003 - Divorce

MAEVE

I woke up again with a dull ache in my head. I noticed that I was lying perfectly on the bed and that the dress I was wearing was not the same one from the other night. I didn’t remember laying on the bed last night, nor did I change my clothes from the night before.

I was a bit concerned, as I was sure whoever had changed my dress while I was sleeping must have seen my naked form.

Could it be my father-in-law? My heart skipped a beat at the thought. He wouldn’t do that.

But that was the least of my worries, because as I tried to sit up, I noticed someone standing far away from me, very close to the door, with arms crossed.

I took a deep breath and slowly looked up to find the unsmiling face of Thayer staring down at me, with so much disgust evident in his facial features that I became self-conscious again.

He was dressed in a light blue polo over dark jeans—the pair I bought for him just a few weeks ago. It hurt seeing him in that outfit, and I instantly regretted getting those clothes for him with my hard-earned money.

What was he doing here? Has he come to apologize to me and take me home? Did Xander finally get to speak some sense into him? Or was he here to add more to my pain?

As soon as our eyes connected, he placed a hand to his nose as if there was a very bad odor present. I was sure there was no bad smell in the room, as I could still perceive the air freshener. I knew he was doing that to ridicule me and make me feel bad.

It was not the first time I faced such insults. My peers, and especially my step-sister, would cover her nose whenever I passed, as if I emitted an unpleasant body odor, which I knew was false. I made sure I bathed regularly, used good deodorant on my armpits, and always wore my perfume.

Though it is true that being chubby might result in emitting a distinct odor due to the excessive sweating that comes with it, I made sure I smelled good.

I looked away from Thayer’s charcoal grey eyes, unable to continue watching him mock me, and I heard him chuckle. He was enjoying my pain, and the thought made my wounds start bleeding again.

“I never knew you would come running to my father to save your fat-smelling ass after you made a mess of yourself in my house.” I didn’t say a word, and I was sure he was expecting me to respond, given the thick silence that followed.

“I heard you are pregnant. Who is responsible for it?”

That question hit me hard on the chest, and I whipped my head in his direction in shock. What does he mean by that? I’ve never been with any other man aside from him.

“You better start talking! And stop making me look bad!” He raised his voice slightly when I didn’t respond as I was too shocked to react. “Who the hell owns that thing in your fat stomach? Because I don’t remember fucking your fat ass!”

“It’s yours, Thayer!” I shouted back, breaking into tears again when I couldn’t endure his total denial of even sleeping with me. I remembered how he made me sleep with him, saying it was my duty to satisfy him sexually, and I didn’t object. How could he deny that now and even accuse me of cheating?

I didn’t want to look weak before him again, so I sniffed back my tears. “You can’t deny what we shared, Thayer.”

I had barely completed those words when he stepped forward and slammed a paper on the bed, then stepped back immediately, almost as if I was carrying an infectious disease and staying closer to me for one more minute would contaminate him.

“I can barely endure seeing your disgusting body, and now you want to add an irresponsible pregnancy to it?! I don’t want to have anything to do with you, Maeve! Go out there and find other fat asses that are responsible for getting you pregnant!” He barked as he crashed a vase on a table beside him to the floor. I flinched at the crashing sound, biting my lip to stop myself from crying again. I knew I got emotional most times, but I felt so shattered and in pain at this point that I forgot how to cry.

“Why are you doing this?” I asked as a ball of tears rolled down my cheek and landed right on the divorce paper laid out before me. His words had crushed the remains of my self-esteem. I never thought the man I had lived with for nearly four months after our marriage would turn around and verbally abuse me, then deny his responsibility for my pregnancy. “Why are you suddenly treating me like this?”

“I see an overloaded truck when I look at you. That’s why! You disgust me! Now that you are in my father’s house, you disgust me even more. I’m very sure my father is inconvenienced by the foul odor coming from your body, which is why he had to leave his room for you…”

“Says who?!” demanded a commanding voice that echoed through the room and cut off Thayer’s irresponsible tirade.

His voice alone brought me immense joy and relief, so much that I yearned to move back into his embrace like last night and cry my eyes out. My eyes moved to take in his perfect form by the doorway. He looked like a model straight from the papers, a sharp contrast to Thayer in terms of appearance. His presence alone dissolved the anger and pain Thayer had just caused me that I wished he would always be my side.

I noticed Thayer slowly turn to his father as he made his way into the room. “Father,” he chuckled. “You’re here so early?”

Xander didn’t respond to Thayer, as he was busy sizing me up and down, as if to make sure I was okay. I could literally see the anger building in him, though he tried to control it. I noticed his jaws twitch as his fists clenched by his side.

“Don’t tell me you can put up with this inconvenience in your own room?”

“What are you doing here, Thayer? You said you don’t want to have anything to do with her ever again. You denied her pregnancy, and you have insisted you will let your four-month marriage crumble. Then what have you come here to do?” Xander asked in a deep voice.

“It’s obvious,” Thayer pointed to the paper in front of me. “To end this mistake and move on without having to carry a burden like her behind me. I agreed to this sham of a marriage to get closer to her hot step-sister.” Thayer looked at me and smirked, then returned his gaze to his father. “I knew I could finally start something with her step-sister by faking a marriage with her while I played a little with her disgusting emotions.”

That line did it. I took my decision at that point.

I could feel Xander’s anger simmering as I watched him one last time. I slowly picked up the divorce papers and looked at them with shaky fingers, in disbelief that my marriage was just about to come to an abrupt end.

“Where do I sign?” I said, even surprised at the courage I picked to say those words out loud. “And I need a pen.”

Thayer chuckled once again and threw a pen at me. “Now, be a good fat girl and sign the papers,” he taunted. I shut my eyes, calming myself, knowing it was for the best.

When I opened my eyes again, I signed the papers. Only after I signed them did I realize what I’d done, and fresh painful tears ran down my cheeks as I moved the paper forward to hand it over to Thayer.

“No. Keep it on the bed. I won’t risk my delicate fingers brushing against your chubby ones.”

“That’s enough, Thayer!” Xander warned, and I noticed Thayer’s smile disappear from his face as he picked the paper. “You got what you wanted, right? Now leave!”

“Father, I don’t get why you are defending someone your own son abandoned?” Thayer spat out the words. He looked at his father, incredulous. As I stared at him, the only thing I could feel was disdain. How did I even end up with him?

“That’s because I’m going to marry her, Thayer. I’m going to make her mine,” Xander declared, and I felt the whole world go silent. I was shocked that those words had come out of my father-in-law’s mouth just after I’d signed my divorce papers, yet for some reason, I was excited by the idea.

Thayer’s eyes widened in shock; I could discern the shock in his facial expression, which was swiftly replaced by anger the next second. “You are going to marry my wife, Father?”

Now I’m his wife?

“Your ex-wife,” Xander corrected. “She’s no longer your wife, Thayer. You just divorced her, remember?” he added, stepping closer to me on the bed.