Departure

Chapter Four

Eleanor's POV

I had been in the hospital for three days, and throughout those three days, my phone had remained painfully silent. Adrian didn't call and he didn't also send a text.

I had told myself I wasn't surprised. I had spent the past few days trying to convince myself that I no longer expected anything from him. Still, every time my phone screen lit up, some foolish part of me looked at it with the hope that his name would finally appear.

Ryan pulled up in front of the house and parked. I stared through the windshield for a few seconds, my fingers resting loosely on the strap of my handbag.

I started at the house for a while.

"Are you sure you don't want me to follow you in?" Ryan asked as he turned off the engine.

I looked at him and forced a small smile.

"It's fine. You can come and pick me up later in the evening. I should be done with everything by then."

Ryan didn't look convinced. His eyes moved briefly toward the house before returning to me.

"Don't pick a fight with him," he warned. "Actually, just avoid him as much as you can. Take your things and leave. There's no reason to make things worse."

I nodded.

"I know."

"Promise me."

I sighed, but another small smile escaped me. "I promise."

I opened the car door and stepped out.

My ankle had almost completely healed, and although there was still a slight tenderness whenever I walked for too long, I could finally move without the painful limp I'd had a few days ago.

The moment the doctor had told me I had been pregnant, followed by the words that my baby was already gone, I still hadn't stopped crying.

Sometimes I cried because I had lost a child I didn't even know I was carrying. Other times, I cried because I kept thinking about how different everything might have been if I had known.

If I had known, I would have protected my baby.

I would have watched everything I ate, everything I did. I would have gone to the hospital at the first sign of trouble.

If I had been attended to earlier yesterday, perhaps there could have been a chance. The thought had haunted me for the past three nights.

I remembered one particular night about two months ago. Adrian had been tipsy, unusually relaxed, and somehow, despite everything that had been happening between us at the time, we had ended up together.

I remembered he released in me that night.

I entered the pin and pushed the door open.

"Oh, shit."

My steps immediately slowed immediately I stepped into here.

Mrs. Sterling was sitting in the living room with Renee and Stacy. Of all the people I could have encountered today, those three were the last people I wanted to see. Adrian's mother, sister and his childhood friend were all gathered there.

The three witches.

They looked almost too comfortable sitting there, and none of them looked particularly surprised. Renee's eyes traveled over me from head to toe before a smug smile slowly formed on her lips.

"Oh," she drawled, leaning back into the sofa. "The slut is finally back."

I didn't pay any attention to them, and I just kept on walking ignoring their presence.

"We are talking to you," Mrs. Sterling snapped. "Don't you dare walk past us as though we're invisible. Didn't your mother teach you basic courtesy before she died?"

I immediately stopped walking while my gaze moved slowly to them. How the hell would she bring my dead mother into this conversation?

Mrs. Sterling seemed to realize what she had done, but there wasn't even a trace of regret on her face.

I looked directly at her.

"Didn't your own mother teach you the basic courtesy of respecting the dead and allowing them to rest in peace?" I questioned, emphasizing on the "own"

Renee's mouth fell slightly open.

Mrs. Sterling stared at me as though she had never seen me before.

The Eleanor they knew would have lowered her head. She would have swallowed every insult, every accusation and every cruel remark because she had been desperate to maintain the little peace she still had with Adrian.

That Eleanor was gone.

I had lost my baby and my marriage and there was nothing left for me to lose.

What exactly was left for them to take from me?

Renee recovered first.

"Wow." She let out a mocking laugh. "Look at you. You finally found your voice."

"I've always had a voice," I replied calmly. "I just spent too much time caring about what you people thought of me. I don't think I should ever care about that anymore."

Renee crossed her legs again. "You shouldn't be so confident. You haven't even been here for five minutes and you're already behaving as though you've won something."

"I haven't won anything."

"Exactly."

"I've lost my marriage," I said, looking at her. "I've lost someone I loved. I've lost a child I didn't even know I had. Trust me, Renee, I don't feel like I've won anything."

The room fell silent again. Stacy's eyes widened slightly..I wasn't sure if she understood what I had just said.

Renee tilted her head. "A child?"

I ignored her. That must have slipped out of my mouth and I really didn't care about what they thought.

"I'm here to sign the divorce papers. That's all."

Renee suddenly leaned forward.

"Actually, I wanted to ask you something. Who dropped you off today?"She asked, looking at her mother while her gaze returned back to me. "I saw the car. That wasn't some ordinary car. It looked exclusively made. Not just anyone can afford something like that."

Mrs. Sterling frowned, "Eleanor suddenly disappears for three days and comes back in an expensive car. You haven't even divorced him yet, but you are sleeping with other men already."

I almost laughed.

"Believe whatever you want," I said.

Mrs. Sterling folded her arms. "You should sign those divorce papers as soon as possible. My son needs to move on, and Stacy has always been there for him."

"But after I sign those papers," I continued, "I don't want any of you coming after me again. You won't have to worry about who I see, where I go or what I do with my life. You'll finally have your perfect son back."

Renee laughed.

"Why'd we ever come after a poor and worthless girl like you? Do you even know how rich we are? You are really delusional."

If only they knew! I shook my head in pity while I walked right out of them all. Exchanging words with them wasn't definitely worth it.

I walked toward the bedroom, leaving the three women behind. I stepped into the bedroom and closed the door behind me.

The room looked almost exactly as I had left it.The divorce papers were still sitting where Adrian had left them that night.

The papers I had been terrified to sign were right in front of me. I slowly walked toward them and pulled a pen from my handbag. My hand trembled slightly while I stared at Adrian's signature.

The same man whose name I had once written beside mine with so much happiness.

I signed, and that was it. My marriage was definitely over.

I stared at my signature for a long time.

I knew I had lied to myself. If I truly felt nothing but resentment, my chest wouldn't hurt this much. I wiped my face quickly and began packing the few things that mattered to me.

There wasn't much left.

I just finished when I heard the door open.

Adrian had just walked it and my heart skipped immediately. I felt like a girl seeing her crush after being apart for a long time.

Adrian looked at me, his expression unreadable. "I thought you weren't coming back."

"I came to get a few of my things."

I pointed toward the small box sitting in the corner of the room. Adrian's eyes followed my hand before settling on me again.

"You've been gone for three days," he said, his voice quieter than before.

"I know."

"Where were you?"

I stared at him for a moment, almost unable to believe that was the first thing he wanted to ask me.

"Do I have to report about my where about to you?" I asked, rolling my eyes.

Then his voice came again after a huge sigh. "Who brought you here?"

I slowly turned around.

"What?"

"My mother said a car dropped you off this morning."

"So that's what you're concerned about?"

His expression hardened. "I'm asking you a question."

"And I'm asking you why it matters."

"You disappeared for three days, Eleanor. You come back in an expensive car with some man driving you, and I'm supposed to ignore that?"

"You don't have to worry about that anymore, Adrian. Soon, I'll no longer be your wife, so whoever I spend my time with will have nothing to do with you."

He stared at me, his jaw tense.

I picked up my handbag and held it against my side.

"I hope one day you realize what you've done to me." My voice faltered slightly, but I forced myself to keep going. "Because when you finally do, Adrian, I hope it hurts."

My phone began ringing before he could respond.I glanced down at the screen, then back at him.

"I hope we never cross paths again."