Confrontation
1565 Words
ELISE’S POV
Damien glanced up and our eyes locked. He froze entirely, then slowly unhooked his hands from Vanessa.
His eyes darted from Ivy back to me, then he took a step forward.
I saw the way his lips moved and noticed how his face quickly became pale, blood draining fast from under his skin.
Obviously, he didn't expect to see me here. In a hospital with his pregnant mistress. I should have known it was what he had gone to do when he immediately stormed off. Vanessa was his business, Vanessa was the met gala he abandoned me on our anniversary for, Vanessa was the board of shareholders.
Every time he abandoned me. He actually went to be with Vanessa. A bitter smile flashed on my face. I took one step forward.
“Congratulations Damien Ashford, you finally got to be a father.”
My voice came out cold, detached, even when my hands were clenched, even when I could feel the hospital hall getting smaller and smaller.
The nurses who were passing by stopped, gaze fixed on us. I watched as Vanessa held Damien closer, acting coquettish.
“What . . . What are you doing here?” He asked. There was an edge to his voice.
I let out a low laugh, my shoulders shaking. “What do married women come to the hospital to do?” I asked, and he took another cautious step closer. “Obviously I came to check if I was really infertile or my beloved husband had been lying to me all along.”
His eyes darkened. I noticed the way his throat bobbed up and down, before he found his voice again. “What do you mean? We went to the doctor together. You saw the results …”
“You mean the doctor you recommended?”
His jaws worked, he covered the distance between us, standing right before me. I didn't move, I only stared up at the man I have loved for years. The man I called my husband. The man that I swore to love because I thought he was being understanding of my barrenness.
Pressure built behind my eyes, but I swallowed hard.
“You just can't say that.” He reached to touch my face and I took a step backwards, eyes flashing with cold disgust. He withdrew his hands. “Look, I understand that you are just angry seeing me with Vanessa. But she just happened to be in distress and I had no choice but to help her. Let's just walk back home and talk properly, okay?”
He reached towards me again, but this time it was Ivy that came between us. Her shoulders were tense, voice hard.
“You … How can you be so shameless? To think I —”
“It's okay, Ivy,” I interrupted her and fished out my phone. I increased the volume, then tapped on the video that Vanessa had sent me.
I flashed the phone in his face. The sound of his groans filled the air, accompanied by Vanessa’s lewd moans.
He reached to grab the phone and I retracted my hands.
“This ….this is edited.” He immediately defended.
I didn't reply to him, instead, I swiped my phone. He tried to stop me, trying to grab it, and each time, I slapped his hands away and found the picture Vanessa showed me.
“Here it is, Damien. You love me? You love me and you gave me Vanessa's ring for our anniversary?”
His gaze turned to Vanessa. She had a smug expression which instantly changed and turned into a pitiful look.
He returned his gaze to me.
“Listen, all these are lies. I wouldn't hurt you. You are my wife.”
Hah! I want to laugh.
His wife? He left his wife outside the family house to attend to his mistress, he gave his wife his mistress’s ring to save costs. He got his doctor to misdiagnose his wife. Called me infertile while secretly feeding me a contraceptive pill as a cure instead.
He must really love me so much.
“I'm your wife?” I asked and took a step forward. Our faces were inches apart, and I could feel his ragged breath. “Yet you let this wife of yours suffer from the mental burden of being infertile while it has always been you all along!”
He exhaled and shook his head. It was as if I had been talking trash all along. He touched my shoulders and smacked his tongue against his teeth. His hands on my shoulders were cold, disgusting. It didn't feel safe anymore.
“You don't understand the full picture. You really are infertile.”
My chest burned. My eyes stung so bad that my vision clouded. Did he just openly call me infertile?
I heard gasps from the nurses, whispers that made my blood rush to my face.
“I know you badly want to be okay, but you can't trust all these doctors and fake diagnoses.”
I remained there, standing, unable to speak. My eyes were fixed on the ground. “Infertile? Badly want to be okay?” I whispered. The words burned my tongue. It wasn't the words exactly. It was the confidence with which he said it. I almost believed it myself.
“Elise, you are emotionally unstable now. You are just concerned about Vanessa. Listen, we can …”
“Shut up!” I snapped and took his hands off my shoulders. “I have gone through everything, and you are the damn liar.”
“How can you trust that the doctor diagnosed better? They might just be wrong.”
Disgusting. Utterly disgusting. I wanted to slap him so hard that his face would burn. “I'm telling you, you are really …”
He didn't complete the statement when he noticed my expression.
I bit my lips so hard, then let out a painful exhale. I snapped my head towards the doctor I had come to see. She was already standing next to Ivy. She gave me this pitiful look. The type that screamed ‘oh dear, you married the wrong man'.
“No need for drama. You listen to the doctor's report,” I said, and nodded towards her.
“Read it out loud.”
She nodded, adjusted her glasses, and began reading. Damien's face paled with each word.
“Mrs Ashford has a high chance of getting pregnant. It means she is very fertile. I don't see any ovarian infection, and there is no sign of infertility. But there are traces of contraceptive hormones in her bloodstream, making it difficult to get pregnant.”
Vanessa's face changed. Her brows furrowed as she turned to Damien.
“Wait. I can explain,” Damien said, his voice low, cracked.
“Explain? You mean more lies?”
“Listen. It's not really what you think. I — I was being manipulated. Vanessa forced me into this.”
Vanessa snapped her head to him.
“What?! How can you say that?!” Vanessa yelled, and Ivy stepped closer to me, rubbing my shoulders lightly.
Damien shook her off and she stumbled. She hit her back against the wall and whimpered, clutching her stomach. Damien didn't bother with her, and came to me, frantically outstretched his hands.
“I was being manipulated,” he opened his dirty mouth and lied.
My jaw almost fell open. He pushed his pregnant mistress away? He didn't care if she miscarried or not? See how quickly he was throwing her under the bus?
Oh goodness.
Then it isn't that I wasn't enough, it's just that every woman in his life was just as disposable.
How pathetic!
Vanessa immediately stumbled towards him and grabbed him by the collar. “How dare you? How can you do this to me? Weren't you the one who said you didn't care about her? You didn't love her and wanted to quickly get rid of her, just to be with me? I have waited for three years, three whole years and now, you have an opportunity and you dare not take it?”
Every word she said sounded like a slap on my face. Three years? So for three years of our marriage, he was never faithful to me?
“You told me you loved me,” I started, voice calm, but I could feel the lump in my throat. “That you would fight beside me, you would take care of me. But all these while you have been cheating on me?”
“Elise, you misunderstand …”
“I left fashion for you. I became a housewife for you, and yet Damien, you never loved me?”
His lips moved but I took the divorce files that Ivy had been holding on to and slammed it right on his stupid face.
He went silent. I swallowed with absolute difficulty, my eyes red as I stared at him. I watched as the papers just slid down his face, and to the floor. He did not even move to grab them, instead he calmly watched the papers drop to the floor.
When he looked back at me with those pleading eyes, I cleared my throat dryly and spoke in a soft, quiet voice: “Damien Ashford. Let's get a divorce.”
- Writer
