Chapter 4

Ellyse hasn’t slept that well in such a long time, although the heavy burden of knowing what happened yesterday still pained her, it was nice to finally wake up without worrying about Kai.

She remembers before, how she used to use sleep as in escape. Because when she is asleep, it’s almost as if she’s no one’s mom or wife, like she isn’t trapped in a loveless marriage.

Which brings her thoughts to Claire, she wondered how her daughter was doing and if she’s eaten breakfast yet. Nerisa has probably fed her already.

The thought of food made Ellyse’s stomach gurgle so she rose, and went downstairs to prepare breakfast.

As she turned on the stove, she recalled how motivated she felt to cook whenever Kai’s at home. She would always make it a point to cook for him from breakfast to dinner since Kai loved her cooking so much.

Although he wouldn’t compliment her outright, Ellyse would notice with the way he ate. He usually ate more when she cooked the food, and he’d specificallt request for her to cook her buttered garlic chicken tenders and mashed potatoes.

Ellyse felt a pang of pain hit her chest as she recalled those moments. Those were the times she cherished most, despite how simple and mundane they seemed to be for other people.

She ended up cooking pancakes, bacon and eggs for breakfast which she gobbled up in seconds.

Afterwards, she was already planning to wash her dishes when she saw Victoria’s name appear on her screen. She immediately answered the call.

“Yes, Mom?” She says.

“Good morning Ellyse! I just called to check on you, are you well? Have you experienced any morning sickness?” Victoria’s voice was soothing, she was always like this.

For Ellyse, Victoria was the mother she never had. Because her mother? Eliana? Oh boy, she’s insufferable.

“Thankfully I haven’t, I just ate my breakfast earlier too. What made you call this early?” Ellyse was leaning on her counter while she spoke to her soon to be ex-mother-in-law.

Right, Ellyse thought. Victoria was about to become her ex mother-in-law. The idea made her heart drop. She treated Victoria like her mother, she was important to her. She didn’t want to lose her either.

“Oh I just called to make sure you’re okay, and to…also ask if Kai is home?” Her eyes widened in shock as she looked around her home as if Kai would magically appear.

Ellyse muttered a curse under her breath, panicking. Victoria can’t know about the divorce! She’ll go ballistic!

“Oh! Yes, Kai…uhm, he went home last—last night,” She licks her lips, tapping her fingertips on the marbled counter.

“Last night? Hm…alright, have you told him though?” She asks.

Her brows knitted together, “Told him what, Mom?”

“Your pregnancy, silly!” Victoria laughed on the other line while Ellyse’s mouth dropped.

She completely forgot about telling him that she was pregnant. However, now that she thought of that, she felt hesitant to tell him.

“Right…I’m still trying to find the right time, Mom. For now, I just want to focus on my career,” Her last sentence almost came out as a whisper.

She’s already at the peak of her architectural career. Being one of the rising prominent architectures in the country after a building she’d design was named after her.

She was so happy that day, she wanted to celebrate with her family—Kai and Claire. But all she received from Kai was a bouquet of white roses and a card that said “Congratulation!” Which of course, she was sure it was his secretary that bought that.

“Alright dear, just don’t tire yourself too much okay? I’ll get going now,” Ellyse breathes out.

“Okay Mom,” Then the call ended.

After that call with Victoria, she washed the dishes and opted to take a bath whilst also anticipating for Claire’s call. Her daughter would probably be awake by now.

Ellyse planned to resign from her position at Laurent Estates after 5 years. After all, she and Kai are divorcing soon.

So she created her resignation letter as soon as she finished taking a bath and then wore something business casual to go to the headquarters.

Upon arriving there, she was greeted by some employees which she returned with a smile. She wore her nude louboutins, her black slacks and white botton down long-sleeve shirt. Her long blonde hair was tied in a sleek bun too.

“I’m resigning,” She told Tyrone Greene, the HR head.

“Ms. Kennedy…” Shock was written all over Tyrone’s eyes as he glances at the letter she placed ovee his desk.

“It’s been a pleasure working with you, Ty. But I think my time here is done, just inform me if you’ve already found a replacement and I will train them as soon as possible,” Ellyse was professional and straightforward, she didn’t want to explain to Tyrone in detail why she wanted to leave the job.

“Well, I didn’t expect for you to leave so soon,” He says, he genuinely seemed sad to see her go.

“I didn’t too…but, things change you know,” She sighed heavily before giving Ty a pat on the shoulder.

“I have to go, just contact me whenever,” And with that, Ellyse went to finish her pending works.

Two hours later, it was already time to fetch Claire from school.

When she arrived there, Claire immediately flew to her arms. Ellyse noticed how red her eyes were and how her daughter missed her.

“Oh my baby…”

“Mommy where did you sleep last night? I didn’t see you all morning! And you didn’t cook Dad his favorite breakfast! I was asking him and he told me you were in vacation! But you never go to vacations when daddy is around!” Claire kept talking nonstop, like she would burst into tears at any given moment.

Claire had always been a shy kid, she didn’t like sulking or crying in public and rarely made friends in her class. It was always the maids whom she treated as close friends.

“Baby–I mean Claire, mommy had to take care of things. Plus, I’m here now,” She smiled sweetly at Claire while pinching her soft cheeks.

“But you’ll sleep at home today, right?” Claire pouted.

But Ellyse had to finish a project for a very important client.

“I don’t know Claire, Mommy will see,” Claire pouted even more but didn’t push Ellyse anymore.

In the end, she dropped off Claire at home like usual before returning to work.

She drowned herself in countless paperworks and projects until she was tired. It was her way of escaping from everything that’s transpired recently.

Especially with the divorce proceedings…things have been tough for her lately.

Ellyse hadn’t realized that she slept from being so tired until her phone rang loudly. She flinched at the sound before checking who called her.

It was Kai.

What could he possibly want now?

“Hello?” She mutters lazily, yawning.

“Mom’s coming here for dinner, I’m assuming we’re not telling her about the divorce yet?” Ellyse straightened her back, woken by the sudden news.

“What?!” She almost shouted before standing up to put her laptop and remaining things inside her bag.

“Go home before 8:30,” Is what Kai said before ending the call.

Ellyse muttered a few curses under her breath as she left her office.

Victoria eating dinner at the mansion meant that she’s also sleeping there for the night. It has always been like that ever since, and her sleeping over meant that Kai and her had to sleep in the same room…together.