Chapter 2

Eloise:

Body pressed against the wall, Charlotte’s leg crossed around my husband’s back, their lips locked as they made very ungodly sounds.

My eyes watered as I tried my best to believe what I was seeing in front of me.

This was the reason he had handed me a divorce today? She was the one, what could I have expected, I never was the one for him in the first place.

I had known Edward to be a chronic womanizer and it shouldn’t have come as a shock to me but it did because he had dropped his womanizing habit the moment he was left to cater for the Basset industry and lately he had become the best husband a woman would want. Ever loving and so protective that I had the guts to fall for him ten times more but right now my heart was broken as I watched them still locked as they ate themselves up.

“Edward..” I had wanted to run but I found myself walking into the room.

“She’s the reason? She’s the reason why you’re ending things with me.” My voice cracked as I spoke, my eyes filled with so many tears that I was trying so hard to hold in.

He looked me dead in the eyes, no remorse, no anger, no fear, nothing, as impassive as always.

“You knew the day was going to come, Eloise. This has nothing to do with Charlotte.”

“The day didn’t come a year ago when we were supposed to end this marriage, it came today, it came when things were getting better.” I wasn’t one to yell at the top of my voice but I found myself doing that because of a man and I hated it so much.

I looked at Charlotte, she was everything a man would want, grey seductive eyes, well structured oval face and the perfect body while I on the other hand was a simple girl with no exciting facial features aside from my beautiful plump lips.

“Eloise, from the start you knew you had no chance. I mean you were just his lowlife secretary who was available to do the job of being his wife when I wasn’t there and now I’m here and it’s time you pack your things and leave.”

“At least I was there for him when he needed me, I was by his side when things were hard while you ran away.” I took a step backwards, my heart was so heavy and I felt like I would pass out any moment from now.

“You should leave, Eloise. We have a guest downstairs.” He stated, just like he’d always spoken to me when I was his secretary.

“Is this what you want, Edward? You want me out of your life for good?” I had wiped my eyes and I had given him the straightest face ever but my heart cried out that he wanted me as I waited for his response.

For a minute, I thought he looked torn or devastated, his eyes held something I couldn’t tell if it was pain or confusion but he held Charlotte tighter and he looked at her with so much awe, he would never look at me like that. He had never, if he ever looked at me with admiration it was because he was grateful that I could substitute for Charlotte.

I needed no one to tell me the truth. Even if Edward did love me he would never love me the way he loves her. I was nobody to him.

“I’ll sign the papers and I'll have my lawyer contact you after today.” With that, I walked out of the room, I rushed into my room, picked up the papers on my bed, I signed the papers with a heavy heart and I left them in my room. I picked up my purse and without a second thought, I walked out from Edward’s penthouse.

As I walked out of the reception of our building, I tried so hard to keep a straight face.

It would be over soon, all of this.

~~

A part of me had wanted all of this to be a lie, a prank probably. Edward would come to me and tell me he had come to his senses and he wanted me. I would be mad for a few days but we would sort things out.

The thought of being alone again was traumatizing and I would do anything not to face that.

All of my thoughts were left as thoughts and the memories were left to be kept forever as I walked out of the court with only my bag hanging on my shoulder and my father’s name back as my surname.

It was the day of our hearing after three weeks of the abrupt divorce and I thought that it was a joke but it wasn’t, Edward didn’t even spare me a glance, he didn’t try to talk to me. He really wanted this.

The court had declared our marriage annulled and it was over between us and it hurt so much.

It was over, I watched Edward get into the car with Charlotte by his side, while I hailed a cab in front of the court and got in, too stunned to speak, tears perched at the corner of my eye and I tried so hard to blink them back.

I reached my hotel room, picked up my bag, and left, I had a flight to catch.

Three weeks ago, I had thought that my husband was going to confess his love to me but instead he asked for a divorce and today I arrived in Paris with no plan of going back, only plans of moving on.

I had been to Paris a few times when I was still Edward’s secretary and I speak very fluent French, I had always wanted to spend more time in Paris so here was the opportunity.

As the driver loaded my luggage in the trunk of his car, a wave of dizziness hit me and I sighed. I was so tired from my flight and I needed to rest.

I got into the back seat and he drove me straight to my hotel.