Divorce

She sat up on the bed and opened the drawer beside her bed, taking out a paper. George was absent yet he sent a package to her, when she opened it, she was shocked and quickly hid it back. But now she's made up her mind. She rubbed an hand over her eyes to clear her vision. She sniffed and read the contents of the paper over and over again. 

After thirty minutes, the door opened again, she smelled the familiar cologne that she knew too well, she has requested to see him. Navie couldn't believe she was requesting to see her own husband in their home.

Reid stopped at the door, he hesitated to touch the knob. With shaky hands, he summoned courage and entered the room. The room smelt of depression. A tiny figure sat on the bed, hair covering her face. She was holding a paper and staring at it intently. It's been a month since they lost their baby, Reid still felt the guilt, out of nowhere he felt he was responsible for it but he doesn't know how. He remembered the day she woke up in the hospital.

Reid stood outside the hospital room, fists clenched by his side. He hadn’t stepped in the room, he could hear her crying through the door. He hated the sound, not because it hurt him, but because it reminded him of everything he wanted to avoid. He hated how her crying ignited something in him. 

He told himself it was not his fault. He was not even there when she went into labour, he received a call from own of the guests that came for the funeral that his wife passed out in the parking lot. 

“She will recover,” he muttered. Suddenly it occurred to him that Navie was strong, strong enough to bear his coldness, strong enough to handle her mother's death.

“She will recover”, he muttered again more to himself than to the nurse standing nearby.

The nurse furrowed her eyebrows, she had never seen a father so indifferent, they lost their children and his wife is in distress.

“She lost both babies, sir.”

His jaw tightened. She should not have gone for a stroll in the parking lot, he thought coldly. And yet, something inside him twisted. Something small, unfamiliar, dangerous. He pushed it down.

He turned to leave. “Make sure she gets the best treatment. I will settle the hospital bill.” He didn’t return.

He frowned and exhaled. 

“What do you want, I'm busy as it is, you just have to disturb me”, his deep voice cut through the silence. Navie bit her lip as his words stung deeply. He shattered her expectations in few seconds.

 “What do you want, Navie? I’m busy.”

She lifted her head slowly and stared at him as if seeing through his soul. The scene at the parking lot replayed in her mind, her husband kissing another woman passionately out in the open. If they could do that outside so shamelessly, what could they have been doing behind closed doors? 

But what if...what if she saw wrong? 

Reid shifted on his feet, her gaze began to make him uncomfortable. He frowned. 

She blinked and opened her mouth to talk, she closed it back. Perhaps she shouldn't ask. He would probably boast of his affair anyways. Or maybe she had been too blind to see it coming. 

She mustered up courage and spoke. 

“Did you come to the hospital? Were you there?”

His jaw tightened. “No. Why would I?”

She looked down. “I thought… I felt you there”. 

“You were dreaming”, he replied in a monotonous tone.

She scoffed and smiled faintly not because she believed him, but because she no longer cared. She raised the papers toward him. 

“Sign them.”

Reid frowned.

 Did she just? Did she just scoff? 

Navie raised the papers, eyes still fixed on the ground. Reid took long strides and moved closer, he collected the papers and widened his eyes in shock.

“Divorce?! Divorce papers!”, he yelled in shock. 

“Is that now what you wanted?”, Navie asked softly.

Reid scoffed, he titled his head sharply.

“Are you sure about this? You know there's no going back”, he said flatly.

Navie's eyes flickered from the ground and met his. Reid was taken aback, her eyes were puffy and red, her face was pale and awful. 

“Please leave the papers on the table when you're done signing, there is a pen there”, she said, laid back down on the bed and turned away from him.

Reid shrugged, he signed the papers immediately, placed the papers on the dressing table and left the room. 

Navie heard the door bang behind her, he was gone, but he was coming back. And when he comes back, they will never see each other again. Not that he would care anyways. Her heart pounded with what she was about to do, she could not afford to waste time. She summoned every last ounce of strength in her body and got off the bed. She took the bag she already packed. She gathered the divorce papers and kept it in a file safely in the bag. 

Avoiding the suspicious stares from the maids and guards, Navie made her way out of the mansion. She kept looking back thinking Reid might have sent someone to follow her. She suddenly took to her heels and ran till she ran out of breath. She stumbled into an alley and rested. But she could not afford to stay longer, she knew the alley was not probably safe even in the broad day light and she is not planning to find out. 

When Reid got home, the housekeeper was waiting for him at the doorstep.

“Madam is missing sir, she has been gone for hours. We tried reaching her. She's nowhere to be found”. He reported in one breath looking extremely worried. 

Reid sighed, “She's just tired. She will be......”, suddenly he recalled their divorce earlier this morning. Something snapped in him as he quickly ran back to his car, got in and drove away.