CHAPTER 3

They said joy came in the morning and the weeping ended at night, they were right. The morning brought peace to Elysia as she found herself cocooned in the embrace of her lover, his chocolate smell calming her nerves but not for long.

Her joy was short lived as she remembered the events of his previous night, she tried to pull away but his hold around her was firm.

"Stay," he mumbled in his sleep but only if those words held a different meaning then she would have stayed. She couldn't let herself get lost in his gentle side since she knew he was no longer hers to keep.

Maybe he was never; just a borrowed property.

"No," she forced his arm from around her and he rolled onto his back giving her space to climb out of the bed.

'What's with the attitude,' Orion found himself a little irritated by the way she had refused to stay a little longer with him on bed.

He watched her retreat to the bathroom without saying a word before glancing at the clock on the bedside stand.

It was barely past four in the morning so it wasn't as though she didn't want him running late for work.

His thoughts were conflicted, did she really want the divorce so much so that she couldn't bear to endure his presence for another twenty four hours? If she did then that was what he asked for so he had no reason to be upset but still he was and he couldn't place his finger on why.

In the bathroom Elysia shut the door behind her and slid to the floor against it. The cold tiles didn't send shivers down her spine since there was enough ice in her soul already.

"I asked for forever not a damn year," she whispered to herself and someone else maybe as she let the tears fall freely, she didn't say her daily prayers because she got a rejection the night before.

It was no use praying that he would remain hers when his heart always belonged to another. She pulled herself together then up on her feet and stared at herself in the mirror.

"It all ends today," she sniffed recalling their life in the past one year. It had been nothing short of excellence and beauty.

Orion had treated her like a Queen, moreso after their drunken night of pleasure, he had changed more, he was more attentive to her and she had misread those actions of his as him finally falling for her.

"How stupid of me to get carried away," she mocked her reflection as she leaned in on the sink, a sad smile on her face had a picturesque background formed by the draping shower curtain in their fancy bathroom.

She let her mind wonder to how she had met him; living with her grandmother in their small town, he had wondered into their environment lost, his story was that he had narrowly escaped from the claws of his kidnappers. Orion was just a teenage boy so her grandmother had taken him in and catered for him for over a week until she was able to make contact with his parents.

His family had not only been grateful for the act of kindness but also felt indebted, so much so that they had taken care of Elysia's tuition and her Nana's medical bills.

That was when her admiration for him was born.

However, Nana as Elysia addressed her grandmother, had fallen gravely ill and in a bid to secure a future for her only living family, she pleaded with Orion to marry Elysia which he obliged to without protest to ease her mind.

"You do know I'd be late for work since there's only only one bathroom right?" Orion's voice sounded from behind the door interrupting her line of thought.

"Uhmm, a minute please." She splashed cold water on her face and wiped it dry with a towel before making space for him, she walked past him without saying a word to him.

In the kitchen she sat idly by the counter as the maids prepared breakfast, her mood was still sour.

She remembered how despite the fact that he had agreed to marry her, in confidence he opened up to her that their marriage was only going to be a contract until the love of his life returned.

Religiously she had agreed unable to tell him how she felt about him, she had thought that half bread surely was better than none but now the half of her bread was being taken away from her again.

"I set the table Ma'am" one of the servants informed her.

"Set just for one," she replied, she had no appetite or desire to continue to live in the illusion of a perfect life with him.

When Orion got to the breakfast table, he frowned, just his side of the table had serving bowls, he read more meaning into it than she had expected, 'she really wants out and she's making it clear enough.'

Weirdly his brain functioned differently and he couldn't see that she was hurting since his request for a divorce.

"You're not having breakfast with me," he said when she came to the dinning to check how far he had gone with his meal only to find him still standing behind his chair.

"I already ate," she lied.

He lifted a brow and scoffed, something was amiss, he shut his eyes and smiled, when he looked at her again his eyes were darker.

"Without me?"

She looked away, she wasn't going to be coerced into playing the good wife when their marriage was over.

"I have to be somewhere early," she made up an excuse that he didn't buy since she hadn't even had a shower but he chose not to probe her further.

She didn't particularly lie, instead she had decided to make true her words to him last night and pay Nana a visit. With all that was happening around her, she needed to breathe. She needed to be in her Nana's arms.

"Do me a favor please," her heart sank, his requests were recently outrageous but she waited to hear him out all the same.

"Tell Nana that the divorce was your idea please,"

Unbelievable!

He couldn't even take responsibility for his decision.

"Sure," she didn't argue with him as he picked his coat and keys and left the house without having breakfast.

When he left, she sat alone in the empty house, though there were people in it, the warmth of the past year felt like a cruel memory.