All Chapters of The Divorce That Ruined Him: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

25 Chapters

Bad fate

Serena"Serena."His voice came through the door before he did.Just my name. Nothing else. But the way he said it — rough and unravelling at the edges, the voice of a man who had been holding something together for hours and was finally alone enough to let it slip, did something to my chest I did not have time for.I had a few seconds.I pulled the sheet up, swung my legs back, and closed my eyes. And by the time the door opened fully, I was flat against the pillow with my breath regulated and my hands loose on the blanket.Deliberately still.His footsteps stopped just inside the room.He crossed to the chair and sat as his hand found mine, wrapping around my fingers the way they always did when he was frightened, slightly too tight, a fraction past gentle. Like holding on and terrified of what happens if he let go.Pretense.I kept breathing.He uttered no words. Just sat beside me in the quiet with my hand in both of his.That silence did more damage than anything Rose had said.B

The Declaration

Damien's PovMy feet refused to move an inch.I don't think I could even move a finger.The doctor was still talking and I stood in that corridor under those lights and not a single word was reaching me past the first ones.“She's gone.”Just that two words. And everything else became sound without meaning.Rose's hand found my arm. I felt the pressure of it but not the warmth. She was saying my name, I think, and I looked at the door to Serena's room and thought about her hand going slack in mine.“I'm not leaving.”That's what I had said. Desperate and cracking at the centre, and they had turned me by the shoulders and walked me out and I had let them because they said they needed space to work and I had believed them. I had stood in this corridor for nine minutes telling myself she was strong and the doctors were good and she had been through worse—"Damien."Rose again. Closer this time.I turned to look at her and I don't know what was on my face but whatever it was made her take

Altitude

SerenaThe moment I finally escaped the hospital, I hurriedly left to the hotel where I had few belongings and a stack of cash along with all my cards. I hurriedly rushed off to the airport for my flight.The boarding gate was quiet at that hour.I kept my head down and my pace even and handed over the documents without my hands shaking, which I was proud of.“Elena Marsh.”The name on the passport Lawrence had couriered to a locker three weeks ago, when this was still hypothetical. I was still using it.The woman at the desk barely glanced up. Scanned the passport. Checked the screen and handed it back to me."Have a good flight, Ms Marsh.""Thank you," I said.I walked through the gate and never looked back.***********I had deliberately chosen a window seat on a night flight. Which means nobody climbs over you or tries to make meaningless conversations. I put my bag in the overhead and sat down. Buckled the belt and placed my phone face-down on my knee.The cabin filled slowly ar

The Old Man

SerenaHis name, I still didn't know.All I knew was the colour draining from his lips. The way his shoulders had folded inward, yet nobody else on this plane was doing anything about it."Ma'am—" The attendant hovered at my elbow, her voice pitched at that precise frequency of someone trained to project calm and currently failing at it. "The captain says we can reroute—""Do it," I mumbled without looking up. "And bring me the first aid kit. Not the box under the seat. The full one. From the galley.""I don't know if—""The red case. Top shelf. Go."She went.The woman with the headphones was awake now, pressed against the window with both feet pulled up like she was trying to occupy as little of the world as possible. I didn't blame her. It ain't her business caring for a stranger but at least…I pressed two fingers to the inside of his wrist again. The pulse was still there. His skin was papery and cool and the hand beneath mine felt like something that had once been very strong

Victor Hale

Serena The doctor looked calm and was very approachable with careful eyes. He led me down a corridor and stopped outside a room at the far end. "He stabilised about forty minutes ago," he said. "His BP is holding, and he's okay for now. We have him on a drip and monitoring his heart rhythm." He paused, "He has a degenerate condition. His heart is weak and has been on a reduced function for some time now." He paused for a second before proceeding. "He was already aware of it before tonight." He looked at the door, then back at me. "Mrs—" He stopped. "He's coherent. He's been asking for you since he woke up." A beat. "Quite insistently." "Alright," I said. He pushed the door open and stood aside. The room was smaller than I expected. One window, curtain half-drawn, with the orange blur of terminal lighting pressing through the gap. The monitor beside the bed blinked green. And in the bed, propped against two pillows with his hands folded on top of the blanket, was the old

I found the one

SerenaI was thinking this Victor man was up to something. Last night, he made it look like he had known me for long.It felt weird, but I couldn't deny the familiarity.I slept by him though partitioned by a curtain. I had nowhere to go since I decided to choose a stranger over moving on to the reason why I was here.He was awake when I arrived the next morning.With a cup of tea and a newspaper close enough to his face.A frown settled on my face... looking at the cup of tea. Was that even right? It lasted less than a minute after contemplating whether I should let him be or take that away.He looked up when he saw me enter."You're late," he said. “I must have had you drained."I looked at the clock on the wall."Technically," I said.His voice was warm. He folded the newspaper and set it on the blanket and gestured at the second cup with two fingers. "Please sit."After I felt comfortable, I was ready to say something. "How are you feeling?" I asked."Better than yesterday. It w

Starting all over.

Serena It took me three days to build something that was mine, and I found myself an apartment with Victor's assistance. He said that was the least he could do out of gratitude for saving his life. The apartment smelled faintly familiar. I stood in the middle of it with my bag on the floor and the keys still in my hand and took it all in. There was a kitchen, a bedroom, and a bathroom good enough for me. It was the most beautiful room I had ever stood in. I set the keys on the counter and didn't cry, which surprised me because I had expected to. I had braced for it. I opened the window and let the cold air into the room. As it hit my face, my body relaxed. I pressed my hand flat against my stomach. "This is it," I said. It’s just us. And whatever this is… this new kind of hope.” ****************** I found a doctor for myself after everything quietened and had settled. It was a private hospita on the third floor of a building ten minutes from the apartment, with a waiting ro

Got tricked.

DamienRose made dinner the night I left the hospital. It tasted nothing better than Serena's.I thought this meant nothing, and I could move on.I was still telling myself that, it was all a dream and everything would go back to normal when I woke up.The flat was quiet in the way that flats are quiet. Rose's perfume still faintly lingering in the air. I made coffee and sat at the table and once my eyes landed on the vase, memories of Serena flooded my brain. She was perfect.She used to speak so softly to meDamn! I couldn't. I just can't.I stopped and tried to clear everything off my head.“She was a good person. She deserved better.”That one almost worked. I was almost at peace. At the version of myself that could carry what had happened without it pressing on everything else.My phone lit up. And I saw a call from Lawrence's office. The name pulled me out of whatever I was doing with my face and I answered without thinking."Mr Holt." His assistant called out. "We have a doc

I won't let go

DamienI could hardly bring myself to sleep.Not even close to dozing. I went back to the apartment, picked up the documents, and left. It was around two in the morning, with the note lying flat in front of me. Everything that had gone on in the past weeks started forming connections.She had been alive for three weeks while I grieved her.My heart seemed to stop feeling. My lips went numb, and my body went weak in a way I couldn’t control. I had been broken on the day of the funeral. Completely, catastrophically small.I pressed my fists against the table and stole a glance at the now crumpled note again.“I loved you honestly.”The anger didn’t rise all at once. It built slowly, quietly. Every time I tried to direct it somewhere clean, it turned back on itself.Because she had known before, I admitted it to myself.She had heard everything. She had come back to that bedroom, laid beside me, and said nothing. Not out of weakness.I had underestimated her for three years. And I had ma

Grief and Strategy

RoseI rubbed my now visible belly, which had grown into the size of a double football.Satisfaction seeped into my heart thinking about the fact that everything was falling into places just like I wanted.I was twenty-two weeks now. Damien had become a bit distance, but I don't mind. As long as I see no threat now, I'll gladly embrace his moment of coldness till he comes back to me. To us.He came home at half seven and stood in the doorway of the kitchen with his jacket still on."Smells good," he said. His voice had flattened. Present but not quite."Sit down," I retorted. "Ten minutes."He sat down and looked at the table rather than at me, which I noted but said nothing about. I plated the food I brought over. I sat across from him, and we ate, and I let the quiet be quiet rather than filling it."How was the site meeting?" I asked."Fine.""Did they sort the contractor issue?""Mostly."I nodded. Reached for my water. Let my hand pass close to his on the table — not quite touch

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