NOLAN Yena was asleep when Nolan got up in the morning, and he managed not to wake her as he showered and dressed. He kissed her on the forehead lightly before leaving. In this office, the divorce forms were waiting for him on his desk. The stack of papers was nearly an inch thick. Nolan would be spending his morning reading through it, making sure everything was in order… just in case Yena would actually go through with it. He sighed repeatedly as he leafed through the paperwork. And thought seriously about abandoning this plan. It was so dangerous. The closer he got to giving her this choice, the more afraid he was becoming. She might actually take this opportunity he has giving her. And Nolan would lose the only person in the world who had ever really known him. And who he loved more than anything. More than he ever thought was possible. But he had to do something. So he was moving forward with the plan, and just holding out hope in
YENA I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. It felt like a knife to the heart. And not just a single stab wound. It was like Nolan, my beloved husband, who I cherished more than anything in the world… had driven a knife into my heart and twisted it. How could he do this? How could he even think of such a horrible thing? Let alone go through with drawing up all this paperwork? Just days ago, he finally told me he loved me. It felt so true at the time. But… The knife went deeper and twisted harder when he brought up Gina’s name. He said that it wasn’t about her. That he didn’t love her. But how could it not be? Why would he divorce me, if he didn’t have a plan for who he would marry next? Nolan could not be a bachelor. If we separated, he would remarry immediately. He claimed that this was for me.That apparently serving me with divorce paperwork was somehow something he was doing for my own sake. For my own go
“He gave me divorce forms.”Lucy practically screamed. “He did what?!”“He gave them to me tonight at dinner. Hundreds of pages, Lucy. He had a whole, complicated thing prepared before he even told me anything about it.”“Oh my Goddess, Yena, why?! I thought you were in love?”“I thought so too,” I said, and then I broke down into sobs again.Lucy gave me lots of reminders to breathe while I tried to stop crying. She told me that she loved me and asked how she could help.“You’re helping already,” I told her. “Thank you. Thanks for listening.”“I’m here for you. Always.”When I was able to catch my breath, I told Lucy the whole thing.About how Nolan told me last week that I could study abroad, and he’d support me. But then tonight, he finally revealed that it was just not something I could do at all… if I stayed married to him. If I stayed a princess.I didn’t even mention Gina yet, when Lucy brought it up.“Do you think… that it could really be about something else?” she asked caref
“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” Adan told Lucy. “I’ve got a really busy day ahead of me, so I won’t be able to get together tonight.”“Aww,” she whined. “Okay, fine. But I’ll be missing you.”“Me too.”Adan rolled his eyes.He was talking to Lucy through his car’s speakers, while driving out to the capitol.“And hey,” he added. “I think it would be really good for you to check on Yena today. Maybe you could give her a call.”“I was thinking the same,” Lucy replied. “I’ll do that. You’re so sweet to think of her.”“Ah, I’m just worried about her.”“So am I.” She sighed.“It’s sad, what Nolan is doing…” Adan trailed off, hoping to pique Lucy’s interest.“What do you mean?”“Well, it’s just that Yena is such a wonderful girl. So smart and talented, so ambitious. And Nolan convinced her that he loved her, but… well, would you give divorce papers to someone that you really loved?”“No,” Lucy said. “No way. It doesn’t make sense.”“It doesn’t. The only reason he’d divorce her is because he doesn’t
I was waiting for Nolan in our room when he returned from work in the evening. “Hey,” he said as he closed the door behind him. His tone was solemn.And then he saw where I was sitting, and what I was doing. I was at the little dining table in our suite, with the divorce forms stacked neatly in front of me. Nolan walked over slowly. He loosened his tie and shrugged off his jacket on the way. His eyes were on the stack of papers the whole time. “I decided… that I can agree to this,” I told him. I couldn’t look him in the eye while I said it. I didn’t want him to see how badly I was hurting.It was everything I could do just to sit through this. To say these awful words, do this awful thing. “I signed it all,” I said. “I’m pretty sure I got to everything. Took a long time to look at all the pages, but I did it.” Hearing my own voice was strange. It sounded totally empty of emotion. I think I had run out of feelings. All that
“I will not allow this,” Luna said. “Absolutely not. What were you thinking, Nolan?”She was furious, pacing the room with her arms folded tightly across her chest. The volume of her voice was normal, but her tone was vicious.“You cannot do this, Nolan!”Luna stopped beside the table to look at the divorce forms again. She reached out one hand and drummed her fingers anxiously on the top of the thick stack of papers.Then in one quick, wildly angry motion, she swiped it off the table. The papers went spilling onto the floor and floating into the air.Nolan gave up trying to look like he had any composure left.He dropped his head into his hands and rubbed his tired eyes.“Tell me what you were thinking,” Luna said through clenched teeth. “Tell me what was going through your head when you had this contract drafted.”Nolan kept his face buried in his hands. His voice was muted as he answered.“I was thinking that she would say no.”“You handed her divorce forms.” Luna enunciated every
YENA “Oh, Yena, I’m so sorry… are you alright?” I closed my eyes and thought about that. “I don’t know, Tina. But I will be.” “Yes,” she said. “I know you will. And I’m proud of you for following your dream.” Tina sounded sad, probably because she could feel that I was. I was sitting in bed, staring at the door. Wondering when Nolan was going to come back here tonight… or if he would at all. Maybe he didn’t want to sleep in the same bed as me tonight. And if he did walk through the door, what was I going to say to him? He seemed upset when I gave him the divorce forms back, signed. But he was the one who wrote them up in the first place… “Yena, you there?” “Yeah. Sorry. What did you say?”I realized Tina had asked something while I was thinking about Nolan. “I was asking when you can come to see us here? I’d love to talk to you
Nolan splashed his face with cold water and looked at himself in the mirror.The hangover had him groggy, and his reflection was blurry.His skin was pale and greasy. He could even smell the sour smell of alcohol sweating out of his skin.Wake up, he told himself, rubbing his eyes to get them to focus. They were puffy, with dark purple circles underneath.Nolan gave himself a hard slap across the face, to force himself to his senses.It helped sober him up.A fast, hot shower helped a little, too.He needed a shave but didn’t have time to call for an attendant come and do a proper job of it for him.Going a little too fast with the straight razor, he wound up nicking himself right in the center of his throat. It bled more than he expected and took a while to stop.And now he was definitely late for whatever appointment was waiting for him.He looked down at the white towels he’d used to soak up all the bright red blood. And started thinking about Yena.His own blood smelle