Chapter 12

Aria woke up to the loud ring of the bedside telephone and sleepily stretched her stiff body, causing her to hiss in pain. Her whole body felt sore as if she had been run over by a tractor.

She felt that stretching her hands to even pick up the receiver would be an arduous task, and in her hesitation, the harsh ringing sound of the telephone came to an end.

“Jayden, you beast,” she mumbled under her breath and squinted her eyes sleepily, trying to take in her surroundings.

She realized she was still in the hotel suite, but she was all alone…again. Her husband was nowhere in sight. A pang of heartache flashed past her eyes as memories from the previous night flashed through her mind.

She realized she had been cleaned up and was currently wearing very comfortable white robes. Lost in thought, she heard someone knock on the door and say,

“Room service.”

“Come in,” Aria responded. She realized she was properly clothed and not showing any skin.

The door opened, and a neatly dressed woman looking about 30 years old in a Hunt hotel uniform came in with a small food cart that had a wide variety of food on it.

“Mr. Hunt told me to bring you breakfast at 8 if you were still here. I'm sorry for coming here without waiting for your instructions first, but I've been calling for a while, and you were not picking up, so I was quite worried and decided to come anyway,” she said.

“Thanks, Ellen, you can leave the food there; I'll help myself to breakfast later,” Aria said to the woman, addressing her by the name written on her name tag.

“Okay, ma'am,” Ellen said and left, closing the door behind her.

Aria swallowed her saliva in hunger when the aroma of the food wafted through the room into her nostrils.

She took away the sheets from her lower body and got out of bed, wincing at every movement she made.

She picked up a fork and picked some omelet into her mouth, closing her eyes and nearly moaning at the heavenly taste.

She had just taken a second scoop when her eyes caught sight of a note by the side of the bed.

Her hunger momentarily forgotten, she approached the note and saw two words written on it.

“Sign it,” it read.

Aria felt her knees buckle as realization hit her.

‘Jayden still wanted her to sign the divorce papers,’ she heard her heartbreak before she felt it, and the dam broke loose as large tears fell down her cheeks.

~~~

1st class hospital,

Jayden lay in his hospital bed feeling angry at the whole world and everything around him. His mother's constant sermons this early morning were also getting on his nerves and adding salt to his wounds.

He was already going crazy from what James had told him, and his mother wouldn't shut up after that.

“The madam has agreed to sign the divorce papers and doesn't want anything to do with you. She had refused to come to see you even when I told her about your condition,” James had said these words to him a few minutes ago before leaving him alone with his mother, and his mother won't stop bad-mouthing Aria.

“I told you that the gold digger was only after your money and family name, but you wouldn't believe me and married her anyway. You see how she's repaying you now that she knows she doesn't need you anymore. She thinks you're a burden and…”

“Enough, Mum!” Jayden snarled, causing his mother to hold her chest in fright. Her eyes widened seeing the cold look in his eyes.

“You are shouting at me because of that selfish woman? Jayden, I'm your mother, the person who cares about you the most in this world,” Mrs. Audrey said, her eyes looking teary.

Jayden would have believed his mother if he didn't know just how much his mom disliked Aria for her poor background.

He had already seen how badly his mother treated Aria, but he had turned a blind eye to it, knowing Aria would silently take it without complaining. Besides, Aria was just a pawn in his game to take everything away from his twin brother, Kayden.

He wanted to show Kayden that he could have everything as long as he wanted, even if it was his woman or his freedom. Aria was just a gullible woman who should blame herself for getting involved with his brother in the first place.

His brother was the curse of the Hunt family, and he must end up with nothing.

“Aria is not like that; you must have done something to make her say such things and refuse to see me. Tell me, Mum, what have you done to Aria?” Jayden asked, his gaze sinister and causing him to look intimidating even when he was lying in a hospital bed paralyzed from his neck downwards.

“Me?" Mrs. Audrey asked, pointing to herself and looking like someone who had been wrongly accused.

"What could I have done to such a grown woman? Don't you trust James? He's your closest employee, and he was the one who reported back to you. I've not left this hospital since I came here yesterday,” Mrs. Audrey added.

“I want to be alone, Mother,” Jayden said and looked away from his mother, fixing his eyes on the hospital walls.

He didn't know what to believe, and the uncertainty was killing him. He hated that he couldn't do anything on his own, and for a moment, he wished he was dead rather than stay here in bed alive and useless.

~~~

Aria left the hotel suite about an hour later, lost in thought and out of sorts. She was wearing the same dress from the previous night and had gotten a scarf from the hotel staff, which she tied around her neck to hide the hickey on her neck.

She had just entered a cab when she received a call from her best friend Cara that she was sick and admitted to the hospital.

“Aww, sorry sweetie, which hospital is that? Let me come and see you,” Aria said, trying to mask her sadness. Cara immediately gave her the address.

“I'm in a 1st-class hospital. Just call me when you get here, and I'll tell someone to come get you,” Cara said and coughed, her voice sounding weak.

“Sure, dear, I'm on my way,” Aria said and called the cab driver's attention.

“Please send me to the 1st-class hospital instead. Thank you,” she said.