Four
1467 Words
The door was almost shut when a hand slid into the narrow space, stopping it with practiced ease. Long fingers. Perfectly manicured nails, glossy and pale, pressing against the metal.
Tessa turned slowly.
Bella stood beside the car, one hand resting on the door, the other folded over her stomach.
“Where are you off to? What about the chicken sauce for my baby?”
Tessa blinked once.
“Baby?” She asked even before she could stop herself. Her voice came out quieter than she expected.
Bella tilted her head, studying her face as if assessing damage. “Don’t look so shocked. You’ll wrinkle your forehead.”
Tessa straightened fully now, but she still remained in the car. One hand rested on the steering wheel, the other hung loosely by her side.
“What baby?” she asked.
Bella sighed, the sound exaggerated, almost bored. “Oh. He didn’t tell you.”
She leaned closer, lowering her voice.
“I’m pregnant. With Smith’s child.”
Tessa’s world tilted.
Bella continued, unfazed.
“That night was… sweet,” she said, smiling to herself. “He knows my body so well. He always has.”
Tessa’s fingers curled slowly against the steering wheel. The leather creaked under the pressure.
“I told him he didn’t need to worry,” Bella went on. “I even said I could handle it on my own. Or not at all, you know, get rid of the baby.” She shrugged. “But he insisted. He said we’d raise the baby together.”
She paused, then added casually, “Even though he was still married.”
The air felt heavier. Thicker.
Tessa lifted her gaze fully now, her eyes finally meeting Bella’s.
Bella frowned slightly. “Why are you looking at me like that? You’re being unreasonable.”
Unreasonable.
Tessa almost laughed.
Instead, she tilted her head just a fraction. “Unreasonable,” she repeated softly.
This slimy bastard! She was the one straddling her husband, while, she, his supposed legal wife was being unreasonable?
Bella misread the calm for weakness and waved a dismissive hand. “Anyway, I’m only worried about the chicken sauce. I’m craving it badly.”
She glanced toward the driveway. “You’re going to the market, right?”
Tessa didn’t answer.
Bella smiled again, already turning away. “While we were at the office, I got tired. Smith said you make the best chicken sauce.” She laughed lightly. “He said you’d do it.”
As Bella walked back toward the house, heels clicking confidently, Tessa sat motionless behind the wheel.
Then she reached for her phone.
The screen lit up.
A message.
From Smith.
Make chicken sauce for Bella. She’s craving it. Follow the usual recipe.
Tessa stared at the words.
Her jaw tightened. Slowly. Deliberately.
She locked the phone screen, set it down, and wrapped both hands around the steering wheel. Her knuckles went white.
For a moment, she didn’t breathe.
Then she started the car.
The engine hummed steadily, obediently, unlike the life she had given years to.
She drove out of the driveway without looking back.
The ride back to her father’s estate felt longer than every mile she had driven in the past three years.
The car rolled into the driveway and stopped.
Tessa didn’t turn the engine off immediately. She sat there, hands still on the wheel, shoulders stiff, breathing shallowly as if her body hadn’t yet caught up with where she was.
Then the driver’s door opened.
“Tessa?”
She looked up.
Two of her brothers were already moving toward the car. Kelvin had been seated on the stone bench near the fountain, Leo just stepping out of the house. The moment they saw her face, they broke into a run.
“Tess, what happened?” Leo asked, crouching beside the door. “Why do you look like this?”
Kelvin leaned in, scanning her quickly, his eyes sharp. “Did he do something to you?”
She stepped out of the car slowly. Her legs felt strangely light, as if they didn’t belong to her. The four of them gathered around her in seconds, voices overlapping, hands hovering, concern written plainly across their faces.
“Are you okay?”
“Did he hurt you?”
“Say something.”
She lifted a hand.
“I’m done,” she said.
The questions stopped.
“Done?” Kelvin echoed.
“With the marriage,” she added. “It’s over.”
Leo’s jaw tightened. He reached for her arm, turning her slightly, his eyes searching her face. “What happened, Tessa? Did he touch you? Did he…”
“No.” She gently pulled her arm free. “He didn’t hurt me like that.”
Kelvin’s hands curled into fists. “Then what did he do?”
She exhaled slowly. “Enough.”
For a heartbeat, no one spoke.
Then Jeon, the third brother who hadn’t said anything snapped.
“That’s it,” he said, already straightening. “I’ll go there right now.”
Leo nodded sharply. “We all will.”
“We’ll deal with him,” Darrel, another brother, said, anger simmering just beneath his calm tone. “We’ll make him understand what it means to mess with the wrong family.”
Tessa’s head snapped up. “No.”
They all turned to her.
“No,” she repeated, firmer now. “You won’t touch him.”
Kelvin stared at her in disbelief. “What? You still love him? Still defending that bastard?”
“I said no. I want to deal with him myself.
She looked at each of them in turn. “I don’t want your fists. I don’t want threats. I want him to feel it.”
Leo frowned. “Feel what?”
She held his gaze. “The loss, the pain I felt. I want him to feel the exact same way. I want to make him pay.”
Silence followed.
Slowly, reluctantly, her brothers stepped back. The anger didn’t leave their faces, but they respected the line she’d drawn.
Jeon exhaled hard. “If he comes near you…”
“He won’t,” she said.
“Where’s Dad?” she asked.
“In the study,” Leo replied. “He’s been there all afternoon.”
She nodded once.
Without another word, she turned and walked into the house.
The study door stood closed.
Tessa stopped in front of it, her hand hovering just inches from the wood. She hadn’t stood here in years.
She knocked twice then she pushed the door open. Her father sat behind the wide mahogany desk, papers neatly arranged, glasses resting low on his nose.
He looked older than she remembered.
His hair was mostly gray now, but they were still cut short and neat. His eyes, when they lifted to her, were still sharp.
Assessing.
No smile formed on the old man’s face.
Tessa stood there, suddenly feeling very small, very young.
She swallowed hard.
“So, what brings you back here, Tessa?” he asked, leaning back on his chair.
“I… lost, father. I’m so sorry,” Tess said, her head bowed low.
“Humph,” he sneered.
“What happened to all your confidence?The last time you were here, you stood proud and tall, rattling away on how you were so sure about that base born brat! And now, you’re here again, admitting defeat?”
Her father's jab hit a spot. A very wounded spot at that but she stood firm.
“I’m sorry, father. I should have known better.”
“Known better, you say?” he scoffed, standing up and walking to the window, his back to her.
“My own daughter gambled everything. Her pride, dignity, life, inheritance and future for some man way beneath her! We didn’t agree that you return when you loose. There’s no room for you here, Tessa.”
Tessa dropped to her knees. She knew her father was still very angry with her. She had left a chance to become a star to go after a man despite his warnings.
“Forgive me, father. The old and obedient Tessa is back home. I’m back to start over. I’ve learnt my lessons.”
He turned and looked at his youngest daughter, who looked like she had truly learnt her lesson. For a moment, something unreadable flickered in his eyes. Then he nodded. He pulled her into a warm embrace.
Tessa let it all out and cried like never before, her body shaking violently.
“It's alright. I've got you, my child. You're home now.”
She was going to start over. This was her moment, her chance to become everything that she blew up. And this time, she would rise to the top, spread her wings and soar.
- Writer
