Good heavens!

I want a divorce.” Raya said immediately she got to where Raphael was sitting.

He had a brown woolly cashmere sweater on, his hazel eyes seemed to glow under the light of the golden chandelier.

Raya looked away from his face, trying as hard as possible to resist his allure. She has had to remind herself a lot recently that she should not be attracted to him, that she should not be attracted to him, that his father had killed her father.

“Okay. When do you want us to begin the process?”  He replied, not even raising his face from his laptop.

Raya said nothing, she was surprised by his response, she had expected him to be at least taken aback by her request. He said ask her why she was making that kind of decision, he should at least be concerned.

“As soon as possible.” She replied after some time.

“Okay, I’ll contact the lawyer.” He replied as he got up to leave. He stared at her for a while not saying anything, he had a slight smirk on his lips.

Raya tried to hold his gaze and she was successful until he stared down at her lips, her heart started beating fast.

Raphael began to move closer to her, she could feel his breath on her, she could feel him looking at her, she was so sure he was going to kiss her, she could hardly keep her eyes open or her knees steady.

“See you at the attorney’s office.” Raphael whispered into her ear as he stood just a breath away from her with his hand on the wall behind her.

*

“I’m sorry, it’s not possible, you both cannot get divorced.” Ernest Haldworth, the Renolds’ family lawyer said.

“What do you mean by that!” Raphael demanded.

Raya could not say anything, she could not stop thinking of Raphael and the moment they shared the day before.

He had been a completely different person, for a split second she had felt like she could finally reach him, like she could finally get to know the real him.

She however had to remind herself why she needed to get the divorce.

She could not be married to the son of the man who had caused her family their greatest pain.

“Sir, you both signed a contract to stay married for at least a year.” The man said a little bit shaken by Raphael’s voice.

“That does not even make sense.” Raya said.

“I can show it to you.” The grey haired lawyer said as he pulled out a document.

They were both shocked to see their signatures on a document that stated that they would have to stay married for at least a year.

It later made sense to the both of them because they were not given the chance to go through their marriage document as a result of how short the time was.

Raphael was sure that his father had asked the lawyer to hide this particular document in between their wedding papers.

It was even worse because he could not confront his father about it, even in death his father was still trying to control his life.

“I’m sure this is what you wanted.” Raphael said.

Raya could feel the hatred in his eyes, the resentment in his voice. At that moment she knew marrying Raphael Renolds was the worst mistake of her life.

*

“Do you think this is good enough for the company’s launch?” Raya said to Paula who was the head of the Renolds’ domestic staff and their longest serving employee.

“Yes ma’am, I think it looks splendid, absolutely beautiful.” Paula replied, smiling.

Raya smiled at her reflection in the mirror, she looked beautiful in the green evening gown which had been sent to her as a gift from Cecilia, Raphael’s younger sister.

Cecilia felt really sorry for not being able to attend their wedding, she had tried to make up for it by sending Raya the gown which looked like it was made from the most expensive material Raya had ever seen.

Raya was happy when she spoke to Cecilia, they became fast friends, it felt good to have an ally in Raphael’s family since his mother had made it clear on several occasions that she hated her.

“It brings out your eyes.” Paula is complimented.

“Thanks Paula.” Raya replied.

‘Where is Raphael?’ She wondered. They were supposed to go to the event together, this is Supo to be her debut into society as Raphael Renolds wife.

After finding out that their marriage can not be annulled for at least a year, Raya decided to just try to be happy in the marriage, she couldn’t not change the past, she could not change Raphael’s bloodline all she could do is to try to be happy with her circumstance.

All the cold impenetrable ice surrounding him seemed to melt whenever he was around his daughters, he loved them more than life itself. Raya loved to see him with the girls although that hadn’t happened a lot recently because they both have been in Düsseldorf for about two weeks now for a school trip.

Since the girls left the house, Raphael had not been home, in fact this would be the first time Raya would be seeing him for a very long time.

As Raya curled her hair in front of her mirror, she wondered what Raphael would think of her in the dress, he had never complimented her but his eyes seemed to light up anytime she looked beautiful in a dress.

She had grown to crave those tiny split second, where she would seem to be the only thing occupying his mind, she could not stop herself from falling head over heels in love with him and quite frankly she has stopped trying.

After waiting for Raphael to show up for like an hour, Raya decided to just have the driver take her to the venue, maybe he had had to go there without getting home first.

Raya nervously walked out of the car, she was only used to serving the rich snobby people that attended not being a guest. She was not sure how to act, what to say, it felt like her feet were glued to the ground, so she stood there in front of the entrance with other people seated on both sides of the room.

She caught a glance of Raphael staring at her, he looked… surprised, like he was seeing a ghost.

Raya watched his expression move from surprised to angry as he stomped off to where she was standing.

He grabbed her by her arms, pulled her out of the place, her long flowing evening gown turning to rags as it grazed the floor.

“Raphael you are hurting me!” She yelled as his fist dug further into her skin.

He completely ignored her and kept on pulling her until they got outside where she tossed her forward like she was nothing but garbage.

“If I ever set my eyes on you again you would be sorry! I would make your life a living hell!” Raphael said angrily.

Raya stared at him from the ground, she did not know what she had done to make him that angry. Nothing made sense, she had felt like she was making some progress with winning his heart and now it was all… over.

*

“Ma’am this is your pregnancy test result.” The gynaecologist.

Raya opened up the envelope. Her face was draped in sadness as she realised that Raphael was never going to take her back especially now that she was having a baby that was most definitely not his.

A baby for the stranger she had met when she was drunk at the dimly lit bar, the day her mother had been diagnosed with cancer.