Chapter 1
What's the occasion? Today is my fifth year anniversary with Samir, and just like every other year we've celebrated this, I intend to make this the most memorable one just yet.
We've always done this with friends, relatives, and family. However, I want tonight to be just us and all about us.
I've been at work ever since he left for a business meeting like he informed me, and I've took great use of my time to set up a remarkable night for the both of us.
He'd be here any seconds from now. I took off the apron hung over my red gown. I'd already dressed myself up so I wouldn't have to rush when he gets here. It's just a matter of seconds now.
My phone buzzed, ringing out from the island counter where it was placed. I reached out for it as I could turn off the alarm meant to remind me of the night.
An excited gasp fell through my lips when I heard movement far into the living room. I quickly sauntered out of the kitchen in a hurried pace to meet up with him before he could venture upstairs and out of sight.
I've had a blindfold neatly folded into my palm curled delicately behind my figure as I pulled up in his presence.
He looked up at me, his eyes the perfect fit for a magnet, pulling and captivating. His aura was no different, stoic like the expression plastered on his face.
"Darling," my voice rolled out softly, luscious and well controlled. "Do you know what tonight is?"
I took a step forward to dim the space between us. He looked at me estranged as he stepped back from me.
Awe cracked into my features while my gaze turned quizzical. "Are you okay?"
He eyed me in a quick assessment, "What are you doing? Why are you dressed like this?" His tone tasted bitter to my ears, cold and unpleasant.
"I don't have the time for this. I brought you something."
I watched him strolled past me with his portfolio held firmly as he stalked into the living room while I was left rooted on a spot near the entrance.
Hope. I'm hoping to believe that whatever he spoke about having for me is a gift. That he hadn't just shunned my attempts to be his wife right now and get closer to him.
There's no way he's forgotten what today is all about, we celebrate it every year- a constant reminder of the next one.
I pressed down on my thoughts as I went over to meet him and saw him arranging a document out on the center table.
"In light of today's celebration," I began, filled with enthusiasm as I brought to sight the blindfold I had with me. "I-"
"We're getting a divorce," his voice interjected coldly.
"Huh?" My face paled into shock as his words rang repeatedly in my head to process.
We're getting a divorce.
"I want a divorce," he rephrased. Acting out of his own kindness to offer me a pen so I could sign down on the document he's had laid on the table.
My eyes glistened as tears quickly filled it up. "W-wh-wha-what-" I paused to relax myself. "What do you mean?"
I haven't done anything have I? Or is this a joke? A prank? This cannot be real.
"I'm ending this marriage. I don't have all time for this, sign the papers and move out of the area. I've got stuff to do." He strode off after his articulation, void of remorse or attention to the state I've been plunged into.
I picked up the document he had on the table to survey, the labels a harsh sting on my heart as I read through.
This wasn't a prank, he was truly divorcing me for no reason at all. I've been the perfect wife, I've cooked for him, maintain the casual aspect of his life, and a lot more I cannot begin to talk about.
And this is what I get after five years? A divorce settlement served cold to me on my anniversary night.
He said and I quote, "I'm ending this marriage."
He said with zero sentiment. That means he has never acknowledged my dedication to this marriage or to him. How much I've heavily doted on him and waited for him to reciprocate.
The tears I've been holding back strung free of my restraints. They lined down my cheeks in turbulent torrents, a reflection of what I am on the inside.
My phone buzzed, dragging my attention away from the document I couldn't stop staring at.
I checked with the phone to see what the buzz was about and it was a text from an unknown number. I opened up the thread and saw a series of pictures sent to me, followed by a single line of sentence.
I first off downloaded the pictures to go through them, and upon doing so- I couldn't believe what my eyes were seeing.
It was my own husband, intimate and sensual with a strange woman I've never seen or met before in my life.
She's beautiful no doubt, but it looks like she's got my husband wrapped around her long and slender perfectly manicured hands.
I'm assuming it was her who sent the one line sentence to marked her territory.
"I'm back for what belongs to me, time for you to step away." I read to myself the words written to me by the anonymous sender.
So Samir has been cheating on me?
And that woman had the audacity to expose him to me on the night of our anniversary? The same night he served me a divorce document.
Five years is over?
Samir just proved that he's never loved me to begin with. This has always been a contract marriage for him as it should've been for me.
I've learnt my lesson, shame this much has to happen to me before I get it.