to fully expand her career. "Welcome onboard, Miss Hall. It is a pleasure to meet you," the Musculoskeletal department head of physiotherapy, Mr. Brown welcomed her. He was a man in his late forties, wearing thick double-lens glasses that f
In just a week of resuming work as the new and youngest physiotherapist of the department, Stacy had it hard already with the tyranny of the senior doctors and under their scrutinizing eyes that were ready to prey on her.Training on utilization and navigation of the patient's medical records was left for her to fully figure out, and her qualifications were sarcastically questioned many times without a number by the bitter seniors. They handed her so much to do at the same time in just a few days, and the work-life balance she thought she would experience in a hospital meant for top elites was already zero. She was mostly thrown several challenging questions that were even out of her niche by them, but she was able to crush every question beyond their expectations. So that she would falter and make mistakes, Stacy was given more than she was supposed to do in one day and assigned mostly to grumpy, old elites with anger issues and nasty behaviors to frustrate her. However, she was a
The deluxe window curtain parted softly as Carlton moved closer to the French window in his room, revealing a breathtaking view of a meticulously landscaped garden and compound that illustrated glamor. Everywhere around the huge mansion was extremely silent, and he could clearly hear the cascading waters of the fountain in sight, only to be distracted by the double door which parted open as his assistant, James, made his way inside. "Good morning, Mr. Howard. I have been informed that a new doctor will be appointed for you today, sir," James informed Carlton from where he was standing. "Okay," he replied concisely, and did not lift his gaze away from the same spot he had been staring at for minutes. There were so many thoughts that constantly plagued his mind, and it was hard to free himself from those worries. "This time should be better. They said this doctor is so good, and excels at every given job. She is a new doctor in the hospital, and her personal details have been sent to
"So, how was your new client? Does he look like a jerk already?" Nadia asked Stacy as they sat to eat dinner together with curiosity. Stacy came back to the hospital earlier than she predicted and had been busy since her arrival, which made it difficult for her and Nadia to hold a conversation till evening. "The client?" Stacy stared at her blankly, with so much indecisiveness about what to say to her, "Greater than I expected," she chuckled hard. Regardless of how happy she was that she had a friend to talk to in just a few weeks of arriving, there was no way she could tell Nadia that her new client was her ex-husband. It was nearly impossible to even explain or say. It was so hard. Stacy's plan to switch Carlton from being her client was thwarted when she returned to the hospital that day, due to the intentions of her superiors who had assigned her as his doctor.Julia did not pass on the proposal she submitted to the department head, who had the authority to approve her reques
The overwhelming and shocking feeling of seeing Stacy suddenly introduce herself as his doctor, was too sudden for Carlton, and he could not wrap his head around the reality that hit him abruptly. His heart skipped a beat as their eyes met, and he saw a mix of different emotions play across her face – shock, fear, uncertainty, and maybe pity. She looked just as beautiful and gracious as he remembered, and he hesitated for a moment, unsure of how to call her. But his longing and curiosity got the best of him, and he mustered the courage to call her name at the moment. Before he could utter the next word after she said all that she wanted, she turned and left the house immediately, leaving him dumbfounded and confused about what to do. For years he had wondered where she left to, and how she was doing after she was said to have been disowned by her father. His accident made things harder because all focus was on his recovery, and he blamed himself for everything that went wrong in both
James came back home from the office at exactly the time that was stipulated for a break between the patient and doctor, and he was surprised to see Carlton still sitting responsibly in his chair, after his first session had ended quite early with Stacy because she came late. His mind also traveled back to the instructions which were given to him by Carlton the previous day, not to decrease the number of hours that were supposed to be allocated for his medical sessions as discussed initially. Glad that his boss might finally get a better life to rest and a chance to redeem himself, the good assistant hoped positively that Stacy's presence might be for a good course."Hi, James. Please is there anything we can do concerning the security here? Driving my car miles away is stressful already, but they make it harder at the gate by requesting times without numbers, my authenticity of being here," Stacy asked James politely as soon as she saw him enter. Coupled with the fact that she was al