Sarah’s POV
It's been one week. One week since I told Susan off and three days since I set my eyes on Richard. E would stay away from home before but this was worse. Then he would pop back in after a day or two but now he had been gone for seven days and I had no doubt this was some kind of revenge for the way I spoke to his girlfriend. But what did he expect me to do? She had been very rude to me, had he been expecting me to just take it all quietly and do everything she said? I was his wife, not a slave she had hired on a payroll. Somehow, a part of me wished I could take back everything I did – and said – while another part of me wishes she could have spoken up for herself sooner.
I rolled on my side and slipped out of bed. The day had just begun but I didn’t feel like doing anything. There was nothing to do and most of the time, I spent my time playing on my phone, scrolling through Twitter, checking emails and playing music. I watched a movie or two sometimes but I didn’t like using my phone for that. I preferred going to the cinema for that or watching it on the Plasma screens Richard had installed in all the rooms in this house. I made my way into the bathroom to freshen up and decided to soak for a while in the tub. Usually, I would read a book or watch a movie but not today. Today I was alone with my thoughts, my jumbled and conflicted thoughts. I must have fallen asleep because when I opened my eyes, the water had turned cold and I was now shivering.
Making my way out of the bathroom, I padded across the room naked in search of my towel. Just as I wrapped it around my body, the sound of the doorbell rang through the house and I frowned. Who could that be? It couldn’t be Richard ringing the doorbell because he had a key, the same thing applied to Desmond. I wasn’t expecting any visitors and apart from my mother, no one in my life knew the location of this house.
I ran out of the room, taking the stairs two at a time so I could get to the door in time before the person on the other end broke the doorbell. I unlocked the door and blocked the way, glaring at the man standing in front of me. What was he doing here?
“Richard said you’d be home.” Was the first thing he said as soon as our eyes met and I narrowed my eyes. “May I come in?”
“He isn’t here, Martins.” I reminded him as I stepped aside to let him through. Martins Stan was Richard’s best friend and the family’s lawyer. His father, Luke had been Richard’s father’s lawyer and friend before he died so it was a no-brainer that after he died, the role would be passed on to his son who was already Richard’s friend at the time. As far as I could remember, Martins and I had never conversed not because he never tried, I just never gave him the chance to and always kept my guard up around him for fear that whatever I shared with him would somehow find its way back to Richard.
He slumped on the couch noisily and nodded. “I know he isn’t here, I’m here to see you,”
For a moment, I couldn’t quite understand why Martins would want to see me seeing as we had nothing in common and nothing to talk about. That was until he brought out an envelope from his briefcase and stretched it out to me.
My heart sank to the pit of my stomach and I didn’t have to open it to guess what it contained. Richard was asking for a divorce. “He really doesn’t care about me,” I scoffed, pulling the papers out of the envelope. I was right, of course I was.
“I hate to be the bearer of bad news but it’s one of the hazards of the job.” He continued speaking and I tuned him out, staring at the papers in my hand. “At least now you can finally be free to do whatever you want with your life.
He was right, I was going to be free to live my life on my own terms so why didn’t the thought warm my heart and give me joy?
“He has added a hefty sum of money for you once you have signed the papers.”
How convenient. I thought bitterly but said instead; “I’m not signing this,” I leaned forward and dropped the papers on the centre table. “You tell Richard that if he wants me to sign this, he’d have to come and hand them over to me himself.”
I was being difficult, maybe but I didn’t care. I deserved better than being tossed aside like a rag doll.
****
“Ugh, why is she still here? I thought Martins was supposed to serve her the papers today?” Susan hissed as she walked into the house, Richard behind her. Martins had only been gone for two hours so I guessed Richard thought I would have been gone by now. Too bad for him.
“Why haven’t you signed the papers? Aren’t you tired of this life?” Richard asked and I inhaled sharply.
“What do you mean by that?”
He rolled his eyes and I stood there waiting for an answer. Surely he hadn’t been doing everything on purpose to make me tired so I would divorce him. “I can’t love you the way you expect me to. Wouldn’t you rather be with a man that loves you?”
That was the same thing Martins said.
“Fine, I will sign it.” I sighed, blinking back tears and Susan clapped her hands excitedly. “But you’re going to come back begging me one day Richard and I won’t listen,” I yelled as a tear rolled down my cheeks. “You will regret this decision of yours but by then it will be too late.”
“I’ll go get the wine and some glasses. We should celebrate!” Susan said and excused herself.
I waited for Richard to say something, anything but instead, he just laughed and followed her out of the living room, leaving my heart shattered in a million pieces.
Sarah’s POV“Hello Mum, how are you doing?” I asked, genuinely wanting to think about anyone else but myself. My current situation in my marriage was weighing me down. Being in a loveless marriage or at least where the love was one-sided was a pain in the ass. I had to struggle every day to be noticed by my husband. Granted our marriage had been a contract marriage – an agreement between his father and my grandfather -, with no promise of love but yet I found myself yearning for my husband to notice me. Richard had always been my crush right from high school but he had just never noticed me, always been too cool from day 1 to notice the nerdy girl in the corner. Even though I was more girlish now with curves and a D-sized cup, he still didn’t see me. I guess it was once a nerd, always a nerd. “Sarah?” Mum’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts and I sighed. “I’m sorry Mum, what were you saying?” “Are you okay? You sound worried.” Sometimes her ability to read me even from far away w
Sarah’s POVAs I made my way downstairs to meet Richard, my nerves got the best of me like a teenager going on her first date. I never thought any man would see me like this ever but here I was about to stand in front of my husband like this. I wondered what he would see as I made my way into the living room where I could hear footsteps. I wondered what he would think of me, how he would react, and what the outcome of this whole thing would be. Would things go south or would he find this whole thing endearing and pull me closer? “Welcome home honey, I made dinner,” I said, walking into the living room, my heart in my throat. Would he kick me out of his life because of this?“Good evening, Mrs. Williams, I’m here to return the keys of the car.” I shrieked at the same Desmond swore and covered his eyes, his cheeks red from embarrassment. “Why are you here? Where is Richard?” I asked, unable to keep the annoyance out of my voice. I pulled the robe closer to my body, irritated that my e
Sarah’s POVI walked into the kitchen the next morning and did a takeback when I saw Richard rummaging in the freezer for something. “What are you doing?” He jumped which caused him to hit his head on the freezer top and then glared at me while rubbing his head. “What are you doing?” he threw my question back at me and it was my time to glare at him. “Where were you last night?” I asked, shocked at how strong my voice came out when I was a bundle of nerves on the inside. I had never said more than two words at a time to Richard before and now I didn’t even know if he’d hit me for being so gutsy. “You didn’t come home last night.” He eyed me for a while and then hissed, turning his attention back to the freezer which seemed more attractive than me at that moment. The nerve of this man. Had it been any other day, I would have let it slide and walked away to go and cry in my room or the bathroom but not today. After last night, I was tired of being so silent and not speaking up for my
Sarah’s POV“What did you say?” I asked staring at the man sitting across from me. Too many things had happened today and I was still trying to make sense of them. This, whatever this was, I couldn’t take it and I had taken so much already. I glared at a drunk Richard, hugging another woman’s waist in our living room, and crossed my hands over my chest. “We are going to bed and you are going to get out of the way.” He made a move to push me out of the way and staggered, falling sideways. I stretched my hand out to help him but he pushed my hand away. “Don’t touch me,” he glared at me and I took a step back feeling like I had been slapped.I stepped to the side and watched as he led the woman whom he had brought home, whose name I still didn’t know up the stairs. I blinked back tears and stood there for a few minutes trying to get rid of the huge lump in my throat. Never in my life had I felt so hurt and insulted. I had never loved anyone else in my entire life and Joshua Jones in th