Remember to Forget

Chapter 22

XAVIER

I spent days, and weeks looking for Jia Xia.

Going to hospitals and bars.

I walked through all the markets far and near.

But my luck was running out at every point.

I finally turned to our parents.

I went to my father first.

He was in his office when I arrived.

I walked in and sat down.

He walked over and slapped me across the face.

"do you know what you have done...!?"

He was beyond himself with anger.

He walked up and down in front of me.

He was running his hands over his hair.

"Xavier, Your in laws are beyond grief stricken... They haven't heard from Jia Xia since she left that day... When were you thinking of telling us she was missing...?"

I finally understood why he was angry.

He already knew everything.

"Dad, I don't know what to do anymore, i have searched everywhere, I... I... Please help me..."

I started sobbing, my hands in my hair.

I finally realized just how bad the situation had become.

I was so blinded by my own selfish reasons I never once though about Jia Xia.

I don't think I would be able to live with myself if anything happened to her.

"Xavier, we need to think things through, where would she go, she is your wife, you must know something about where she likes to go..."

I looked at him and bowed my head.

I felt ashamed calling myself her husband.

I was so busy with Bella I never paid much attention to Jia Xia's like or dislikes...

She never said anything to me either.

My father became more angry.

" Xavier, god damit!!! Tell me you at least know something, anything about your wife...!"

I couldn't say anything.

" Get out!!!! You're so dam stupid...!"

I got up and left.

I did this myself.

The consequences was something I had to bare alone.

After a few days I finally reached out to my inlaws.

I drove to my inlaws the next day.

I stopped at their home and took a deep breath.

I got out and walked inside.

My mother in law was in the kitchen.

She saw me and turned pale.

She looked like she hasn't eaten or slept much less than me.

She walked out and than came my father in law.

He looked at me but he was surprisingly calm.

He invited me to his study.

I walked in and sat down.

"Xavier, I don't want you to come here every again."

He said and I felt like i was suffocating.

He than picked uo a document and handed it to me.

I opened it and saw the heading.

DIVORCE AGREEMENT

I Read through it and on the final page was a signiture already written.

SHE SIGNED IT ALREADY.

My heart felt happy and sad.

I knew now why my father in law was calm.

She finally contacted them.

He didn't even tell us.

The fact that she had already agreed to the divorce broke me.

Didn't I mean anything to her?

Was our love so easy to throw away?

Suddenly my ego kicked in.

I got up and walked out.

"Xavier... Don't make things difficult for us... Please..."

I turned around.

"Father, if she has any love for me whatsoever... I will figure out how to fix everything... I won't let her leave me just like this..."

He shook his head.

"Xavier, she won't ever come back to you, she knows everything... Even about Bella and the pregnancy... Its to late... Please just sign the dam divorce..."

I was horrified at his words.

How was this possible.

No one knows, not even my father...

How...

The pieces of thats day fell into place.

Bella planned it all once again.

She kept checking her phone.

She let me leave her at the doctor's office.

She hasn't even contacted me since.

She couldn't wait to tell Jia Xia.

My mind was racing but my ego wasn't letting go so easily.

"I don't care if she knows, she wants to divorce, she must come find me!"

My father in law just looked at me and sighed.

"its because you didn't care about her that all this has happened..."

He said and than closed the door in my face.

I walked out into the living room.

My mother in law watched as I walked out of the house and got into my car.

Driving back i remember Bella's words...

" We can finally get married... "

Her pregnancy must have alo been planned.

I was thinking about two years earlier.

Was that pregnancy also planned?

Why was this woman so horrible.

I couldn't believe I actually once loved her.

That night I looked around my house.

It wasn't a home anymore.

Jia Xia made it a home.

On the table was a book.

On it a small note.

"Xavier I found this in Jia Xia's drawer.

Read it.

I opened it and started reading.

The pages were fulled with all our good memories.

But each page also mentions Bella.

I kept remembering all the good memories we made.

As i kept reading i started sobbing.

Each page was a moment she cherished.

But also a small cut deeper into her heart.

The final page that made me loose my mind was dated a week before graduation.

"dear diary...

I want to say something I didn't get the chance to say to Xavier, and I can't imagen ever telling him this.

I found out 2 weeks ago I was 6 weeks pregnant... Yes... I was pregnant... The stress of Bella interfering in my marriage on every occasion has caused me to loose my last hope at breaking Bella out of Xavier's life...

I am completely alone and broken and dealing with it on my own... "

This was something I had wished for since our first night together.

But my foolish behavior once again proved to be the end of everything before it had a beginning.

My anger and sadness made me loose control.

I turned my whole house upside down.

Nothing was left standing or unbroken.

My life had no more meaning.

I walked out of the house and into the garage, I found the gasoline canister walked back and poured it over everything in the house.

In my room I stood and looked at Jia Xia's pictures.

One was my favorite in particular.

It was the same one my father had shown me before my wedding.

I picked it up and poured the remainder of gasoline on the bed.

And set it on fire.

I walked out and than set the house on fire.

The flames engulfed everything.

I sat onto of my car watching as all the lovely memories, all the hateful memories all the painful memories all burn with the house.

I sat and watched the flames eat everything in its path.

Not once did I move.

I watched as everything turned to ashes.

When the sun finally rose everything that happened over the past 2 years was gone and forgotten.

I once heard my mother in law tell my father something.

Remember to Forget.

Her words wasn't meant for me but they stayed in my mind and in my heart.

This became my new objective in life.

"Xavier, it's time to go... We'll miss the doctors appointment..."

Bella was yelling from her room.

Its her 6 months check up and like every other time she had to drag me along.

After I burned everything that faithful night, I moved back to my father's old apartment in Shanghai and found myself again.

I didn't give up on Jia Xia returning to me.

I never stopped hoping.

I need to move forward with my life and Bella was unfortunately a part of it.

Bella was staying with me for the past 2 months as she wasn't well during the pregnancy and I didn't want anything to happen to my child.

Yeah, I only cared about the child.

The doctor told us at the 4 months appointment we are having a baby girl.

This was our family cures.

The elders believed that if you married the wrong wife you'd be cured with female offspring only.

My father was lucky.

My mother was the only wife out of 6 brothers and 8 male cousins that gave the family as son.

Me.

So this wasn't a surprise to me because I knew Bella was the wrong women.

But what was I to do about things I couldn't change.

I got up and got dressed.

We left the house and drove to the doctors office.

We waited a while and than met the doctor.

She checked Bella and confirmed everything was fine.

The baby was growing well and was healthy.

She gave Bella more medicine and than gave us a due date.

She said 17 August.

My heart wanted to stop.

17 August was the day me and Jia Xia made love for the first time.

I never forget the date.

I was able to remember it because it was written in her diary.

Yes, I kept her diary.

I started writing in her dairy a few weeks after I had moved to my father's.

It was my way of keeping my heart and mind from going crazy.

I smiled and looked at Bella.

We walked out and saw a familiar face.

Ha-bin.

Well well...

I looked at him thinking Jia Xia would be with him but instead he was alone.

I walked over and greeted him.

"Ha-bin... What a surprise... Looking good..."

He turned to me and i couldn't tell what he was thinking, he seemed nervous but than spoke kindly.

"Xavier, can't say its a pleasant surprise , if you'll excuse me..."

He smiled and walked away.

He hated me since Jia Xia disappeared.

We had become friends during my marriage and he was a good person.

I thought if she left she would have gone to him but he said on numerous occasions she never contacted him at all.

He always got so angry when anyone mentioned her.

I knew he loved her deep down and maybe that's why he was so angry.

I asked the nurse why he was here.

She said he had come to collect some medicine for his wife.

I was surprised.

He actually got married.

I remember he had a girlfriend before Jia Xia disappeared.

Maybe it was her

As if Bella was reading my mind.

"He married his uncles daughter from Zambia, she arrived a few months ago, and with that other trash out of the way he had no reason to refuse."

Trash...

Was she referring to Jia Xia?

"You better shut your mouth if you know what's good for you..."

She looked confused.

"aaa... Your still sensitive over her... Oeps sorry..."

She knew actually how I felt,but she always taunted me.

My father had actually accepted everything and by next month we were getting married.

Her stomach was getting bigger by the day and we couldn't wait any longer.

I wasn't in a hurry, but her family was.

I was responsible for my child.

Two weeks ago my father in law called me and begged me to sign the divorce papers.

I knew after 6 months Jia Xia wasn't coming back so I finally signed and sent it to them.

I cried often behind closed door.

I couldn't help wanted to change the passt or at least think of a future with her.

One month later.

Day before the wedding.

"Xavier let me explain... Please..."

I had gone out with some friends for a bachelor party and when I returned the next morning I found Bella once again in bed with another man.

Sam to be precise.

"Your a lieing whore... I should have known you wouldn't change... But Bella your doing this filthy things while pregnant with my child... f**k!"

Sam suddenly got up and got dressed.

"Xavier it's my child... Both the one 2 years ago and this one, they both belong to me..."

He said and pulled Bella behind him.

I felt like I was going crazy.

I was about to hit him but suddenly realized something.

I was finally free.

This was the best thing that could have happened.

Bella started crying.

" I'm so sorry Xavier... I just can't stop loving Sam... My father... He hates sam.. So he forced me to stick to you until we got married so I could take half of your money.. But I just can't... I wish i could take everything back..."

I listen to her for once without any suspicions.

She was finally telling the truth.

But it was little to late.

I started laughing....

" Sam, Samuel... Thank you so much... Thank you for finally freeing me..."

He was surprised.

I took out my check book and wrote them two checks.

1, 000,000 ¥ and the other 3.000.000¥

"here give this to your family and this take it and disappear,and I mean dissappear, if I see you ever again, You and Bella will be dead I promise!"

I turned around.

"Get the f**k out!"