"I hope we never have to cross paths again". Evelyn; my mother-in-law said with so much disdain in her voice.
Trisha and I had finalized our divorce and just stepped out of the family court with her mother holding onto her as if she could fall at any moment. Trisha looked pale, and her lips trembled.
When her mother spoke to me, her eyes traveled from the ground where they had been since the beginning of the proceeding to mine. They were cold, with no emotions in them.
Anyway, it wasn't so different from how she looked at me on the day our four-month-old baby, Elle, passed away. I could still remember the way she held her so close to her, planting kisses on her cold body.
And since then, she always had that look in her eyes. "I hope so too," I said and walked away from them leaving the women in each other's embrace.
"Where to sir?" My assistant asked as he opened the door to the passenger seat of my Rolls-Royce La Rose Noire Droptail.
I selected my least favorite everything for the divorce. Because I wanted to trash them once we were done with the divorce proceeding.
"Just drive," I ordered. I was not sure of how I felt. It was fine when she brought the divorce papers, fine when she asked me to sign them, perfectly fine during all the court hearings, but now, I wasn't sure I was fine anymore.
I didn't want to be anywhere close to her, I didn't want to breathe the same air as her. It was not fair that she pinned everything on me, but was foolish on my part to just accept everything.
I sighed deeply "Let's go to San Diego." I told my assistant after hours of going in circles and arriving nowhere in particular.
He looked at me from the corner of his eyes cause he did not dare turn. It was a sign he wanted to object to the idea.
I had one rule, "never object to anything I say." I had a bad day already, and he wasn't going to add to it.
"Pull over," I said as I sat up. When he did, I stepped out and pulled the door to the driver's seat open "Get out." I ordered.
He looked at me, he knew that was the end of the road for him and his job.
"Sir..." He stuttered.
I didn't have to speak again. I refused to. I grabbed him by the collar and shoved him out of the car before zooming off.
I didn't know where I was going exactly, I just knew I didn't want to be in LA anymore.
"...until death do us part," Trisha said on the altar the day we got married. She had promised to love me forever, promised it would always be us against the world.
She had become very sick after Elle's death. She'd sit in a particular position from morning till night. She rarely had her bath or anything to eat.
On days when she left our room, she'd go to Elle's bedroom, sniffing and hugging everywhere Elle ever was. Sometimes, she'd wake up and run to the room saying Trisha needed her.
We had signed a prenup before the wedding so we left the same way we came in financially, but I gifted the house to her. At first, it was a friendly gesture, to remind her of her memories with Elle and hopefully, me.
But Evelyn who only ever saw the worst in everything I did, said I didn't want her to move on. I could go on and on about the things she said, but I'd rather not.
My mum's sister; Korra, stayed in San Diego, she was one of the only extended family members I could stand, the other was my cousin; Damon. The rest were like kids jumping off the school bus.
When I pulled over at her house, I had 5 missed calls from my mum, 1 from my dad, and 3 from Damon.
That was when I heard it. Low sobs coming from the other side of the road. It got louder and louder by the minute and drew the dog's attention. They barked and the sobbing stopped.
Then the loud growl followed suit "Shut up and let me live my life!!". It was a woman. An angry one at that.
I was going to turn back and walk back in, act like I didn't hear anything but I found myself moving closer.
She looked like an oversized teddy dressed in baggy clothes. Her sobs made her more pitiful.
"It doesn't work that way momma." I found myself saying to her.
Her long black hair acted as a veil, as she turned away from me. Her cold feet folded into the really big slippers. Cute.
When she lifted her head, I saw the most adorable face I had ever seen. Nothing compared to Elle, but still worth it. Her hazel eyes watched me.
She was studying my features and she seemed satisfied. Else she would have thought I was there to rip her off.
When she finally loosened up, she was a rollercoaster of feelings. At some point, I lost track of what we were talking about as I watched her small lips move. She cursed, swore, and cried.
She was quite gullible cause there were many signs, or maybe she chose to ignore them. Or perhaps, she genuinely had no idea.
Either way, I sat there and listened to the small woman tick away.
I hated giving out my clothes, but I wanted her to find me. Wanted her to ask my name, but she never did. I watched her run back into the house and then walked away.
Then I waited and waited for my little woman to come knocking but she never did. I wanted so badly to hear her sob while telling sad stories.
So I picked up my phone and called Damon "I'm going to give you a name, find her." I said to Damon who clearly just got up from bed.
"What?" He yelled.
"Amelia. She's from LA and graduated from PintStone college." That was all I could recall from our conversation. "Find her and I'd forget you were sleeping at work today."
"But I have a meeting with my team today."
He was more frustrating at that point than he had ever been "good. Gather them and find her. And Damon, before 6pm."
I hung up without waiting for him to say whatever it was he wanted to say.
And then I waited.
By 4pm, my phone was flooded with images of different Amelia's. The more I scrolled, the less I saw. Just how many Amelias were there?
And then I finally saw it, the Facebook profile of my little woman looking like a librarian wealthy enough to have braces.
She didn't change much, I thought as I bit my lower lip while drawing traces of her outline.
And Damon, being so damn good at his job, also found out that she had applied for a job at our company.
I typed up an email for her, and sent it. Then, watched her walk into the company through the CCTV.
She had her black hair tied into a bun, a pretty blue shirt and a pencil cut skirt. My eyes darted to her long sleek legs, I pictured them stretched out on my desk.
As she stood there, hands in front of her, and lips slightly open all I could think of was throwing her unto my table, sliding every part of me into her and ridding her of every bit of innocence in her.