Chapter 3

CORA

"Good morning, love," Leon mumbled groggily beside me, pulling me close to his chest.

"We have to prepare for the flight," I whispered back.

His hand rested on my waist. "It's still so early. We still have enough time, right?" he asked slowly, his eyes still shut.

We slept late last night. Actually, we didn't sleep until the early hours of the morning, so I could understand why he was still so sleepy, but we had a honeymoon to go to.

Our flight to Bali was in two hours.

"We have less than two hours," I replied, moving his hand gently to his side.

"We can still sleep a bit then. The airport is only ten minutes away," he reminded me.

Of course it was, but I needed to get ready. We had to ensure we had everything.

"I'll let you sleep for thirty minutes."

"Thank you, love. I love you." He blew me a kiss before rolling over to the other side and pulling the duvet over himself.

I let out a chuckle and then headed to the bathroom.

When I stepped in a couple of minutes later, I met Leon on his phone.

"You're awake?" I teased.

"I'll be there soon."

My smile faded that instant.

He dropped the call and hurried out of bed."What's wrong? Where are you going?"

He turned to me. "Candice needs me."

Something dropped in the pit of my stomach.

"What?"

"She has an emergency. I need to go to her," he replied, hurrying to the closet.

I hurried after me. "You're not going, right?"

This had to be a joke. Even during our honeymoon? Why would she even call him now?

"I am. I can't just leave Candice to herself."

My face scrunched up. "She has a family, Leon. What sort of emergency would require you to leave your new wife? We have a flight to catch, remember?"

He removed his grey sweatshirt and pants from the hanger.

"I'll try to come back before that."

I shook my head. "We both know it won't work. Candice is far from here. You can't go and come back in time."

He faced me. "Then, we can always reschedule."

My body stiffened. I stared at him for a couple of seconds. Did he just say we should shift our honeymoon?

"Are you seriously planning to ditch our honeymoon for Candice?"

He took my hand. "I'm not ditching our honeymoon. We can always reschedule till evening or tomorrow."

"Candice can wait. Our honeymoon can't."

He shook his head. "Our honeymoon can wait. Candice can't."

A jolt shot through me. "What?"

"I'll go take a shower."

He rushed into the bathroom before I could recover from his last words. Our honeymoon can wait for Candice?

This wasn't his first time leaving me for Candice. It wasn't his hundredth time leaving our important moment for her, but this time, I wasn't going to take it anymore. I've had enough.

I changed into the outfit I'd carefully selected for our flight. Leon rushed out of the bathroom at that moment, and he immediately hurried to the closet.

His phone rang again, and my eyes caught sight of Candice's name as the screen lit up.

My stomach twisted. Why the hell was she still calling him?

"Leon, we have less than an hour," I reminded him.

"Cancel the flight, Cora," he replied nonchalantly as he pulled up his pants.

"You're cancelling our flight for Candice?"

He sighed. "We've had this discussion already. Stop being selfish."

My brows knitted together. "Selfish? You call me selfish for wanting to go on a honeymoon with my husband."

He turned to me. "And you will. You can't expect me to just leave Candice now."

"You have a wife," I snapped. "I should be your top priority now, not Candice."

He placed his hands on my shoulders firmly. "You'll always be my top priority, but right now, I have to attend to Candice."

Before the words could breathe, he rushed to the door.

"Leon!" I called after him, and he shut the door.

I sank into the bed, my fists tightening. Even now, it seemed like Candice was still more important than anything.

I know I may be overreacting, but after what she pulled off last night, I couldn't be relaxed.

I pull off my clothes in annoyance and then change into something comfy. I couldn't believe Leon would do this, but here I was, ordering breakfast without my husband.

After eating breakfast, my heart relaxed a bit. We missed our flight already, so I decided to contact him for the best time to book for the evening, but Leon never replied.

Not in the morning or afternoon. I ended up spending the whole day in the hotel switching between moods. I wasn't even interested in going out for a tour of the hotel or for pictures.

All I needed was my husband. But he was nowhere to be found.

What was keeping him so long? What emergency could Candice have to keep him with her till evening? Was she going through a major surgery or what?

I called Leon again, but it was still the same. Unresponsive. Now, I was starting to worry if something had gone wrong. He wasn't reaching out to me. Normally, if he were running late, he would have dropped a message, but I didn't hear from him at all. I was even forced to call Candice, but she didn't pick up either.

It wasn't until later in the evening that the door eventually opened.

"My gosh!" I jumped out of bed. "I've been trying to reach you. Is Candice okay? Where have you been?"

"Getting this." He threw the envelope at me, and my face contorted.

"What's this?" I asked.

He didn't say anything. He just strolled into the room.

"Leon," I called, my stomach twisting. It was enough that he threw the Manila envelope at me, and now he was walking out on me after ghosting me for the whole day.

I glared at him before picking up the envelope.

Taking another look at him, I pulled out the papers.

My eyes widened.

"What's this?"

"I'm sure you can read," he snapped.

My grip tightened. "I can. That's not what I asked."

He finally looked at me. "Divorce papers."

My stomach dropped. Yeah, I saw it, but I needed to confirm I didn't go blind for a second.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

His expression didn't change.

"We are getting a divorce, Cora.