ONE LAST CHANCE WITH MY EX-HUSBAND

“I’m pregnant! I’m pregnant!.” The two lines indicating my pregnancy test result stared back at me as I raced down the halls. I hid the kit behind my back and slid into the study, a smile plastered on my face as I locked eyes on a pair of green ones. “Working even on a day like this?” I closed the distance between us. “The guests have started arriving.” “I know.” My husband’s cold eyes returned to the paperwork in front of him. “I need to finish this up quickly.” Typical Damien Chad. It was his birthday and I had spent several days planning the party but as always, My husband was buried here at work. He spent more time on his Studies than he did with me in our three years of marriage. I glanced at the pregnancy kit in my hands with a soft smile, everything was about to change. What better gift to give my husband on his birthday than the news of him becoming a father? “I brought you a birthday gift.” I grinned and closed the distance between us. “Don't you want to know what it is?” I pressed on not minding the fact that the brown-haired man remained glued to his work. My husband, Damien Chad was a man of few words. He was a cold, calculative billionaire, and his indifference towards me, if anything, had worsened over the years. Although My efforts to melt his stoned heart had been met with nothing but rejection over the past few years, I had no doubt this gift was going to change him— and our lives— forever. “I already know what I want for my birthday.” “What?” I asked, “What do you want?” My curious eyes watched him dig a document from his desk. “I want a divorce, Irene .” His words hit me like a ton of bricks at the same time the document slammed against my face. I stared at the title of the document in my hands, my head whirling with disbelief. Was this some kind of joke? “Damien?” My insides churned, and I tried my best to maintain my composure. “What do you mean by a Divorce?” “Divorce means Divorce, Irene. There is no substitute definition for it in the dictionary.” The sturdy man stood, eyes staring me down. “Sign the papers and leave, I want you out of my house before the party is over.” “Did I do something wrong?” My stomach twisted in knots. “Damien,” I called, cursing the tears in my eyes, “I dedicated the past three years to you, how can you just—” I caught a whiff of the sturdy man’s cologne as he brushed past me and disappeared out the door. I raced after him, my heart a frantic drumbeat in my chest as I went downstairs. My eyes searched through the party, teeming with guests and it didn't take long to see the tall man in the middle of the room. I pushed my way through the crowd only to come up short at the sight before me. The paper in my hand fell to the ground with a thud, loud enough to throw me off balance and I stumbled. Right in front of me was my husband kissing someone else. If it was any other woman, then maybe it would’ve hurt less, but the blonde in his arms was everything I couldn't be to Damien; the love of his life, his first love, and my step-sister, Eva. “Damien?” Tears blurred my vision and I felt my heart drop from my stomach and shatter into a million pieces at my feet. Everything made sense to me at that moment. All these years, Damien always despised me, blaming me for losing his first love. I was nothing more than a stand-in, a replacement for the woman he loved, and now that she was back, he didn't need me in his life anymore. He pulled away from the model like woman in his arms and glared at me with eyes that were everything but kind. “You're still here?” Damien’s voice was laced with irritation. “I asked you to leave.” Tears blurred my vision and I cleared my throat, trying to keep my composure amid the tears threatening to spill out of my eyes. “Oh I see, It all makes sense now” “I am glad it does,” His eyes hardened. “We all know I married you as Eva’s replacement and now, my Eva is back.” “Of course she is,” I wiped a tear from my cheek and berated myself for ever thinking he could love me. Damien Chad only ever had eyes for Eva and in these three years, that statement had stood stronger than my love. “I never loved you.” He reminded me and I tightened my fist. “But I loved you.” Fresh tears stung my eyes. “I've done nothing but love you all these years!” “And where did that get you?” Eva's lips twisted up into a smirk. “Damien has always belonged to me. He’s mine, not yours, Irene.” She tiptoed and dropped a kiss on his lips. My stomach churned and my breakfast threatened to spill out. “No…” My grip around my pregnancy kit tightened. Damien belonged to me. He was mine, not Eva’s. I was the one pregnant with his child, not Eva. I inched closer and my hands found their way to his arm. “Damien, I'm preg—” He pushed me and I stumbled back, tripping over my heels and falling to the ground with a thud. Gasps rang around me and my face turned red, my hand instinctively wrapped around my stomach. They were watching, everyone was watching as my husband humiliated and rejected me in public on the day I envisioned that he would finally accept me. “Sign the papers and leave my life. Forever.” Damien’s velvety voice dragged me back to reality. “I never want to see your face again, Irene.” Years of marriage, years of yearning, years of love, my one-sided love, was being washed down the drain and there was nothing I could do about it. “You want to throw everything away?” I spat, “Everything?” I choked. “For her? For this woman who abandoned you when you needed her the most?” “I see you have a misconception, Irene, If you do not know, I will make it clear,” Damien’s voice was like a stab in my chest. “You mean nothing to me. You don’t, you didn’t and you never will.” I forgot how to breathe and scrambled to my feet. “So you want me to leave? To go far away and never come back? To forget my love and forget you? Is that what you truly want, Damien?” “Yes,” He breathed, “I want you out of this house and out of my life.” “Of course she will.” Eva snaked her arm around Damien’s arm, her head resting on his chest. “There's nothing left for the pathetic woman here anyway.” Eva was right, there was nothing left for me here. “Fine.” The tears finally dribbled down my cheeks. “I'll leave and never show my face in front of you again.” I bit hard on my bottom lip and I grabbed the document and scrawled my name across the bottom of it. I was tired. Tired of being humiliated and neglected; tired of giving love only to receive nothing but hatred in return. Tired of waiting around for a man who would never love me — Or even choose to love me. I took several steps towards the door before I stopped and spun around to take one last look at Damien before stepping out, shutting the door and my entire past along with it. “It ends here, Damien, right now.”