Chapter 10
I hesitated, “Let’s wait a bit. I can send you the manuscript from home anyway.”
Viola saw me through. “Oh, come on. You’re just dying to spend more time with Rowan.”
I had to admit she was right. If I could do it all over again, knowing nothing would change and we’d still face the same fate, every day would feel like running out.
Rowan came home on time. I had left a small lamp on in the living room for him, and the stew in the pot was still warm. Curling up on the corner of the couch, I hugged my knees and held my breath.
“Sonia,” Rowan called softly.
Without a word, I crept behind him and suddenly leaped onto his shoulders. “Meow!”
Unfazed, Rowan carried me on his back. “Hold on tight. Don’t fall.”
“Why aren’t you scared?”
“I saw your shadow.”
I playfully nuzzled him. “Let’s go to the bedroom. I’ve got a surprise for you.”
He obliged, carrying me into the room, where a large, clumsily wrapped gift box awaited.
“This is…
“Here’s a belated birthday gift for you. I wasn’t happy with what I origin
ally picked out this year, so I bought this instead.” I gestured at the box, “with the money I earned from my design sketches.”
Sliding off his back, I presented the gift with pride. “Go on. Open it.”
Rowan lowered his gaze, lingering on the box for a while. “Sonia, thank you.”
I rushed him. “Just open it already!”
His hand hovered over the gift’s wrapping, hesitating. “There’s something I need to discuss with you.” “Go ahead.”
He paused, struggling to find the right words. “We… might need to spend some time apart.”
Stunned, I blinked a few times, thinking I must be dreaming. Once the realization hit, I slowly and deliberately asked, “You want a divorce?”
Rowan’s eyes flickered with conflict. As he was about to speak, I stood abruptly. “I see. I’ll pack my things.” “Sonia.” He grabbed my arm. “Please, just hear me out, okay?”
Tears threatened to spill as I turned away, embarrassed to cry before him. “You don’t have to say it, I know. I hurt you, and now, you’re with me to get back at me. I shouldn’t have called you names or stood you up for two hours outside the cinema. I shouldn’t have smeared jelly on your clean white shirt by knowing how much you hate mess.”
A heavy silence fell.
“You smeared jelly where?”
‘On your shirt… and the sheets…”
“And when was this?”
“Just after we got married. I wanted to get back at you-
Suddenly, the world flipped, and I sprawled across Rowan’s lap. Smack! A playful slap landed on my lower back, sending a tingling sensation through me.
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Chapter 10
Tears slipped down my cheeks as I whined, “You didn’t say there’d be spousal abuse before the divorce… Help!” “I didn’t spank you hard,” Rowan chuckled, exasperated. “Sonia, you’re such a child.”
I wriggled, defiant. “Success comes from hitting them where it hurts, right? You want things clean, so I went for the sheets! Want a divorce? I’ll do it again!”
Smack! Another playful slap.
My face turned crimson. “Rowan, this is… this is humiliating… Just stop it already!”
“You couldn’t handle that.” He pulled me up, holding me firmly as I struggled, his expression serious. “Alright, no more tears. Listen. I need you to play along with something.”
“What kind of play?”
“Hooper Brennan is Miles‘ father,” Rowan said bluntly. “The email you saw earlier said his father died in a construction accident. That project was a collaboration between your Uncle Samuel and my dad years ago.”
I suddenly recalled the day I found Miles on the rooftop. He stood there, his white shirt billowing like a sail in the wind.
I had called out, “Miles, what are you doing?”
He turned with despair. “My family is gone. I have no one left.”
At the time, his family tragedy shocked me. I cautiously approached and handed him an ice pop, saying, “I don’t have a family, either. What do you think of me?”
“You?”
“Yeah, look. I got beat up in the girls‘ bathroom, and my Uncle Samuel yelled at me for causing trouble without helping.”
Miles looked at my bruised arm, took the ice pop, and jumped off the ledge. “What’s your Uncle Samuel’s name?”
“Samuel Atkinson.”
Miles slowly lifted his eyes. “Samuel Atkinson? From The Atkinson Group?”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
He looked at me with an unprecedented seriousness in his eyes and said, “Don’t worry, I will treat you well from now on.”
I didn’t understand the look he gave me until years later.
Back then, maybe before he learned Uncle Samuel’s name, Miles did consider making me part of his family. But my ties to the Atkinson family opened a path for his revenge. Over the years, he taught me that family never betrayed us, and if they got hurt, we should pay it back a hundredfold. But his initial promise was woven with lies.
Rowan said, “Sonia, I can tell Miles cares for you. You mentioned in another life that you got harmed, and Miles had a hand in it, maybe because you chose me.”
“I can’t let you stay tied to me, risking everything.”
“You have no real ties with the Atkinson family. Miles should know that. So, if you leave me, all future threats fall on me alone.”
I shook my head slowly. “No way”
“Be sensible”
“No,” I stubbornly clung to his hand. “I’m not divorcing you.”
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Chapter 10
“Did you know? In that other life, we even had a child. I never got the chance to tell you.”
Rowan froze. “Really?”
“Yeah, and maybe we do now, too.”
He went rigid, staring at my belly.
“Rowan, I’ll go along with the act, but no divorce.”
A few weeks later, the media was buzzing. Rumors swirled about a split between the famous entrepreneur
Rowan and his wife. A photo of me moving out of our villa surfaced online on the same day.
Viola looked thrilled as I hauled my bags into her apartment.
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