The Last Goodbye

"Aaah... My head..."

When Vivi woke up the next day, the first thing she felt was a headache that made her groan in pain. She wasn't a good drinker, and it had been a long time since she last had alcohol. But when she thought about how she drank without thinking last night, Vivi could only feel bad about it.

"Would you like to have a little fun with me tonight, miss?"

Vivi's closed eyes immediately opened wide as a flash memory from the night before rushed through her head. Her heart seemed to stop pounding as she glanced at herself, already naked and wearing only underwear.

"W-what happened?"

Vivi pulled the blanket over her body with shaky hands as she looked around the luxurious hotel room. But there was no one there. All she saw was her face in the mirror, looking very worried.

"What did I do? That guy..."

Vivi shut her eyes and tried to recall what had happened. But she could only remember bits and pieces of what had happened to her the night before.

She remembered herself dancing on the dance floor. She remembered drinking greedily in front of the bar and even her arrogant words to the bartender who had served her. Then she remembered Darren's eyes fixed on her when his hand was on her wrist.

"No! No!" Vivi shook her head when she couldn't remember anything else about Darren.

Vivi thought, "We didn't do anything, did we?" as she touched herself to see if anything was strange. She was even more scared when she found kiss marks on her chest.

"That guy... What has he done to me?"

***

When Vivi left the hotel where she was staying, the sun was already high in the sky. She gave up trying to remember what Darren had done to her and convinced herself she hadn't lost her virginity because Darren wouldn't touch her when she was on her period.

Even though something unexpected had happened to her, Vivi was still glad she didn't have to spend the whole night crying over her divorce from Lucas Warren. She was glad she was drunk enough to forget all her problems, and it seemed like she still wasn't fully sober as she walked past Lucas' loafers, which shouldn't have been on the shoe rack in her apartment.

"You just got home??"

Vivi stopped in the living room, and the woman who had come home stumbling and smelling of alcohol couldn't hide her surprise when she saw Lucas standing there. She stared at him, as shocked as he was to see his ex-wife, whom he knew was a good lady, returning home this afternoon after a night out.

***

Vivi left her room hesitantly after taking a shower. She wanted to stay in her room because she was embarrassed, but Lucas, who was waiting for her in the living room, made her come out and meet him.

Vivi sat on the sofa across from Lucas with her head down. It was as if she didn't have the courage to look at Lucas after he caught her coming home drunk at almost noon, even though the court had finalized her divorce yesterday.

"I came here to pack my stuff. The movers are coming tomorrow to pick them up, so can you be home to meet them?" Lucas asked to start his talk with Vivi. "Or, if you are busy, I can ask them to come–"

"I'm not busy!" Vivi quickly cut off Lucas. She seemed worried that he would think she was returning to the club tomorrow and couldn't meet the movers. "I'll be staying at home all day tomorrow."

"Ah, I'm glad to hear that," Lucas replied, smiling. But he loses his smile when he looks at the kiss mark on the left side of Vivi's neck, which Vivi herself doesn't seem to notice the mark.

Lucas was feeling guilty about Vivi yesterday. Since he had suddenly divorced Vivi and made her a widow at a young age, Lucas thought that Vivi would have a hard time getting through the post-divorce period. But when Lucas saw Vivi come home drunk and with kiss marks on her neck, he realized that Vivi could handle the situation much better than he thought.

"What are your plans after this?" Lucas asked, leaving Vivi speechless for a long moment.

Even though Vivi had known from the start that her contract marriage with Lucas would end in divorce, she had never considered what kind of life she would lead after officially becoming a widow.

"I haven't planned anything yet," Vivi replies honestly. "I'll just live my life as usual and see where it takes me."

"I'm sorry that our marriage has hampered your youth. I hope you can enjoy your life again now, as you did when I wasn't in it."

Vivi silently smiled, remembering how her life was before she met Lucas. Despite working at a grocery store in the morning and a fast food restaurant in the evening, she was just a single woman who never had enough money to have fun. She had worked since she graduated from high school and continued to work until she was 23, with no money or anything of worth despite working all those years.

Then a miracle happened. The first time she saw Lucas come into the fast-food restaurant where she worked, she didn't know who her customer was. Until Lucas, who comes in almost every night when she works the night shift, starts to attract Vivi's attention, the woman's curiosity about Lucas pushes her into a bottomless pit called love.

Until one night, Lucas, who usually only talked to her when ordering food, offered something that left Vivi speechless.

"Would you like to marry me? If you marry me, you won't have to work here every night."

It truly was a miracle. Despite the fact that Lucas, who offered to marry her out of desperation since his parents constantly attempted to set him up, stated that it was just a contract marriage, Vivi foolishly hoped for a miracle in their marriage. Because in every story she had read or seen regarding contract weddings, the two people involved would fall in love with each other.

Unfortunately for Lucas and Vivi, this was not the case. Lucas married Vivi to hide his secret relationship with Freya, which made Vivi understand she never had a chance of getting Lucas in the first place.

Even in the end, the contract is carried out as planned, with no miracle that Vivi hopes will make their marriage last forever, except for the part where Vivi can't help falling in love with Lucas, which makes her suffer alone now that they are separated.

"So, what happens after the movers come tomorrow?" Vivi asked after a brief silence.

"You just have to show them my room and they'll do the rest," Lucas said, unfortunately misunderstanding the meaning of Vivi's question.

"What's next after the movers bring all your stuff?" Vivi asked once more. And when she saw Lucas looking at her with confusion, she continued to talk about something that bothered her. "After your things are no longer here, will you not come here anymore? Will we never meet each other again?"

"I think so. There's no reason for us to see each other," Lucas said, which made Vivi realize that the man intended to never see her again after their divorce. "You are free to do whatever you want with this apartment. You can keep it or sell it and move somewhere else. This apartment is already yours."

Vivi just nodded and didn't say anything else since everything was clear. In her relationship with Lucas, she was the only one in love; now that it was over, she was the only one who was heartbroken.

"Then I'll leave now," Lucas said as he stood up, making Vivi realize she hadn't offered anything to Lucas, who was acting like a guest in this house after their divorce.

"The movers will probably come at noon," Lucas stated as he exited the apartment with Vivi accompanying him to the door.

"It doesn't matter what time it is. I'll be at home all day tomorrow," Vivi announced.

"Then I'll–"

"Ah, that's right. This one."

Lucas stopped when a voice interrupted him. Lucas turned his head back to where Darren was standing in a gray suit. Vivi was shocked when she saw Darren, the man she remembered who had gotten her drunk and brought her to the hotel.

"Who are you?" Lucas asked, drawing Darren's attention to him.

"None of your business," Darren responded arrogantly. He then returned his gaze to Vivi, who was still staring at him with wide-open eyes. It looks like you're sober now. Can we continue talking about what happened last night after this guy left?"

Lucas decided to be sensitive after discovering that the 'this guy' Darren was referring to was him and stated, "Then I'll leave now. Goodbye."

Lucas walked away, ignoring his curiosity about Darren's sudden appearance at Vivi's house because he realized that it was none of his business.

Meanwhile, Vivi seemed so surprised by Darren's appearance that she didn't realize that the 'goodbye' Lucas said to her might be the last thing she heard from him.

"Who are you?" Vivi asked suspiciously. "How do you know my house?"

"Do you remember what we talked about last night? About how bad your contract marriage was and how we're going to do it."

Darren's answer caused Vivi's eyes to widen once more. She couldn't recall anything she said or did with Darren the night before, which concerned her when she heard Darren's words.

"Contract marriage? What do you mean?" asked Vivi, who felt she had misunderstood Darren's words.

But Darren said something that made Vivi regret her decision to go to the nightclub because now she was involved in another problem.

"This is a contract marriage between you and me. We talked about it last night, and you took my watch as a down payment. It's one of my favorite and most expensive watches. And since you have to pay a tenfold fine if you want to cancel our agreement, I'm not sure this apartment alone is enough to make up for it."