Two
1276 Words
"Alright,” was all Tessa said.
She didn't bother calling the servants, she took down the photo herself with a rather surprisingly calm disposition. Smith was taken aback by her reaction. He knew how much she treasured the photo too. There was no way she would just take them down.
“Maybe she's trying to get my attention,” he thought. He resolved to pay her no attention till she apologized to Bella.
With each second she watched the man she loved care for another woman, the numbness in her heart grew.
She was done loving him, done fighting a lost battle. She had shed the last tear for him there on the hospital bed with a resolve never to do so again.
Outside, she set down the wedding photo and lit a flame. She went into her room and took out some more pictures.
She pulled the couple photos she had forced him to take out of the drawers where she had safely tucked them away. She also took out her diary, where she had written down her teenage fantasies about him.
Once upon a time, they were her precious and priceless possessions, but now, they just looked ridiculous.
Without hesitation, she threw them all into the fire. Along with them was her love for him.
She had loved Smith as a teenager. From the first day she saw him, she fell head over heels for him.
She hadn’t expected to notice anyone that evening. Her father had dragged her along to the elite gathering, a quiet celebration for long time business partners, saying it was time for her to learn to socialize.
She had stood near the entrance, smoothing down the skirt she had borrowed from her cousin and feeling like a child trying to fit into an adult world.
It was then that she saw him.
He stood by the balcony rail, laughter caught in the amber glow of chandeliers. He looked slightly older than the teenage boys she knew, maybe eighteen or nineteen.
His suit fit him perfectly, his hair impeccably styled to perfection. His smile was what struck her first. That smile was what almost knocked the breath out of her.
She couldn't stop staring.
She told herself she was only curious, but her heart betrayed her, skipping and racing, stumbling in a rhythm she’d never learned before. Heat rose in her cheeks as she watched him move across the room with an effortless grace she didn’t know boys could possess.
Then fate, impatient and dramatic intervened.
A waiter squeezed past too quickly. A glass tipped. Cold liquid splashed down in front of her dress, stinging against her skin. She gasped, nearly choking with embarrassment.
Before she could recover, he was there.
Not her father. Not the waiter. Him.
He shrugged off his suit jacket in one swift motion and draped it around her shoulders. The warmth of it, faintly smelling of cedar and something clean and masculine wrapped around her like a promise.
“Are you okay?” His voice was smooth, concerned and close enough that she felt it more than heard it.
She nodded, speechless. He looked even more handsome up close.
He reached for a handful of napkins from a nearby table, gently dabbing her arm where the drink had splattered. His touch was careful, almost reverent, as though she were something fragile he didn’t want to break.
And just like that, the world softened. She didn't know his name or anything about him. But she knew without any trace of doubt that she had fallen helplessly and hopelessly in love.
Not because he looked handsome in his suit.
Not because he smiled like sunlight.
But because in a room full of important people, he had noticed her.
And in that perfect instant, she believed she had found her perfect man. Her perfect love. Her perfect beginning.
She had loved him for ten years and had been married to him for four years. But everything meant nothing to him.
The love that bloomed in one elite gathering was gone, burning to ashes with the photos she once cherished.
The following day, she pulled over in front of Smith’s company, the Pado group.
Her fingers trembled around the steering wheel. She hadn’t slept. She hadn’t eaten. But she had made up her mind.
Today, she was ending this marriage.
She stepped out of the car, clutching her brown file tightly. Inside were the divorce papers she had spent all night reading and rereading until her tears dried into salt on her cheeks.
The security guards greeted her with familiar smiles that she no longer had the strength to return. She walked into the lobby, her heels clicking sharply against the marble floor as if announcing her heartbreak to the world.
Everyone in this building believed she was just Mr. Smith’s “close friend.” No one knew she was actually his wife.
And that was because she had agreed to it. She had agreed to everything, every humiliating condition, every sacrifice, every condition he set hoping that one day he would truly see her.
Tessa stepped into the elevator and pressed the button to the 18th floor, where his office was. She inhaled deeply, steadying herself.
Today would be the last day she ever begged for love.
Smith looked up the moment she walked into his office. His brows drew together in surprise.
“Tessa? Why are you here? I’m about to step out.”
Of course he was. His first love, the woman who had suddenly returned after years of vanishing was coming to the company that afternoon. He had barely spoken about anything else since.
“I need you to sign something for me,” she said quietly.
He glanced at the file in her hands, impatience flickering across his features. “What document is that?”
“Just… something I want to buy.”
He reached for it. “You know I don’t sign anything without reading…”
His phone rang sharply, cutting him off.
The caller ID flashed through the screen and Tessa caught a glimpse of it.
“Sweetheart” with heart emoji’s beside it.
He had saved Bella’s name sweetly while hers had always been formal, like a business proposal.
Her heart clenched the moment she saw how his entire face lit up. He didn’t even check the caller ID; he just knew.
“Hey,” he said, voice softening in a way he had never used with her, not even once. “You’re here already? Right outside? I’m coming.”
He hung up and stood abruptly, handing the document back to her.
"Tessa, I’ll read this later…”
She stepped back. “It’s urgent.”
She flipped to the last page and pushed the paper towards him.
He hesitated briefly. Then he sighed, grabbed the pen on his desk, and scribbled his signature on the last page without flipping a single one.
This was the same man who once paused a meeting to double-check the spelling on a contract; but for her, today, he barely spared a second.
“Okay, happy now?” he said, already halfway to the door. “We’ll talk later. Don't worry, I'll make it up to you with a dinner when all this is over.”
He brushed past her with the same gentle indifference he used on strangers. And without looking back, he hurried down the hallway.
Tessa shook her head sadly. There wouldn't be any need to make it up to her. Whatever they had was over.
She had given him exactly what he wanted. The freedom to be with the woman he loved.
- Writer
