CLAIRE
"Sign the papers, let's get this over with." Jason said with spite as he pushed the papers towards me.
"Jason… I… Jason we can still…"
"Claire!" Jason's sharp voice interrupted my voice before I could even figure out the next word to use.
"There is no way I can stay married to a woman with such a scandal attached to her name."
A tear slipped from my eyes as I reached into my bag to retrieve the brown envelope I had gotten from the doctor.
Maybe at that moment, a glint of hope still lingered within, hope that I may be able to save my marriage with the news of my pregnancy, hope that Jason may change his mind.
I held onto that hope as I tried to retrieve the envelope, not until the sound of imposing footsteps in the staircase interrupted the silence that was starting to build.
It occurred to me then that we were not alone.
I raised my brows to throw a questioning gaze at Jason. Who else was in our home?
I had not seen the person yet, but the sound of the footsteps was not that of a pair of boots, sneakers or anything that suggested the presence of a male. There was a woman in our house.
My hands shook, and my legs wobbled as the figure from the staircase came into full view.
I gasped as I caught my breath in my mouth.
I threw a questioning gaze at Jason who returned a nonchalant look and not making any attempt to provide the identity of the strange woman in our house.
"Who is she?" My voice shook as I threw the question.
Of course, I knew who she was, anybody in Los Angeles would know who she was.
Stephanie Rodriguez, a popular supermodel and one of the most beautiful women in L.A. But what was she doing in our home this late? Why was she with Jason?
"I don't think I owe you any explanation, Claire." Jason pointed.
My eyes darted around the room, from Jason's nonchalant expression to the face of the woman standing there with a fierce expression.
"After all," Jason continued, "If you can do whatever you like with your genitals, so can I. Just sign the divorce papers and let's get this over with."
My throat went dry and shivers ran down my spine all over again. I slowly let go of the envelope that my fingers had already caught hold of and took a step forward.
The paper lay on the table alongside a pen. With a shaky hand, I took hold of the pen. The diamond ring on my left finger glistened under the light as I grabbed the pen with the same finger, as if reminding me that I was about to end our connection, as if it was saying goodbye to me.
I scribbled my signature on a paper with shaky hands and watched a tear slip from my eyes onto the paper I had just signed.
"We are officially over, Claire, and I won't appreciate it if you keep hovering around my house, you are no longer welcome here." He informed me in the most brutal tone I had seen him use in the five years we had been together.
The words resounded in my head over and over again as I turned around and stormed out of the house, reminding me that I was unwanted here, that I was no longer welcome.
It had started to rain, but I didn't mind, that was the least of my problems at the moment.
I was unwanted, and I had nowhere to go.
How could Jason have easily replaced me?
I felt my muscles tighten and my veins popped at the very thought of that.
I couldn't even go back to my parents, I had none.
The cold seeped into my body with every step I took, my wet clothes had been so severely glued to my body that I almost felt transparent. It was at that point that I realised I needed shelter.
Mindlessly, I hailed a cab.
"Where ma'am?" The cabbie's voice came when I settled in the backseat for over five minutes and said nothing.
"Take me to the nearest pub." My broken voice came.
The music blasted in my ear, but it did not do much to suit the crisis in my head, nor suit the gnawing ache in my chest.
"What do I get you?" The bar attendant asked.
"Alcohol, the strongest you have."
"I know exactly what you are looking for." The bar attendant told me with a cocky smile.
And the next few minutes, I was downing shots after shots of strong liquor which burned my throat as soon as they went in.
I couldn't remember the last time I drank this much, I didn't even know where I was going to go from here, I didn't know the next step to take from here. But I didn't care. The more shots of liquor I took, the lighter I became, and the more I didn't care.
I was getting lost in the moment when I felt a weight come down beside where I sat.
"Hi, gorgeous." The deep masculine voice called.
I slowly tilted my head to catch a glimpse of the man who had sat opposite me.
Although I wasn't in the mood to entertain strangers at the moment, it was difficult to ignore this particular one.
His jet black hair was swept forward so that half of his face was concealed and I only got to see the other half with the help of the club lights reflecting on his face.
He was good looking, but I ignored him anyway.
"You seem to not be in the mood for any conversations." He added when I didn't respond to his initial statement.
Then, the bar attendant showed up with the new glass of alcohol I had just ordered.
"I've been watching you for a while." He added, his eyes swept through my entire frame as if he was searching for something and that was when I remembered how I had come to the club. Looking bedraggled, in clothes that didn't seem like something that would be appropriate for clubbing.
"Isn't this a little too much alcohol for one night? Especially for a pretty young lady." He added, not making any comments on my outfit.
I hated the judgmental look on his face, maybe the one I had made up myself, but all the same, I hated that he got to make a comment about my drinking when he didn't know shit about me. I hated that he was judging me already when the real culprits should be those who put me into this situation.
So, I immediately lashed out at him.
"You don't even know me, you don't even know what I've had to face to be like this, you don't even know what I've gone through. So, I implore you to resist the urge to judge me." I lashed out at the top of my voice so that I almost drew attention towards our direction.
A stream of tears had fallen at the side of my face and was now trickling down to my neck.
My head hurt like there was a concert going on inside there and it was about to blow up anytime soon, my vision seems blurry and I could hardly maintain my stance.
"If only you know," I added.
With that, I grabbed my bag and stormed out of the club.
I didn't see him follow me, I didn't notice him coming after me. My thoughts were more paramount at that point, plus I was already under the influence of the alcohol that I didn't notice when I gradually drifted from the pedestrian side of the road and had walked right into it.
It took a loud blaring of car horns, and a half blurry vision of a fast moving vehicle to call my attention to the danger I was in.
But it was too late.
I turned to the fast moving vehicle with wide eyes and attempted to hurry out of the way, but it was already too late.
That was the last thing I remembered before the pain began gnawing at my sides as my body bounced on the hard concrete floor repeatedly, with my head taking most of the hit, then it was total darkness.