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Let Me Go, Ex Husband! 09
ris’ Pov“What don’t you like?” I asked, staring at Orchard confusedly.He opened his mouth to say something, but stopped midway, his brows were knitted. A gesture that showed he was deep in thoughts. Then he turned towards the window, “that smell,” he muttered.My face fell at his words, an air of confusion surrounding me. The amount of weirdness I was getting from him was too much for one night.“Orchard, what is really going…” my words hung in the air as the stench hit my nose as well, temporarily knocking the air out of my longs. I followed the smell and it led me out of the car to the side of the road.There was a vehicle smashed against a tree. Its hood was bent beyond recognition, glass scattered everywhere like shattered ice. The sight took my breath away, and I could barely whisper, “Oh no… no…”My knees started to wobble, and the world spun around me. Just as my legs gave out, strong arms caught me from behind, pulling me back to reality. “Iris, I’ve got you,” Orchard’s voi
Let Me Go, Ex Husband! 10
Orchard "Tell me you have something," I mumbled into the phone once I shut the door to the master bedroom behind me."It's bad," Richard, my lawyer, said. "I think it's best to call it in.""Come to the office as early as possible tomorrow. We need to have a long conversation." I stopped mid-step, and my free hand soon clenched into a fist until I felt pain in my palms from my nails digging into my skin. I shut my eyes tightly."How deep does it go?" I asked.He stood silent for a moment. "Deep," he said. "It's minutes upon minutes of slander. But that's not the main point. We have a few problems, mostly with information." He paused. "You know what? Just come in tomorrow."I let out a small sigh and continued my trip to my study. Once there, I pulled out my laptop and opened my email."I've sent you a couple of files," he said. "Take a quick look at them and get back to me. I've already initiated some lawsuits against a few people and issued some cease and desists to other influencer
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Orchard.I woke up to the incessant ringing of my alarm, reminding me it was time for another day of work. Mornings weren’t usually my favorite time of the day, but my thoughts on that, became conflicted since I married Iris. Although, I stubbornly refused to admit it to myself, I loved waking up to see the sunlight caressing her beautiful face. Those faint glows on her luscious lips were enough to keep me going throughout the day. “Morning,” I whispered as I got out of bed, even though she was still sleeping. I took a quick shower and soon fitted into my work clothes. I had them picked out for me already, so I spent a lesser time dressing up. I hadn’t said goodbye to Iris when I was leaving. In fact, I left while she was still snoozing happily, her face buried into her pillow. I made a quick and quiet arc of getting dressed and heading outside, ensuring I barely made a sound until I was in the car and zoomed off to work.As promised, Richard was waiting for me in front of my of
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IrisI woke up to several text messages flooding my phone, completely covering the home screen."What?" I mumbled to myself groggily. I wiped the sleep from my eyes, muttering something incoherent about waking up to too many things and having to look at my phone so early in the morning."Hey, it's Macy. I'm meeting you for lunch today. Here’s the address." Underneath was the name of a rather popular restaurant some distance away from my house. I knew it; it was where Tiffany liked to go and "flex," as she would say, with her friends back when we were in high school.I buried my head back into the pillow, mumbling, "Why me?" I asked myself, until I suddenly remembered I was married to a rich man and that, by virtue of the fundraiser I went to, I had thrown myself into the limelight as a social butterfly."Oh God," I sat up straight. That wasn’t all she had texted. I buried my head back into the pillow and decided it best to take another nap for at least two hours.My eyes suddenly snap
Let Me Go, Ex Husband! 13
Iris.The hairs on my skin stood still as her ever irritating voice scarred the walls of my eardrum. I could immediately feel bile rising to my throat, sucking all the air from my throat.My eyes darted to Macy and she stared back, shaking apologetically. Showing that she had no idea Tiffany was coming.So this was a set up? I thought to myself. Wonderful.“Hello, Tiffany,” I turned around to meet her gaze, offering her a wide smile. She, and perhaps everyone else in the room could tell it was fake, but I didn’t care. “Why don’t you join us,” I gestured to a seat at the corner of the room.“No, thank you.” She batted her fake eyelashes, “I’d rather sit beside you.”The reason as to why she was invited remained uncertain, but those days I let her walk over me like I was some carpet at an ancient temple, was long gone.“Of course.” I replied. “Sisters should stick to each other, shouldn’t they?” I turned to the other women, and they each gave their nod of approval. Even the one who wou
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OrchardI need a fucking drink, I thought to myself as I rubbed my eyes, trying to clear the slight fuzziness. For hours now, I had been in what was my equivalent of a situation room.If I had known this was going to be my situation at the office, I would have stayed in bed longer, drowning myself in the scent of Iris and allowing her soft hair sprawl across my face .Instead, I was stuck with these people who kept repeating the same thing over again, while seeking for my approval.After that meeting ended, I attended a couple of others, with the same process, until I attended the one that finally mattered.My lawyer, head of finance, and other important people in the administration of the hotel had been non-stop pouring over files, muttering to themselves regarding a solution to what was not yet a crisis.At least, that was a bright side, I thought to myself. I pulled Richard aside, tapping on the table and gesturing for him to wheel his chair over to me."The financial problems asid
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OrchardI had just finished my last meeting for the day and returned to my office, when I realized I hadn’t spoken to Iris all day, and she hadn’t called me either. Perhaps she had a very busy day as well.I pulled out my phone and called her. At least her voice would serve as some form of respite, an anchor of some sort. She didn’t pick up on the first few rings, causing me to call her again, and then again. It was only then that she finally answered.She didn’t say anything, simply breathing heavily into the phone."Are you okay?" I took the initiative to ask, breaking the tense block of ice that had formed between us through the radio waves.“No,” she said in a clipped tone. “Far from it. I woke up this morning to find a message inviting me to lunch. Silly old me thought it was going to be all peaches and cream, all bubblegum and niceness. Instead, here I am, subject to high-school-level bullying from the popular crowd. And guess who showed up?”I couldn’t help myself; curiosity bu
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IrisI was nervous. So nervous, in fact, that my vision became blurry, and my heart began to thunder in my chest. Was he going to leave me too? Was he going to ask me for a divorce? What was he going to do?He sucked in a breath as though he was about to say something of seismic proportions, disturbing the balance of the galaxy within me. The butterflies in my belly fluttered so much that I barely felt grounded. Ohhh Orchard, why do you do this to me? I asked myself, my eyes widening so much that my eyebrows nearly merged with my hairline."Dinner," he said. "Would you like to join me for dinner with my family?"I blinked once, then twice, then three times, and just like that, my nerves shattered. The tension broke apart like Humpty Dumpty."Oh," I said in a rather anticlimactic fashion, chuckling nervously. "I don’t know why I got so worked up," I mumbled under my breath, turning my face away from him."Tomorrow evening?" he said, a small smile playing across his lips, almost as if
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Let Me Go, Ex Husband! 29
Tiffany I made sure the black scarf covered most of my face, and if that was not enough, the massive Dolce & Gabbana sunglasses on my nose ought to do something. And if that was not enough, then the huge hat on my head ought to do something. And if, of course, that was not enough, then the face mask that covered half of my face ought to keep me as incognito as possible. Unfortunately, the police officer in charge of visitations was not having it."I'm going to need your face if I'm going to identify you."I pulled off my hat, kept the scarf, and pulled down the face mask before smiling brightly at her in a way that was much similar to the passport photo I took for my driver's license. "You're good," the police officer said, clearing me for the visit. She picked up one of those old landline phones, pressed a few numbers, and waited for a moment, tapping her terrible nails on the table.It was bad, I thought to myself. A part of me genuinely wanted to help her with a manicure, but peop
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Iris*Get a hold of yourself, get a grip, Iris. You’re not a slut.**Oh, the man was beautiful,* I thought, as I watched the planes and ridges of his muscular body. Unable to help myself, I reached for his nipples, circling my fingers around them, enjoying the way he shuddered and smiled. Then he pulled down his sweatpants and kicked them off, revealing his rigid member pointing in my direction, almost as if to say hello.“Well, hello to you too,” I thought with a small smile. It didn’t quite quell the nervousness I felt, the sudden self-consciousness that seemed to take over my mind, making me feel naturally shy. Just as he pulled the tie from the front of my bathrobe, I raised my hands to cover myself.“Don’t do that,” he said in a soft voice, reaching for my hands to gently pry them apart, revealing my breasts to him. “Don’t ever do that. Don’t hide yourself from me. I want to see you.”He leaned down until his face was just inches away from mine again, his breath fanning my face.
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Orchard’s PovOh, great, I thought to myself. She was angry. Everyone was angry. I never used to have issues with my temper. Or maybe I did, but only after she showed up. When I realized Dad couldn’t keep his thing in his pants.“Oh, it’s not that simple,” Mom had explained over and over again.“Explain it to me,” I’d said.“You’re too young for that. If you find out the truth… well, even if you eventually understand, what are you going to do with that?” Mom puffed out a plume of smoke in my face, the stench of tobacco filling the air. Her voice had gone hard and hoarse—a far cry from how she used to sound when she was much younger, the mom I remembered. Mom was different, and even when I was barely 17, I could already see the distance between her and Dad, and I despised it more than ever.“Then tell me what’s wrong,” I said. “Tell me how I can make things better. Is it my fault?”Mom puffed out another plume of smoke. “So what if it is? What are you going to do about it? Run away? Y
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OrchardMy hand hung limp in hers. I suddenly felt so cold that I took a step back.“I feel... I don’t know, somehow I’m just jobless,” she nervously chuckled and looked away. “But it’s not your fault. I’m just—I guess—overly critical about things that I shouldn’t be.” She lifted a hand to tuck a stray tendril of dark hair behind her ear. Suddenly, she looked down at her phone.“So, is the dinner with your father still going to happen? I mean, I don’t know. Maybe you should talk to him or something. He didn’t exactly seem too happy after the whole incident. But only if you want to talk about it,” she said. “I’m not trying to insert myself.”“It’s fine,” I said. “I do want to see Dad. I have a few things I want to tell him.”“It’s only if you want to,” I added, reaching for her hand once more. Instead, she took a step forward, walking ahead of me.“Then let’s go get ready,” she said, briefly turning back towards me with a smile. The woman didn’t know what she was doing, I thought to m
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OrchardFlashing lights may cause epileptic seizures, and "all that jazz" could best describe the exact thing I was currently facing. Flashing lights, over and over again from nearly a hundred cameras in front of me in one of the conference rooms of my hotel, nearly blinded me. I shut my eyes briefly, turning my head and finding Iris not so far off to the side. Her eyes were on me, brimming with support of some sort. If only she could come closer, I thought to myself as I shot her a small smile."Remember," I felt a hand on my shoulder and my uncle’s voice in my ear."Offer an apology, tell them...""I know what to say. I'm not a kid, you know." I shrugged his hand off my shoulder and turned once more to the flashing lights. I snapped my fingers in front of the nearest microphone, causing the flashes to momentarily stop."My name is Orchard Hector." I cast my eyes briefly towards the crowd of vigorously typing reporters. "A few things have come to light recently," I said. "A few vid
Let Me Go, Ex Husband! 24
Iris….I was left alone in the passenger seat, tapping my fingers against my thigh, counting the seconds as they ticked by. The silence wasn’t terrible, just… dull. I let out a sigh, glancing at my reflection in the side mirror. My face looked tired, and a little boredom stretched across my features.“I’ll just take a quick look around,” I muttered to myself, pushing open the car door. My curiosity was getting the better of me. Besides, staying cooped up in that car wasn’t doing me any favors. I stretched, feeling the stiffness in my muscles ease as I stepped out. The surroundings were simple but lovely—greenery lined the paths, and a few birds chirped here and there, flitting between the trees. It felt peaceful.I wandered along the path, admiring a bed of bright flowers, bending to examine them closely. Nature always had a way of calming me down. The fresh air, the soft rustling of leaves—it was like a gentle lullaby.But soon, I started to feel tired, my legs ached from the walk.
Let Me Go, Ex Husband! 23
Orchard…The drive to the restaurant was quiet, a tense silence settling between Iris and me. I kept my eyes on the road, watching the streetlights slide past in a blur of light and shadow. Iris fixed her gaze outside the window, neither of us said a word, but the unspoken tension filled the car, like a storm gathering in the distance.When we arrived at the restaurant, I spotted Dave, Tiffany, and her mother already seated by the large windows, their silhouettes framed by the glow of the chandeliers above. I turned to Iris as I unbuckled my seatbelt. “Will you be okay here on your own for a bit?”“I’ll be fine,” she replied, offering me a small smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.I gave a nod, reaching out to squeeze her hand briefly before getting out of the car. I knew she could handle herself, but I still felt reluctant to leave her alone in this tense atmosphere. As I made my way inside, I caught sight of my uncle, sitting at the far end of a private room, his eyes immediat
Let Me Go, Ex Husband! 23
Orchard…The drive to the restaurant was quiet, a tense silence settling between Iris and me. I kept my eyes on the road, watching the streetlights slide past in a blur of light and shadow. Iris fixed her gaze outside the window, neither of us said a word, but the unspoken tension filled the car, like a storm gathering in the distance.When we arrived at the restaurant, I spotted Dave, Tiffany, and her mother already seated by the large windows, their silhouettes framed by the glow of the chandeliers above. I turned to Iris as I unbuckled my seatbelt. “Will you be okay here on your own for a bit?”“I’ll be fine,” she replied, offering me a small smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.I gave a nod, reaching out to squeeze her hand briefly before getting out of the car. I knew she could handle herself, but I still felt reluctant to leave her alone in this tense atmosphere. As I made my way inside, I caught sight of my uncle, sitting at the far end of a private room, his eyes immediat
Let Me Go, Ex Husband! 22
Iris’ Pov I stood on our room’s balcony, inhaling and exhaling, as I soaked in the evening breeze. Outside, a few stars were visible, twinkling softly. Orchard had excused himself to make a call in his study, and as much as I respected his privacy, I couldn’t help the worry that gnawed at me. He had been tensed since we arrived home, which was a few hours ago. He was silent even at the dinner table, and barely said a word to me when we came back our room. I may not know him too well, but I knew something was troubling him, and it bothered me that he wouldn’t share it with me.I sat in silence, listening to the distant murmur of his footsteps as he headed down the hallway. After a few minutes, I couldn’t resist. I was curious to know what was going on. I got of bed as quietly as I could, I tiptoed down the hall to his study. I knew it was wrong to eavesdrop, but I couldn’t stand the thought of him bearing a burden alone.When I reached his study, I saw that the door was left slight
