Determined not to embarrass myself by losing my composure, I turn away from him and walk back to my table, my legs unsteady and my eyes swollen from unshed tears.
I notice that Denise is now seated with two other men and a woman, who are all dressed in formal wear. They must be the other clients that he had talked about. Okay, so maybe he was telling the truth about the business meeting, but I still have a strong hunch that he and Denise have something going on. I can see it in the way they can't stop looking at or smiling at each other and in their general body language too.I decide to stop torturing myself and ignore them for the rest of the evening. There is no rest for me, however, because as soon as I sit down, Amanda and her mother start what they do best … which is antagonizing me in a bid to provoke and get a reaction out of me. “Barren, ugly bitch! I don’t know what my brother ever saw in you.” Amanda taunts me after several minutes have passed since I returned to the table. The words burn into my soul like a red-hot knife and cause unbidden tears to spring to my eyes. I do not let the tears fall though, but blink them back desperately. This accusation is very unfair, considering the fact that it is her brother’s fault that I do not have a child yet, but my private life is none of her business, so I don’t bother to tell her this. “Yeah. One would have thought that she would have made herself useful by now and at least produced an heir to my son’s fortune, but all she does is sit in the house day in, day out, eating everything in sight, spending my son’s money at will, while having nothing to show for it.” My mother-in-law adds her input. “So when are you going to release Derek from the shackles in which you have bound him and let him find someone else who would give my mother the grandchildren she so desperately wants, since it’s obvious that you’ve failed very woefully at that task, just as you’ve failed at everything in life?” Amanda asks me. I try not to let her hateful words get to me, but today has been a horrible day for me, and I’m finding it difficult to ignore her barbs as I usually would. My mouth opens of it's own accord and I hear myself speak. “Maybe you should try to grant your mother’s desperate wish for children by giving them to her yourself. You’re older than I am, after all, but you can’t even snag yourself a man, not to talk of keeping him long enough to get married to him and have kids with him.” I retort angrily. Both of them gasp out loud my words, which is no surprise because never in the three years since I married into the family, have I once dared to talk back to either of them, or even to my aloof husband for that matter. “I … I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me … I shouldn’t have …” I begin to apologize, but before I can finish stammering out my apologies, Amanda gets up with the quickness of a striking snake, extends her hand and delivers a resounding slap to my face. My cheek stings as though it has been scalded, and I’m sure that if I looked into a mirror at that moment, I would see the imprint of Amanda’s palm on it because of how hard the slap had been. To say that I’m humiliated is an understatement. A deathly silence has descended on the restaurant, and I can feel everyone’s eyes on us. I’m too embarrassed to look over at Derek’s table to see if he saw what just happened and if he will come to my defense. Who am I kidding though? Derek prefers not to meddle in affairs relating to his family and me, so he definitely won't be getting involved in this either. I'm sure of that fact. Amanda and her mother are having a low argument, with her mother telling her that she should have waited until we got home to teach me a lesson instead of causing a scene in public. Several seconds pass, and I keep my gaze on my hands, which are intertwined in my laps so I won't meet anybody’s gaze. Slowly, people resume their conversations and continue eating their food. Nobody comes to our table to find out what's wrong, not even the restaurant’s staff. Unable to stand the humiliation any longer, I get up abruptly and head blindly for the restroom, a sob tearing it's way out of me, but there, I am met with what is the final straw for me that night … or so I think at that moment. I have no way of knowing that the horrible events of the night are far from over yet, but I find this out a few moments later when I get to the restroom. There in the empty restroom, I stumble on my husband, whom I didn’t even realize had left his table, passionately kissing his ex, the same woman he called a business associate.Buzz … I receive a message on my phone. I wonder if it is going to be Derek who is checking up on me. After all, I left the restaurant crying and in shock.I dive for the phone, hoping that he has sent a reasonable explanation for what I saw. One glance at the phone screen and I see that the message is indeed from him. However, any hope that I had that he is going to explain himself dies a quick death the minute I scan the contents of the message. It reads,"Denise is pregnant. She is about to give birth to an heir for me. Our child needs a family. Sign the divorce agreement by tomorrow." A new message from Derek's phone number.If I had thought that nothing could hurt me anymore after the series of events that I have faced this day, I thought wrong. This new unwanted piece of information hits me like a ton of brick.Bile rises in my throat and I rush straight into the bathroom just in time to throw up the contents of my stomach until there's nothing left in it, at which point I beg
DEREK’S POVMy entire body hurts like hell, and my head is pounding like there are a million troops in it, but I do not go home. Instead, I head straight to the office, dressed in the shirt and trousers that I wore to dinner last night, although I do not wear the suit.I don’t want to have to deal with Ava and the accusation that would no doubt be in her eyes once she sees me. Last night was quite chaotic, but I’m not ready to explain anything to anyone just yet.“Sir, your wife, um … Mrs Turner, erm, Miss Ava, left these for you.” My secretary informs me when I get back to the office, handing me the divorce papers that I gave to Ava the previous night.To my utter surprise, she has signed them. Knowing Ava, I had thought that this would be a prolonged mess and that she would refuse to sign the papers and continue to declare her love for me. “Hmm. What is that woman playing at now?” I wonder aloud.“Sir, she also refused to accept this. She said she doesn’t need it.” My secretary say
FIVE YEARS LATER Ava’s POV It’s been five whole years since I last stepped foot in this city, and in the span of that time, a whole lot has changed in my life … for the better. It took a lot of time and work, but I got over Derek and his betrayal and now, I’m living my best life. Whereas five years ago, I was a dumb woman who worshipped the ground on which her husband walked, while the said husband despised her existence, now I'm a very famous screenwriter and producer who is her own boss, as well as the boss of many other people. Not only that but whereas I left with nothing except my clothes five years ago, this time around, I’m back with a whole human being, in the person of my four-year-old daughter. Yes, not long after I left Derek, I found out that I was pregnant with his child and even though I was heartbroken back then, I knew immediately that I wanted to keep the baby. This decision turned out to be the best decision of my life because I can't even imagine my lif
DEREK’S POVMy life is a living hell. There is no other way to put it, and I have only myself to blame for it. I dread going home from work every day, but I have no choice other than to do it. There’s no way I’m going to be kept from my own home.My son is the only ray of sunshine in my life, but then, even the joy he brings into my life is dampened by seeing him suffer so much day in, day out.Today, as I step into the house, the whole house is silent, which means that Denise probably took our son, Barry out of the house to spend some time with him, which would be a good thing because she neglects the boy way too much.When I get into the kitchen though, I see that I’m wrong. Barry is seated on the floor of the kitchen, with a huge tub of ice cream in front of him, and he’s stuffing his face with the ice cream.He smiles widely when he sees me, and I return the smile, but inwardly, my heart is aching. Barry’s whole body and the floor around him are stained with ice cream and he is cl
AVA’S POVI am seated in my office waiting for my secretary to usher in Derek, who is having a meeting with me in a few minutes. I don’t think he knows that I’m the person he’s meeting, but then, I don’t care if he knows or not.My shock and surprise had known no bounds when I looked through my activity for the day and found out that I would be meeting with him.So much for avoiding him at the airport five days ago. Apparently, fate is determined to throw us together against my wish.A few moments later, he is ushered in by my secretary, who then closes the door and goes out, leaving the two of us alone.“Good morning, ma’am.” He greets me, as politely as ever.He has always been quite polite … but that privilege had been reserved for other women apart from me. He used to treat me with casual indifference … like he was being forced to acknowledge my existence.He clearly doesn’t recognize me, which is not a surprise because of the time that has passed and because I now look very diffe
“I was wondering if I could ask you for a favor, Ms. Jones. I’d be forever in your debt if you can grant it.” I say, my heart in my throat.Her answer matters a lot to me. It’s also weird to have to call her Ms. Jones, but now is not the time to dwell on that.“I would like to please ask you to consider someone I recommend for the female lead role in the movie.”“Well, how good is this person? The success of the movie is my major priority so if they are a good actress, then I could consider giving them the role.”“She’s very good.” I rush to assure her, although I’m not so sure of that fact. At least, Denise would not say I didn’t try.“Okay, great. I’d schedule a session to see just how good she is and decide if I'm going to cast her or not. So do you have any questions concerning what we have discussed today?”“Um, no. I don’t. thanks.”“Great. I’ll see you out then.” Ava says, getting up and offering her hand for me to shake.I want to say something … anything that would remind her
It’s not every day that I see Denise at a loss for words, but today is one of those days, and a feeling of utter satisfaction courses through me as I watch her mouth open and shut several times like a fish out of water.“That’s not possible. You’re joking, right?” She asks me at last.“For your sake, I wish I was, but unfortunately, Ava is indeed the producer of the movie. So technically, she is going to be your boss, provided she does not back out of our agreement the moment she notices that you are the actress I was talking about. I have a feeling that she would back out of it because of the history that you and I have together and because you have a tendency to be annoying as hell.” I tell her.I can't bring myself to sound sorry for her, and I can tell that she notices this in the way her eyes narrows.“I don’t believe you. You’re trying to tell me that your mousy, timid, stay-at-home ex-wife is the popular producer that everyone has been raving about? Oh, please. You must think I
DENISE’S POVIt’s been days since Derek told me about his ex-wife’s return and since then, I have been really unsettled. The reason for this is apparent.Derek is still very much in love with his ex … it is clear as day, and that is such a pity. For all his money and charisma, it is pathetic that he is pining after someone whom he hasn’t seen in ages.That is not the only reason for my being unsettled though. There are two other reasons. The first is that I’m still very much in love with Derek and I want to get married to him.Or maybe to tell the whole truth, I'm not really in love with him … at least not in the sense of the word, but still, I want to get married to him.Getting married to someone like Derek would mean that I would not have to work for the rest of my life, and I could live like the queen that I am, with more than enough money to do whatever the hell I like without having to work.The second reason is that I am scared … scratch that, I'm terrified! Yes, I have done th