_____________________...~~THREE YEARS LATER~~."Can you stay still?" I screamed at my hysterical sister as I fixed her veil. "All the daisies are going to fall off at this rate!""Who invented wedding gowns?" Gabby screeched as she tugged at the tulle of her wedding gown."Oh, the first documented wedding gown was worn in fourteen-o-six by-""No thanks, Miranda." I cut the overenthusiastic wedding planner off.Gabby rolled her eyes. "You know too much." She told the oblivious lady who just grinned as if it was a compliment. It probably is."You okay?" I whispered to her as I fixed the last daisy.Gabby took a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah, I'm just... nervous.""You're going to marry the love of your life," I said, smiling at her through the mirror. "What's not to be happy about?"Gabby took a deep breath. "It's just... everything is happening so fast. And what if it's not enough?""What do you mean?" I asked, my hand on her shoulder. "You dated him three years before you are marr
_________________________ . . . "Rory, do you even hear her?" Sonya yelled as she came down the stairs, stomping her thigh-high boots. I looked up from my laptop and lifted my hands, shrugging. "I didn't. What's going on?" I asked as I closed my laptop and got up from the living room couch. "She's being disgusting. That's what! I am sixteen years old. What does she take me for?" Sonya came to a stop in front of me and pointed at the stairs where I saw no glimpse of her mother. I knew better than to listen to a sixteen-year-old's one side story so I waited for her mother and my mother-in-law, Elizabeth Keller, to come down the stairs. "What's going on, Beth?" I asked her, a small smile playing on my lips. Teens and their mothers made up for some fascinating drama, and I missed that experience with my mother because I was in a boarding school on another continent, but watching Elizabeth and Sonya fight over the smallest things was very endearing. "You need to come upstairs and
~2 years ago~"This is such great news!" Bianca Stanley, my best friend, squealed as she jumped around in our apartment. I rolled my eyes, sitting back on the couch and resuming the movie I was watching."I know." I smiled. "Dad finally thinks I am ready to face the world."Bianca stopped hopping around and looked at me with a wide smile on her face and pride in her eyes. "My baby is all grown up." She sniffed dramatically as she wiped away invisible tears making me roll my eyes. "You make Momma hen so proud.""All right drama hen. Sit down!" I patted the spot next to me on the couch. She sat down excitedly and gave me a side hug, not failing to rearrange a few bones in the process. She had too much strength that she wasn't aware of."We will go clubbing!" She exclaimed. "I will inform all our friends and we will go clubbing to celebrate you finally getting the job that you wanted in your dream company."She was already on her phone as she spoke and I knew better than to try to talk h
_________________________...~The present~"I want a divorce.""What?" "Is there any connection problem, Rowan? Did you not hear me clearly? Should I text you instead?" I sass, rolling my eyes. "I think there is, Aurora. Because you clearly could not have just said what I think you did." Obviously, what I said must have gotten rid of all of his sleep because his voice is clear and alert now."Try listening more carefully now Rowan. I said I want a divorce." "Excuse me?" The indignancy in his voice makes me almost want to snort. He is reacting as if he did not see that coming despite his actions."You heard what I said, Rowan." I roll my eyes again as I take the turn to our penthouse. "I am going into the apartment and packing my bags right now.""We signed a contract!" There is shuffling on the other side and panic in his voice. He cannot get a divorce now, because if he did, then Simon will pull out all the investments he has made for the new project.It is one of the reasons
_________________________...Bianca and Roselyn wanted me to move in with them until I find a place for myself. They said that it is my apartment and Bianca and I used to share the place before my marriage. But I refused, feeling that I should not invade the privacy of the married couple. And also because I may be the landlady but they are tenants who pay their rent on time.My first thought was to stay at a hotel until I found a place, but then I realized – why should I pay to stay somewhere when I have a friend with a uselessly big condo all to himself?Eric is out of town due to a conference but on calling him, he informed the security guard to let me borrow the spare key he had. The idiot asked me to try to clean up the place while I am staying over, but I have a feeling that he was saying that just to lighten the mood.He might be a monkey and a complete womanizer – worse than my ex-husband-to-be – but he is an amazing friend and he knows to respect people, unlike my ex-husban
_______________________...I wake up to twelve missed calls and twenty-nine new messages. Wow, this is probably more than all the calls and messages he has made to me in the last two years.I am contemplating whether to call back and see what he wants or let him worry some more about the fate of his company when the doorbell rings.I stand up from the couch and with my hand wrapped firmly around my phone, make my way to the door, pressing on the security cam button.I raise a brow when I see that it is Joshua Steelman, Rowan's secretary. The dude is so desperate to get in contact with me now that he sent his secretary looking for me huh?I open the door."Joshua." I smile at the middle-aged man but get no smile in return. Like Boss, like secretary!"Mrs. Keller." He addresses me, his lips in a thin line. I have told him one million times that my name is Ms. Lewis, not Mrs. Keller, but the man just does not learn.This dude is a total ass-kisser and does whatever Rowan wants him to.
_______________________...I am shocked to see the condition my mother is in when I visit my parents. I just arrived in New York yesterday night and the only reason why I got to get any rest is because they needed it too, otherwise, it does not look like my father cares even the tiniest about me. Well, it's not like he ever did. "She really asked for a divorce?" She asks. "She really left your home?""Yes, she did." Dad looks almost annoyed at my mother, though it is nothing compared to the death glare he has etched on his face every time he glances over at me. "What else did you expect, Beth? That poor kid must have gotten fed up of everything that she has had to put up with because of her wretched marriage to this insolent brat of yours! It was a long time coming and you knew it so no need to pretend to be all shocked now.""But I wish she would just talk to me. Maybe I could have talked her out of her decision!" My Mom continues to wail. As much as I did not want my Mom to eve
___________________________...What the hell was I thinking?Seriously, what the living hell was I thinking?I stare at the picture of the two of us taken on our wedding day. And it is safe to say that it was the only moment in the whole of my marriage when he was the reason for my smile. He has only left bitterness in this marriage now. And I don't understand why I sit and ponder on the same things over and over again. Rowan and I were nothing but a business deal and all through the two years of hell that everyone including myself called a marriage, he made sure that I remembered my place in his life - or to be more specific, he made sure that I remembered that I had NO place in his life."What are you looking at?" Roselyn's voice breaks me out of the series of bizarre and nightmarish thoughts in my head.I show her my phone."Walking down that aisle was the last beautiful memory of my life." I sigh. Well, that is a bit dramatic - I have had good memories in the last two years e