5

Chapter 5

Aria Blake

~•~

Why did Julian say I ruined the marriage?

What the hell did I do to warrant such an accusation from him?

The only thing I’d done in the past weeks was to fight for us. But what did I get in return? Divorce papers with a baseless accusation.

I ran a hand through my hair. “What exactly did I do, Julian? And don’t say it’s nothing because if you can accuse me, you might as well say what I did.”

Julian looked at me for a few quiet seconds as though he was studying my face.

I held his gaze, waiting in anticipation to hear what he had to say.

Before he could respond, the buzzing of his phone interrupted us. From the expression on his face, I could tell that he was relieved that the call came right at that moment.

My eyebrows furrowed as he reached for his phone. “We are having a conversation right now, you don’t have to answer the call right now.”

He dismissed what I said and stood up immediately. While I was still talking, he walked out of the room to take the phone call.

He probably didn’t want me to overhear the conversation. I didn’t need anybody to tell me that it was his ex-girlfriend on the phone.

A part of me wanted to run after him, but I chose to wait for him until he was done with his call.

When the bedroom door clicked shut, panic tightened my chest. I didn’t know what to do.

I didn’t want to lose my marriage.

But it seemed like I didn’t have a choice anymore.

I waited a few minutes, but Julian didn’t return. Then I reached out for my phone and dialed my best friend’s number.

She was the only one I could talk to about what was happening. I needed to talk to someone or I was going to lose my mind.

Harper answered on the third ring.

“Hey… how’s everything?” she asked curiously.

A sharp breath left my lips. “Not good.”

Harper hesitated for a while before she continued. “I saw the news, I was on my way to work, but I planned on calling you after.”

I closed my eyes tightly for a few moments. It was a public humiliation. Everyone had seen it.

“Aria, are you still there?” Harper asked gently when I’d remained silent. “I’m so sorry about everything.”

I bit my lower lip. “You don’t have to apologize. It’s not your fault,” I said, letting out a sigh.

“I just want to be there for you, Aria.”

There was silence for a few seconds.

“H—he said that I ruined everything… he’s blaming me for everything,” I finally said, my voice trembling. “He said he doesn’t love me anymore.”

Harper gasped. “What? Why?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “I have no idea,” I said with a sniffle. “I just don’t understand what has gotten into him. Why would he mess around with his ex, give me divorce papers, and blame me for everything?”

“What?” Harper exclaimed. “He gave you divorce papers?”

I nodded shamefully. “Yes, he gave them to me… this morning,” I replied softly even though my throat was sore.

“Wow,” Harper murmured.

I didn’t say anything.

The only thing I could think about was why he would switch on me like that. So all our years of marriage meant nothing to him?

“Is it because we don’t have a child together?” I asked, tears streaming down my cheeks.

“No, no, don’t say that,” Harper replied without hesitation. “That’s not the reason and you know it.”

I didn’t know anything anymore.

Even the man I thought was my soulmate had turned out to be a different person whom I couldn’t recognize anymore.

“Then what is the reason? What if he had been having an affair with his girlfriend and she’s finally pregnant? What if he doesn’t know how to tell me the truth?”

Harper let out a breath. “You’re thinking too far right now. I need you to be calm and tell me about everything that happened when he came back.”

Harper’s voice was gentle, and it made me feel a little bit relaxed. Just a little bit. It did nothing to reduce the excruciating pain that was lingering in my chest.

I explained everything to her while trying so hard not to cry. When I was done, she took a while before she finally said something.

“Do you think there’s a chance… even just a little chance that it has something to do with the time when you had lunch with—,”

“No!” I cut her off before she could even finish her sentence. “Don’t say that. It doesn’t have anything to do with it and there’s no way that Julian could have found out about that harmless meeting.”

Honestly, I hadn’t thought about it earlier.

I met up with my ex a few months ago.

We ran into each other while I was getting lunch. So we decided to eat together at the restaurant.

But it was nothing more.

We didn’t even exchange contacts.

And it had been a long time.

That couldn’t be the reason why Julian would give me divorce papers or even accuse me of ruining our marriage.

There was something more.

In fact, there was nothing. It wasn’t my fault. He was just tired of me and wanted to get back to his ex, so he decided to make it seem like everything was my fault because he didn’t want to be the bad guy at the end.

“Are you sure?” Harper asked carefully.

I shook my head. “Yes.”

“So what are you going to do now?”

“When he comes back and still doesn’t want to be honest with me, I’ll have no choice but to sign the papers.”

“Aria, is that what you really want?”

I shook my head. “No, but what else can I do?”

Before she could say anything else, the door creaked open. Julian walked in with an unreadable expression on his face.

“Have you signed the papers?” he asked when he came closer to the bed.

“No.”

“Good. Don’t sign it yet.”

Yet? What was going on?

Why didn’t he want me to sign it anymore?