CHAPTER 2

“What?!… Wait… Serena, you don’t fucking mean that…”

I scoff hard as Damien’s voice follows me when I storm out of the room.

As I storm down the lobby, he comes behind me in long strides.

“Serena!”

“Serena… hold the hell up.”

I completely ignore him.

I arrive at the living room in no time, and it is just as lively as I left it. Guests are eating and drinking, most of them hanging around the newborn baby as my mother rocks her in her arms.

No one seems to notice my presence at first, until Damien catches up with me.

“Serena!” He grips my wrist sharply to pull me back, but I don’t know how it happens. My hand acts on its own, and in the next split second, a hot, thunderous slap lands across Damien’s face.

It comes out so loud and sharp that it startles the baby into crying from that far away, and it alerts every single person in the room.

Some drop their dishes, bottles crash, people gasp, and some stand up.

I’m not that surprised by the terrified shock everyone throws at the scene. I mean… it’s not every day you see a prominent figure like Damien Hartwell get slapped, and by his own wife, no less, right at her sister’s ceremony.

“Serena!!!” Damien shouts in rage. His hand is pressed to his burning cheek and his eyes are burning just as fiercely.

Bianca shrieks behind him in shock.

“And what the hell did you do that for?” My mother’s voice erupts beside me, getting me to face her. She’s rocking the crying baby in her arms.

“How could you slap your husband in front of our guests, Serena! Have you lost your sanity?” my father adds. He’s right behind my mother, looking at me with blazing eyes as if I’ve just committed a sacrilege.

“And I’ll slap him over and over again if I have to! He already lost his respect when he decided to have an affair with my sister!”

“What?!”

Shock goes around everyone’s faces. My parents have their jaws dropped and their eyes wide like deer caught in headlights.

“He cheated on me, Mum, and as if that isn’t enough, he now has a baby with my sister!” My eyes are back on Damien’s burning ones.

“What?!” For the first time, my mum flashes her noble son-in-law a look of disgust, and then turns to Bianca, who is clinging to him.

“Well, so what?!” My father’s voice suddenly comes out cold. It goes through me like ice, and I can’t comprehend what he means until he speaks again.

“So what if he had an affair with your sister? Is that enough reason for you to disrespect the guests here?!”

And I frown. Hard. Hard enough to make my face hurt.

Really?

“Really, Dad? Disrespecting the guests? Is that all you care about? Did you not hear me right, or do you just not care about my feelings? My husband impregnated my sister, and I’m the one in the wrong for slapping him?” I look at Mum, and if I expected her to take my side, then I’m sorely disappointed.

Her next statement lands like a brutal blow.

“Your father is right, Serena… Besides, would you blame Damien so much? Maybe if you had given him an heir, he wouldn’t have gone to get one elsewhere. Who do you think would inherit the Vance and Hartwell hospitals and assets?”

A lone tear sharply escapes my eye, taking me by surprise.

I am speechless. All I do for what feels like a straight thirty minutes is stare at them both while everyone has their eyes on me.

I stare, hard and dumbfounded, at the same people who are the reason I had to marry Damien in the first place, when I never wanted to. I was forced into it just because the Vance and Hartwell families needed to merge their hospitals.

“I was married off so the Vance and Hartwell hospitals could merge. I thought it was a miracle since it was Damien. Business. It has always been business. They never cared what I gave up.”

“I have loved Damien since I was nineteen. I trusted him with everything, and now this is what I get!”

Tears are streaming down my cheeks now, and when I snap out of my daze, I blurt out my mind to my parents. I move so close that I can stare directly into their eyes.

“You know what? I regret ever knowing you both as my parents. I regret ever trying to please you both. I regret shouldering the hospital responsibilities even when it became so unbearable. I regret giving up my surgical fellowship, the one thing that was ever mine, just for you both! You’re not even worthy of being called my parents!!! God… I despise you!!”

I’ve never done this. I’ve never spoken so harshly to them before. I’ve always been the obedient, submissive and responsible daughter while Bianca was the rebel, but this is it.

I ignore the disbelief on their faces and storm to the door. Damien tries to come after me, but he stops himself when Bianca holds his arm. Funny how he’s now my sister’s pet. They all call after me, but I ignore them.

As I get outside, all the tears I had tried to hold back come pouring down my cheeks.

My heart feels sore inside my chest. I feel like pulling it out. And as if to make my situation more pathetic, the rain comes drizzling down hard.

Soaking my hair. My clothes. Washing my cheeks.

My knees go weak and I crash under one of the trees on the mansion grounds. Thankfully, it’s a hidden place. I cry even more, my voice mingling with the drizzling rain.

Minutes later, a hand suddenly drops on my shoulder. I flinch hard. For a moment I think it’s Damien, but I oddly feel betrayed when the person turns out not to be him.

The familiar, gentle face of a young man in a rosewood tux stares at me, pity glistening in his sea-blue eyes, his hand extending a napkin toward me.

“Elias… what are you doing?” I say, using the back of my hand to quickly wipe my tears, and he cuts me off with a hush.

“Shhh. I was at the party, remember? I saw everything that happened, and I couldn’t just let you leave like that.”

“Well, I would really like to be alone right now,” I say dryly, but Elias sits down anyway, still holding his napkin.

“If it makes you feel better, you can cry it all out. I won’t stop you. At least crying releases oxytocin and endorphins, which make you feel good.”

“Oh, please don’t throw your medical terms at me.”

“And don’t act like you aren’t a doctor either,” Elias says with his signature sexy chuckle.

Elias is one of the doctors in our hospital, and he’s the coolest guy I know. We aren’t really friends, but at least we get along.

“So what are you going to do now? About your parents, your husband, everything? I hope you get everything resolved soon. If there’s any way I can help… tell me.”

I turn to him slightly. “Can you help me get a good lawyer before tomorrow? I would have done it myself, but I feel burnt out right now.”

“Yes? Why?” Elias asks.

“Well, I’m divorcing Damien, and if you don’t mind, can I stay at your place until I get my own accommodation?” I don’t need to persuade him further. Elias would always offer a helping hand, anytime, anyhow.

He’s every bit a doctor, always looking out for the other person’s interest. Sometimes he reminds me of the Damien I thought I married.

“Sure, if that’s what you want.”

~~~

I’m sitting across from Damien. The mini courtroom is dead silent, laced with the sick suspense Damien has created as we all wait for him to sign the damn papers.

He honored the court summons and came as soon as possible, so what the heck is taking him so long to sign the damn thing?

I’m already running out of patience, and I’m about to speak before Bianca does. Yes, Damien brought her along, either to spite me or because they couldn’t even wait for the divorce to be official.

Not that I care, though. Call it absurd, but I’m oddly glad to have Elias beside me as well. Especially seeing Damien riled up by his presence next to me, even though he never speaks up.

“What are you doing, Damien? Sign it, my love.” Bianca whines seductively, wrapping her hands around Damien’s arm.

“Yes, Damien. Bianca is right. You should sign already. We don’t have all day.” I bark, keeping a firm look even though Bianca is intentionally flirting with Damien to spite me.

Damien glares at me one last time before he scribbles his signature, and I do the same.

“And just so you know, Serena, don’t you dare crawl back to beg me to accept your sorry ass, because I won’t!” Damien spits as soon as I’m done signing. I try to see some sort of hatred in his eyes that matches the hate in his tone, but all I see is a pained man who’s afraid to lose me.

Maybe I’m mistaken, but it still feeds my ego.

So I chuckle and say with equal energy, “I’d rather die than crawl back to you, Damien. Have a nice life!”

With that, I stand up and head for the door, leaving both of them stunned.

“Aren’t you coming back to the mansion, Serena?” Bianca asks in a mocking tone. I want to ignore her and keep walking, but I suddenly feel a strong surge of weakness.

“Are you okay?” Elias asks beside me as I stagger back.

“Yeah… I’m fine. I just…” My vision suddenly blacks out and I find myself helplessly crashing to the ground.

“Serena!!!”