The Choice He Made

Adrian raised his hand and knocked twice on Sera’s door. The sound was quiet, but it was enough to make her straighten on the edge of the bed. 

For a moment, neither of them spoke. Then Sera stood and walked toward the door, her heart beating a little faster than before. 

She opened it and found Adrian standing there with the folder still in his hand. His expression was calm, almost unreadable, and he made no attempt to step inside.

 Sera looked at him for a moment before moving aside slightly, but Adrian remained where he was. “Is something wrong?” she asked.

 Adrian glanced at the folder in his hand before looking back at her. “There’s going to be a meeting tomorrow evening.” Sera’s brows drew together. “A meeting?” 

“Yes.” His voice remained flat. “I need you to be there.” 

She stared at him, waiting for him to explain, but Adrian offered nothing more. “What kind of meeting?” she asked. He paused briefly before answering, “We’ll discuss it tomorrow.” The answer only made her more confused. 

“Adrian, if something is happening, you can tell me now.” “There’s nothing you need to know tonight.” His words were not harsh, but there was a finality in them that made it clear he was not interested in continuing the conversation. 

Sera looked at the folder again, then back at him. “Is this about CIG?” Adrian’s expression barely changed. “Just be there tomorrow.” He turned before she could ask another question and started walking toward the staircase. 

Sera remained in the doorway, watching him disappear down the passage without once looking back.

Adrian returned to the master bedroom and placed the folder on the bedside table before sitting on the edge of the bed. He loosened the collar of his shirt and picked up his phone, scrolling through the messages that had accumulated during the evening. 

The room was quiet, and for several minutes he remained there without doing much beyond checking his phone and occasionally glancing at the time. He had said what he needed to say to Sera.

 Tomorrow evening would be enough. There was no reason to make the conversation longer than necessary before everything was ready. 

A few minutes later, the bedroom door opened, and Celine walked in. Adrian was already in the master bedroom when the door opened and Celine walked in. He was sitting against the headboard, his phone in one hand as he scrolled through a few messages, his mind still occupied by everything that had happened downstairs and the conversation he had just had with Sera. Celine closed the door behind her and walked farther into the room, and it was only then that Adrian finally looked up at her properly.

 His eyes moved over her for a moment before he noticed the comfortable clothes she was wearing. It was the same outfit she had been wearing when he arrived earlier, but he had been too distracted at the time to pay much attention to it. 

She looked toward Adrian and smiled. “You're still awake.” Adrian lowered his phone. “Yes.” Celine walked over and sat beside him, studying his face for a moment. “Did you talk to her?” Adrian nodded. “I told her about tomorrow.” Celine’s smile faded slightly. “And?” “Nothing more.” 

She looked at him carefully. “She didn't ask questions?” “She did.” Adrian picked up his phone again. “I didn't answer them.” Celine was quiet for a moment, then leaned back against the headboard. “She probably knows something is going on.” Adrian glanced at her. “She doesn't know what.” Celine nodded slowly. 

She had noticed the late nights, the documents, the lawyers' involvement, and the way Adrian had become increasingly distant from Sera. She had not needed him to explain everything to understand where it was leading. Still, she did not ask him to say it aloud. “Tomorrow,” she murmured. Adrian gave a small nod. “Tomorrow.”

Celine moved closer to him and rested her head against his shoulder. “You've been so busy lately,” she said softly. “I barely get to have you to myself.” 

Adrian looked down at her. “I'm here now.” She smiled and slipped her fingers through his. “Then don't waste tonight.” 

Her words were accompanied by a playful look, and Adrian's expression softened slightly. Celine leaned closer, pressing a gentle kiss against his cheek before turning her face toward his.

 For once, there were no discussions about lawyers, documents, companies, or the meeting waiting for the following evening. The distance that had existed between them during the past few days seemed to disappear as Celine pulled him closer, and Adrian allowed himself to be drawn into the moment. 

Their conversation faded into quiet affection, followed by kisses that gradually became more intimate until the rest of the night disappeared behind the closed bedroom door.

Across the house, Sera was still awake. She had returned to the edge of her bed after Adrian left, but the questions he had left behind refused to settle.

 A meeting tomorrow evening. He had carried that folder upstairs, yet he had not explained what was inside it. He had not entered her room, had barely looked at her, and had spoken as though whatever was coming had already been decided. 

Sera slowly lay back against the pillows and stared into the darkness. She tried to convince herself that it could be something related to CIG, perhaps another business matter that required her presence, but Adrian's expression had been different tonight. 

There had been something final about the way he had spoken to her. Something she could not quite understand. She closed her eyes, hoping sleep would come before morning, but the unanswered question remained in the back of her mind.

What exactly did Adrian want to discuss with her tomorrow?

By the time evening approached, Adrian’s convoy turned through the tall iron gates of the villa, the security guards immediately recognizing the black SUV at the front and stepping aside as it passed. 

His driver slowed briefly at the security post before continuing up the long driveway, while the escort vehicle followed closely behind. 

Upstairs, Celine was in the master bedroom when she heard the vehicles outside. She moved toward the window and watched Adrian step out of the SUV before quickly leaving the room and making her way downstairs. 

Adrian had barely entered the parlor when she reached him, wrapping her arms around him. He held her briefly, kissed her forehead, then her lips, and Celine smiled against him. 

“You’re home early.”

 “I told you I’d be home this evening.” 

Her eyes moved toward the staircase. “Sera is probably upstairs.” Adrian glanced in the same direction. “Have you seen her?” Celine shrugged. “She’s always upstairs these days. Maybe she’s waiting for you to come and rescue her from her room.”

 The sarcasm in her voice was light, almost playful, but Sera heard it before she reached the bottom of the stairs. 

She had already seen Adrian’s convoy arrive from her bedroom window and, remembering the meeting he had asked for, had decided to come downstairs herself. She had no intention of interrupting them or creating another reason for Celine to accuse her of causing trouble. She simply wanted to sit down, listen to Adrian, and finally understand why he had asked for the meeting.

 She continued down the stairs without changing her expression, even though Celine’s words had landed heavily. Adrian noticed her and straightened. “Sera.”

 She stopped a few steps away. “You wanted to see me?” “Yes. Sit down.” Sera walked over and took a seat, keeping her hands folded quietly in her lap. Celine remained beside Adrian until he gestured for her to sit as well. 

The room fell silent as Adrian opened his briefcase and removed the folder he had been carrying. He placed it on the table, opened it, and slowly drew out several documents.

 Sera’s eyes followed every movement. “I’ve considered everything,” Adrian said. “I’ve spoken to the necessary people, and I’ve made my decision.” He pushed the papers across the table. 

“This marriage has been over for a long time. I married you because I wanted to torment you. I wanted you to experience some of what I had carried for years. But the arrangement between us has run its course.” Sera’s face remained still, though her fingers had begun pressing tightly against each other.

 Adrian continued without looking away. “For three years, you haven’t given me a child. Celine is pregnant with mine. She is carrying the future I want, and I’ve decided she is the right choice for me. I want to give her the life she should have had with me. I don’t want anything standing between us anymore.”

 He paused only long enough to let the words settle before adding, “I want a divorce.”

Sera stared at the documents. She did not reach for them. She did not push them away either. Her eyes remained fixed on the papers as though the words printed across them belonged to someone else’s life, someone else’s marriage.

 Two years. The number moved through her slowly, carrying with it every morning she had woken beside Adrian, every night she had gone to sleep knowing she was unwanted, every humiliation she had swallowed because she had still believed there was something worth saving. 

But this was more than two years for her. Her feelings for Adrian had existed long before the marriage, long before the vows, long before she ever imagined that one day she would carry his name. She had grown up with those feelings quietly rooted inside her, holding onto them for so long that loving him had become something she no longer knew how to separate from herself. 

She had stayed through the coldness, the arguments, the distance, and the presence of another woman in the home. She had endured Celine’s quiet remarks and Adrian’s growing affection for her without once revealing the truth about the child she was carrying. 

And now Adrian was standing across from her, measuring the worth of their marriage by the child he believed Celine had given him. Her breathing became shallow. One hand moved unconsciously toward her stomach before she caught herself and lowered it again. She could not tell him.

Not now. Not when he had already made his choice. A tear gathered at the corner of her eye, but she blinked it away before it could fall. 

She lifted her gaze slowly and looked at the man she had loved for as long as she could remember, the man whose presence had occupied a place in her heart long before he ever became her husband, the man she had continued to protect even when he gave her every reason to stop. 

Adrian’s face remained firm. Celine sat quietly beside him. 

And in that moment, Sera finally understood that everything she had endured had not been leading to the moment she had secretly hoped for. It had been leading here. Her lips parted, but no sound came. She looked down once more at the divorce

papers, then back at Adrian. When her voice finally came, it was barely more than a whisper.

 “Why…?”