Chapter 23

*CORA* I headed to my room after saying that to him.I knew of the consequences of not leaving. Alvin has been acting weird towards me and I didn’t know how to feel about it. If I ever were to fall in love again,I felt it really shouldn’t be him.He had a close relationship with Tristan.Not that I cared about Tristan’s feelings but I felt it would be generally awkward for everyone. *************** Watching Cora’s receding figure,Alvin smirked and let out. “You will be mine,Cora.Sooner or later.” Then he brought out his cellphone and stared at the picture he had secretly took of her at the pavilion. In the picture,she was all smiles as she chatted with everyone. He sent the picture to Tristan and added a text. Alvin:See how beautiful Cora is when you’re not around her. Alvin strongly felt that Tristan makes Cora unhappy.Afterall, which woman would be happy with her husband flaunting his lover everywhere. Alvin would never do that to Cora.He wished she could see how much he adores her. ***************** *TRISTAN* I was dealing with some documents in my company when my phone beeped. Seeing a picture and reading the text that followed made me lose my mind.I was so angry that I threw the document on the floor. Phoebe who was sitting on the couch rushed up to me looking,startled. “What’s wrong,Tristan?Why do you look so upset?Did you lose a deal or something?” My teeth clenched.”Yeah…no…I…” My thoughts were scattered all over the place and I was also shocked by my anger. How could I lose control like that? Over my ex-wife? Why was I so mad that she looks so happy without me? But how could she go out with another man behind my back?And she was dressed so casually as if she was spending the night with him?! The picture tormented me,of how her hair was blown by the wind and how bright her eyes looked. What’s more,Alvin was there with her! Was this why she wanted a divorce? I had tried to understand it for so long. She suddenly found the divorce papers I had gotten long ago and she wanted a divorce without a second thought. I had thought that she was of the notion that I wanted the divorce since she found those papers. And I could never lay down my pride to beg anyone to stay with me. I had thought it didn’t make any sense for her to want to end our marriage just like that after doing almost everything to be married to me?! But now it all made sense. She had wanted a divorce so she could be with someone else. Why hadn’t I seen that before? She must have been having an affair when we were still married? Fuck! And she kept acted like a calm and submissive wife,acting like she cared about me. Was she really spending the night with Alvin? What if the paparazzi took pictures of them? In a fit of anger,I was like a bomb,ready to explode at any time. The more I thought about it,the angrier I became. “What’s wrong,Tristan?Talk to me.” “It’s…it’s just that fucking document.” “What’s it about?Can I help?I can…” “It’s fucking late,Phoebe.Go home.” She blinked,looking surprise.”I don’t mind staying here.We…” “Go home.”I breathed. She better leave now before I say or do something that would send her crying to my mother. She finally nodded.”Okay.You can call me when you need me.”And then,she left. My fist clenched. I wanted to kill that Alvin. How dare he do this to me? We were the closest!I had always felt he was the nicest relative of mine but he dared to seduce my wife?! I thought about his text again and I felt humiliated. She’s beautiful without me? Do I make her ugly? ********* *CORA* As soon as I returned to my room and opened the door,my phone rang out. I didn’t know if it was an illusion or not but I felt that the ringing of the cellphone sounded tensed. When I took out my phone and saw that it was Tristan. I sighed,heavily. Each time I tried to escape from him,momentarily,he always tries to get me, to ruin my mood. Was Tristan really a nightmare that I couldn’t escape from? I stared at the phone wondering why he was calling and also wondering if I should answer it or not. Coincidentally,Dylan walked passed by door. “Are you going to keep staring at your phone?It’s ringing.”He pointed out. I then disconnected the call. “I’m not answering it.” Suddenly,a text popped up on my screen. Tristan:Are you too busy to answer the phone now? I rolled my eyes and ignored the text. Another came in. Tristan:Pick up the phone right now! I scoffed. He really needed to know his place. I turned off my phone and threw it on the bed then I went to take a shower. ************ *TRISTAN* I tried calling her just to realize that the phone was switched off. How dare that woman? She read my texts,ignored them and now she switched off her phone! An unprecedented sense of frustration enveloped me.Anger occupied my mind,my heart,my brain,my whole body. I even started feeling the anger as pain now. I couldn’t focus on anything in the company anymore so I headed hold. I was so absent-minded.I knew Winnie,the housekeeper was speaking to me.I didn’t know what she was saying but I just nodded and headed upstairs. After taking a shower and falling flat on the bed. I tried to get some sleep. So what if she was with another man? I wasn’t even capable of feeling the emotion called love. I wasn’t wired that way. I only saw women for the benefits they had to bring me not to cherish or love them. I didn’t care about Cora. She can be with Alvin.She can be with anyone she wanted. With my eyes closed,a scene was suddenly created in my mind. A scene of Alvin and Cora at that pavilion where that stupid picture was taken. He gave her flowers and she smiled broadly at him,then he leaned down to kiss her. My eyes opened, abruptly and I sat up. Oh God! Now I’m making things up. I just wanted to know what was going on with Alvin. Was she truly having an affair with him! Were they fucking right now? I couldn’t sleep at all.I tossed and turned,thinking about the fact that she was with Alvin. **************** Another person was having an equally terrible night. Phoebe was trying to understand what made Tristan so upset. He even asked her to leave. So far,she wasn’t making any progress with him.She was always forcing and begging him to let her hang around him at his company,claiming that she could also learn something when the time came for her to take over her family’s business. He was still as before we they had dated.Someone who only dated because people his age were supposed to date.And that was why she felt he didn’t object much when his grandmother picked Cora for him.He just married her because his grandmother said it was the right thing to do too. She had already accepted that he was a practical man who couldn’t feel any sense of sentiments. Phoebe felt he was the right man for her.She had broken up with him before and went abroad so she could have her freedom and she indeed had a taste of so many men. But now,she felt like settling down and Tristan was the best candidate for her.Who wouldn’t want to be Mrs Godoy. Her father would be more than thrilled to be in-laws with the Godoy so she had to make that happen. Together,they would be a power couple. His temper might have scared her today but nothing would make her leave him alone a second time.He was hers to keep. **************** *TRISTAN* I watched as the sky was turning bright and dawn was breaking outside the window. I felt extremely depressed. I shouldn’t be feeling this way.She was my ex-wife. Why was I so upset? It was as if I was a woman who had cooked a table of dishes at home and had waited for her husband to come home but he didn’t. My chest felt so tight as I sat up. I didn’t like this feeling at all.I stood up and stared at myself in the mirror. The result of my sleepless night was that my eyes were bloodshot.