6– Signing The Papers

“You don’t have to make jokes. You can cry if you want.” Leo said quietly, his voice barely above a whisper. 

Lena turned her head slightly to the side and met eyes with Leo. She held his gaze for a moment too long. Her chest rose and fell on shallow, uneven breaths. Another second passed before she looked away, her jaw tightening. 

“I don’t think I want to cry,” she murmured.

Even as Lena said it, she knew she was lying to Leo and to herself. Sorrow pressed heavily against her chest, pressure already rising violently behind her eyes.

She wanted to let go.

But she wouldn’t.

She wouldn’t let this break her.

Or maybe this new reality was yet to fully settle in. 

Leo hummed softly and leaned back into his seat, his lips thinning. “You don’t have to hold back around me, Lena,” he breathed.

“And you don’t have to be so desperate to see me cry, Leonardo,” she shot back, her tone sharper than she intended.

Leo didn’t push further. His hand slipped from hers, and he turned his head toward the window. Silence flooded the car again. Thick. Heavy. Suffocating. It clung to them until they reached Leo’s penthouse building. 

When the car slowed to a stop in the underground parking lot, Leo turned toward Lena once more, pity unmistakable in his eyes. “Are you coming up with me?” he asked.

She shook her head. “I have to go back to Julian’s place and get my things.” 

“What things?” Leo frowned. 

“Personal items… plus I need to return his car,” Lena responded.

“Why must you return his car? He should at least let you have it as some sort of payment for all the years you wasted on him,” Leo gritted out.

Lena snorted loudly. “Of all things to take from him and you suggest a car? This car? Come on, Leo, I thought you had a more refined taste.”

“What I am saying in essence, Lena, is that I do not wish for you to return to that house,” frustration was evident in Leo’s voice.

“I have to,” Lena whispered.

“Why? Because you want to see him?” Leo questioned.

Lena said nothing. She merely sighed and leaned back, crossing her arms over her chest.

“You truly want to see him,” Leo’s face contorted. “Do you enjoy punishing yourself over a man who cares nothing for you? Don’t go back there, Lena. Everything you need will be provided within hours if you wish.”

“Don’t push it, Leo. Go and rest. I’ll be with you shortly,” Lena dismissed, her voice firm.

The car door opened. Leo stepped out and shut it with more force than necessary.

Lena bit her lip in regret. The last thing she wanted was to make the very person who rushed to be by her side in this trying time feel bad. But she needed breathing. She needed to think her own thoughts. And maybe, she needed to inhale the air of the house she had inhabited for years before finally letting go. 

Lena instructed the driver to head to Julian’s place. 

The drive passed in a haze, and soon, they slowed to a stop in front of the manor. Lena’s heart raced uncontrollably as she stepped out of the car. Her legs trembled with every step toward the door, her body already bracing for what waited behind it., what she didn’t want to face, but had no choice but to confront.

She didn’t know why she was here.

It wasn’t because she wanted to be.

It wasn’t because she enjoyed hurting herself.

And yet… she did not know why.

Lena pushed the door open and walked inside, just as she had done countless times before. Only now, everything felt wrong. The air felt heavier. The space felt colder. Her footsteps echoed through the empty hallway, and a realization settled uncomfortably in her chest.

Maybe it had always been like this.

Maybe she had always been alone in this house, walking through rooms that never truly belonged to her. 

Maybe this place was never a home but a place she simply occupied.

Lena was barely a few steps in when she heard the murmur of Julian’s voice as it drifted through the space. Her instinct screamed at her to turn around, to leave, to run before she lost whatever strength she had left.

But she didn’t move.

She stood frozen, unsure of what she was waiting for.

Maybe for him to come to her.

To say it was a mistake.

To say they could fix it.

To say she mattered.

She should have known better.

Lena’s eyes briefly met Julian’s where he was standing. His phone was pressed to his ear, but it seemed the moment their eyes met, Julian totally forgot he was speaking to someone on the phone. His brows twitched. 

Lena stood still for a moment. Then when she realized herself, she rolled her eyes and walked past him. 

It was over. It had always been over. She had just been too afraid to admit it. Too afraid to let go.

She had never really been his.

And now she had to face that truth.

Lena ran up the stairs and into her bedroom. Sshe shut the door behind her and locked it, her hands shaking. 

She needed space. 

Air. 

Silence. 

Anything to escape the weight pressing down on her chest.

Breathing hard, she crossed the room and pulled her backpack from the closet. It was the only thing she had brought with her when she first entered this house. 

She began gathering her personal belongings and shoving them inside.

She hadn’t arrived with much.

She wouldn’t leave with more.

As Lena’s fingers reached for the zipper, she felt something small tucked into one of the side pockets. Her breath hitched as she pulled it out.

It was a photograph. Her wedding photo.

Julian and her standing in front of city hall, smiling.

Pretending.

He was pretending.

She was pretending.

They had been pretending for years.

Lena stared at the picture longer than she should have, unsure which hurt more: the fact that she had deluded herself for so long, or that she had fallen in love with a man who used her as a means to an end.

Lena lost control of herself. The pressure behind her eyes burned with more violence. And she hadn’t realized that her tears had begun to fall until a drop landed squarely on the photograph.

A gasp tore from her throat as her knees buckled, her body collapsing to the floor as memories assaulted her all at once.

She recalled the brief friendship she shared with Julian before they agreed to marry.

She recounted the nights he came home drunk and promised he would never hurt her.

The countless times he used her body.

The countless times she let him.

She was such a fool.

It had always been transactional.

And he had always benefited the most.

The tears came fast and uncontrollable. Her sobs were raw and broken as grief poured out of her in waves she hadn’t known she was capable of holding. She cried for the years she wasted. For the hope she clung to. For the woman she used to be, the one who believed she could fix everything.

She couldn’t fix this marriage.

She couldn’t fix Julian.

She couldn’t fix herself.

For a moment, Lena truly believed she might not survive the pain of heartbreak. But even at that, she needed to leave this place with her pride intact.

With that resolve, she wiped her face over and over, sniffling until her sobs had quieted. Then she tightened her eyes to keep the tears from falling before forcing herself up. Unable to rip the photograph, Lena shoved it into the bag, slung it over her shoulder, inhaled a long breath, and exited the room.

Julian was at the foot of the stairs, pacing. When he saw her, he halted. 

Lena avoided his gaze.

“Lena… please…” he said softly. 

Please…

That word had been used so many times that it no longer held meaning. 

Julian wasn’t asking her to stay. He wasn’t asking for her love. He was asking for comfort, for peace. He was asking her to accept this with a smile on her face so he did not have to face his guilt.

Always so selfish.

Lena descended the stairs and brushed past Julian into his office.

“Lena,” Julian called, following closely behind her.

“I need to sign the papers,” she said quietly. 

“You cannot do this,” he snapped. “You cannot make me feel guilty over something that was inevitable. We made it clear from the start.”

Nodding, Lena said, “may I have the papers.”

“You’re being excessively difficult, Lena,” Julian said in frustration.

“Difficult? I’m asking you to hand me the papers so I can sign them, Julian,” Lena’s voice shook with restrained fury. 

“Then stop making me feel guilty!” he yelled.

“It’s not my fault you feel guilty! Blame your conscience and leave me out of it!” She snapped.

“We talked about this, Lena,” he pushed.

“No,” Lena shook her head, “you talked and I listened. You took from me and I continued to give you for years and years and years. And now, you won’t even let me be mad? You don’t want me to have a reaction about this? How selfish are you, Julian?”

“What the bloody hell is wrong with you, Lena, huh?” Julian breathed, dragging his fingers through hair. “Why do you, a nobody, think you can talk to me in that tone? Because I’ve been lenient with you? Because I share a bed with you? Is that what makes you feel like you can look me in the eyes and call me selfish?”

A nobody.

Lena’s lips spread into a smile as realization dawned on her. All this time, this was how he regarded her: a nobody, someone who was unworthy.

Though the words cut too deeply, Lena was glad he had said them. At least now, the last string of hope she had held on to had snapped.

Her lips curved into a slow, bitter smile. “The papers, Julian.”

Julian’s nostrils flared as he rounded his desk. He reached for his drawer for his drawer and pulled the papers out, placing them in front of Lena. She signed without hesitation. It hurt, but it also freed her.

Lena straightened once her signature had been deposited properly and turned. She did not care to look back at Julian as she approached the door. However she stopped short before pulling the door open, intent at saying her last words to him before she had to disappear out of his life.

“And Julian, I wouldn’t have held onto hope if you hadn’t come home drunk two years ago, confessing your feelings and promising to make us work. So now you see that you’re not just selfish, Julian. You’re a despicable liar.”

Lena stormed out.

The moment she stepped outside the manor, she found Leo’s car waiting. A smile curled her mouth as she approached it and slid into the back seat without a word.

“You’re unbearable,” she muttered.

“And you’ve cried,” Leo replied gently. “Now it’s time to move on. Father thinks it’s time you start preparing for your take over as CEO.”

A scoff left Lena.

“We will see about that.”