Chapter 45
1039words
Finally, he pulled into a bar, but he could barely drink anything as he had to drive himself back home.
Lily stirred awake at the sounds of the footsteps, and she slowly raised her head from the dinning table to get a good look at the reason behind the footsteps, and she immediately met Asher's confused gaze.
"You're back..." She stated, yawning.
"I am. What are you doing sleeping in the dining area? Is your room infested or something?"
She rolled her eyes and stood up from the chair. "I just wanted to make sure that you get in safely tonight."
"Oh, is that so? Making sure your fun toy is nice and intact, ready to share stories and keep you satisfied in bed?"
Lily snapped her eyes shut and inhaled sharply. "Let's not do this right now, Asher. It's late. We both have long days tomorrow, and we should get to bed."
He stared at her back and sighed in exasperation, he just couldn't understand it. Why was she trying so hard to push him away? This was the deal, wasn't it? She had him exactly where she wanted so why... "Is this about the contents of the file, Lily? " He found himself asking before he could think twice, and Lily's eyes widened. "If it is about it, then you don't have to..."
"I don't know what you saw in there, Asher, but it isn't. This has nothing to do with the contents of it, Asher." She turned and held his gaze. "What else did you expect me to call what went on then? Love? A crush?" Asher opened his mouth, trying to find the right words to say but he failed. "Exactly! There's no other name I could have given to it. It's not love, no one falls in love that fast. A crush maybe, but at the end of the day, it was just fun. We were just two adults having fun, and there's nothing wrong with that. Absolutely nothing. "
" The problem isn't... Can't you... " He sucked in a breath and palmed his face. " You know what? You're right. It was just fun, plain old fun, and there's nothing wrong with that."
Lily's lips trembled at his words, it was what she wanted to hear, yet it pierced her heart. She stood frozen as he brushed past her and walked away. All she wanted to do was call out to him and cling to him, to take back everything she said and rewind the time to when they were both happy, but it was too late, and impossible to do so. The message that popped up as her phone the next second engraved that in her mind.
A few teardrops managed to slide down her face despite her attempts to keep them in, and she forcefully wiped them away from her face. Dragging her feet, she managed to trudge over to her room.
The sight of scattered clothes and a semi-packed suitcase greeted her as she walked in. She had gotten busy with packing when she got back, but halfway in, she felt too sad to continue, but now, despite the pain and rage threatening to consume her, despite the tears trickling down her face and soiling her clothes, she resumed her packing, and she didn't stop till everything was well shoved inside the suitcase.
When she was done, she picked up the brown envelope she had been avoiding all along and pulled out its contents. She struggled to hold her tears in as her eyes glazed over the divorce papers.
For how long will she keep finding herself in this same spot, giving up the things she wanted because again and again she was left with no choice. She could hear her parents' voice in her head, pressuring her to give up her favourite toys, her favourite dresses, her bedroom, all because Charlotte wanted them, and now... She threw her head back, and tried to blink away the tears, before she faced the papers and scribbled down her signature. This was the last sacrifice she was ever going to make for them.
Once the papers were signed, she took a picture of it and tucked it back in then dropped it on the floor. Tomorrow morning, just like the first time, she would drop the papers in his bedroom, and she would leave without a trace. They all would be happier without her anyway.
Her eyes roamed around the room, that was now a little empty because she had packed most of her things, and an exhausted sigh escaped her lips. She was going to miss this place, it has been her sanctuary, her safe space for the past 5 years and now, she was going to leave it.
Thinning her lips, she exhaled loudly and crawled into the bed, wrapping the duvet over her. She pulled up the picture she took earlier of the signed paper and she stared at it for a few seconds before she forwarded it to her father. "It's signed, I'll get his signature tomorrow and I'll be out of the house as well."
No later than a minute, she immediately got a text back from him. "Be out before 10 AM, Charlotte would be moving in immediately."
She cleaned her eyes and reread the text, hoping she read it wrong, but it was exactly what she saw and read the first time that was written there. She let out a shaky breath and slammed the phone on the bed.
What was it about her that made him hate her so? What did she ever do wrong? Her throat burned as these questions swirled in her mind, but she knew as always, that she would be getting no answers to them.
"It'll all be over tomorrow." She whispered and pulled the duvet even closer to herself.
