Chapter 2

Isabella's pov

“Who…who is that?” James flinched and stuttered in a sharp, frantic voice, jumping down from the couch and pulling away from the woman he was on top of.

“What's going on here?”

I mouthed with teary eyes, my voice losing its strength as I looked from naked James to the strange lady in disbelief, who was also half nude. James grabbed his trousers from the armrest and quickly slipped them on, while the lady tactfully picked her gown from the floor, throwing it on as well.

“What do you mean by what? I.. I was just drunk, that's all.” James said in defense, fastening his belt around his waist and zipping up with quick fingers.

“Uggh!” The lady with him let out a tired sound, rolling her eyes weakly.

“How could you do this to me, James?” I whispered, pointing at him with deep hurt.

“After all I have done for you?”

James kept his face stony; the expression on his face was guilty but nonchalant. I opened my mouth in a bid to express even more, but the hostile voice of a woman suddenly interrupted me from behind.

"What exactly have you done for my son? You good for nothing, beggar. Answer me!"

I stiffened and turned around slowly to look at the door, only to be confronted by another phase of shock. The voice was that of Naomi, James's mother. She was wearing a mask of careless disdain on her face. One of her daughters, Celine, was also standing right beside her, displaying the same contemptuous look.

"All you do in this house is live off James's money.” She continued as soon as our eyes met, sounding even harsher.

“If it was so easy to get money, why didn't you try getting it from your wretched beggarly family, who must have taught you how to leech on men, you disgusting little parasite!" She shouted again.

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I couldn’t wrap my head around the reason for her anger. I just got cheated on by her son, yet I get to receive all these heavy rains of insults?

A tear fell from my eye when I glanced at James and saw that he was still awfully silent.

Naomi watched me with an unfriendly grimace for a second. After that, she clapped her hand testily, turning to face James.

"James, I need you to get those letters you showed me earlier. There's no better time to serve them to her than now."

“Hun! What letter are you serving me?”

James glanced at me, grinding his teeth, before he turned around and dashed past me, making for the door as he headed for our bedroom.

"Celine, my dear, will you help your brother’s wife with her dress.” Naomi’s mischievous voice pulled my attention back to the present.

She was now gesturing at James’s mistress.

Confusion rumpled my teary face. I looked around the room, feeling clueless as I watched Celine scurry toward the couch without hesitation. She sat next to the strange lady and started to assist with zipping up her blouse from behind.

“Brother’s wife?” I queried my thoughts, feeling like my head was spinning too fast.

I opened my mouth with the intention of asking how a home breaker suddenly transformed to James’s wife, but the words that came out were:

“What… papers is he bringing?”

His mum let out a dry, wicked laugh before she spat out her response.

“The divorce papers, my friend! Or are your ears deaf?”

My heart soared wildly.

“Look, my son is tired of your parasitic self and wants to be free. Is that too much to ask? Are you such an ingrate? Would you say you are not aware of the role my daughter here has been playing? What would you be happy about if you worked all day only for some opportunists to reap the harvest?”

“Role?” I murmured, screwing up my face to glance at the girl again. The lady looked back at me, and our eyes met for the first time. She made a sardonic face and looked away.

“Are you surprised?” Naomi continued, eyeing me disdainfully.

“Or how do you think that he became chief of his department? Well, I will not be surprised if you assume it fell from the sky like you always do. But let me school you, since you were too blind to notice. It was Zoey who used her father's connections and influence to elevate my son while you were busy thinking of the next food to consume in your barren stomach.”

“What?” I exclaimed, feeling marred by her words.

“That can’t be Tr….”

My voice trailed off as the door behind me creaked open again. James returned with a piece of paper in his hand. He was now trying hard not to look at me. My face whitened with alarm.

“James!” I whispered, stretching out my hands.

“Please don’t do this, you know I have nowhere to go, don’t you? Please, I still love you. All you’re being told is false. Listen, I am going to tell you the whole truth now. I was actually the one who..who..”

“Look, Salindra.” James cut in quickly.

“No James.” I continued.

“Please let me speak, you’re going to want to hear this, my name is not even…”

“Salindra!” James shouted.

“I get you. I know you must be all spiked up and all. But it is you who needs to listen to me. Look, I never loved you.” He blurted and swallowed.

“What?” I whispered, instantly stunned.

“Tell her.” His mother quipped.

“Yes Salindra.” He continued.

“Everything you thought I had for you was just my mind playing stupid tricks on me. I don’t love you, and I can’t love you, Salindra, we don’t belong in the same class. I’m so sorry, but there’s no future with us. My heart, my soul, and everything is with Zoey here and she is going to be the mother of my kids.”

I was shaking like a leaf stalk while listening to his words, my heart was bleeding and it felt like this was still one big dream, except that it wasn’t, because James’s voice came again, and it was as real as it gets.

He was now stretching the paper in his hand toward me.

“That’s 20,000 dollars for you to start over.” He said.

“What!?” Naomi exclaimed, snatching the slip from him.

“I said divorce her, not enrich her. Why are you so naive, dear son? We just caught a leech in her game, and you want to feed her parasitic appetite the most?”

James shrugged and mumbled something like

“Well, I just don’t want anyone guilt-tripping me tomorrow with stories about wasted years.”

“Really James?” I whispered, with tears dropping from my eyes and hanging on my jawline.

“You heard him, didn’t you? Your little guilt trip game came up too late, so save those crocodile tears for the streets, crook.”

James’s mom took it up from there.

“Celine,” she called, facing her daughter again.

“Go help us with the papers.” She motioned brashly.

“They are in the drawers.” James directed as he proceeded to sit next to the Zoey girl, throwing one arm over her shoulder.

His sister immediately darted off and returned within a few minutes. She brought the papers to her mother, who snatched them hurriedly and flapped them at me in an impatient manner.

“Sign them now, you despicable whore. I don’t want you anywhere around my family from now on. Please go back to wherever it is you came from.”

More tears streamed down my face as I hesitated, still keeping my gaze on James. I just couldn’t bring myself to collect them.

“Sign up the papers, Salindra, don't be such a drama queen. I just told you, didn’t I? I said there was nothing between us. Salindra. Read my lips, nothing.”

James enunciated, keeping his eyes on me. I bit my lips, tasting my salty tears with my tongue.

“Now time up.” His mother marched forward energetically, forcing a pen into my hand and pushing me towards the center table, where she had just dropped the papers.

“Sign this document now; marriage is not a do-or-die affair; go and dig your gold somewhere else.” She clapped her hands frantically.

“Could you please make this thing snappy? My brother said he doesn’t want you. ” James’s sister added.

“Unless you want this to become very violent, real quick," his mother threatened in a low, menacing tone.

I looked around again, feeling the deep pain of such a corporate rejection from an entire family. A family I once loved with all my heart, a family I took an expensive gamble for, and one I stupidly believed I was accepted into for about two years of my life.

I shook my head bitterly and crouched slowly.

In the preceding minutes that followed, I quietly started to fill the requisite spaces with my signature, sniffing and thinking about my parents, particularly my father, and how he would react should he hear of this.