“Armand!” Elizabeth called out nervously.
“I failed to protect my baby, I am destined to be a childless man,” Armand said as he tossed the statue in his room into the bin.
Elizabeth was horrified, “You can’t toss that away, it will bring bad luck…”
Armand disregarded her and continued cleaning up everything.
Once he finished, he pushed Elizabeth to the sofa and sat in front of her. “I’m a person unworthy of having parents, child, and lover, so my parents died young, I lost my unborn child and my lover is leaving me now. As you wish, I will let go of her, but stop having hope that I will ever get married again and have a child. That’s impossible, I, Armand Bernie am destined to be a childless man!”
“Armand…” Elizabeth was truly horrified by his speech.
While Armand was calm. “I’m not joking, Theresa suffers a lot being with me and I won’t give you chance to force or pressure her again. I will set her free not because I don’t love her anymore but I don’t want her to go through all this with me. I’m weak for not being able to protect her, it is also my fault that I’m not able to satisfy you. Forget about having a child, if you ought to threaten me with death, please go ahead, I won’t stop you but will follow you instead. I will suicide after you die, it’s a relief for everyone.”
Armand stood up once he finished, “That’s all I want to say, I’m going to look for a new caretaker now.” He walked out after that.
“Armand, wait, Armand.” Elizabeth cried out but Armand didn’t stop, he walked out without turning back.
Elizabeth was stunned, she didn’t know whether she should go back to her room or stay where she was.
At the villa, Loredana came back with Theresa. Knowing Theresa was moody, Loredana sent her straight into her room.
Loredana wanted to leave her alone to rest but Theresa grabbed her hand. “I’ve made up my mind.”
“What?” Loredana turned to her and quickly grasped what she meant. “You’ve decided to divorce Armand?”
Theresa nodded, “Yes.”
Loredana sat at the side of the bed, “I’ll support whatever decision you make.”
Theresa smiled at her, “I always make the wrong decision.”
“It’s not your fault. We underestimated Elizabeth’s stubbornness.” Loredana comforted her. “Stay here at ease.”
Theresa nodded.
Theresa was weak, so Loredana left her alone to rest. She closed the door and reminded Coral and Maxina not to interrupt Theresa and not to ask any questions.
Both Coral and Maxina understood the situation right away.
Everyone gave Theresa a warm welcome at the dinner, no one asked anything.
Theresa went back to her room to rest after dinner while Loredana received a text message from Armand. He wanted to meet her, he was at the door.
Loredana went out and saw Armand standing by the roadside, he didn’t come in.
“How is Theresa?” Armand asked.
“What do you think?” Loredana knew she shouldn’t speak to Armand in this tone but she couldn’t control herself seeing how Theresa had suffered. “What’s your plan?”
Armand looked at the floor, “As long as grandma is alive, she will always be in our way… There’s nothing much I could do, I’ll let her go and set her free if that’s what she wants.” “You’ve made up your mind?” Loredana asked.
“I’ll listen to her and do as she says,” Armand replied.
“This is why you asked for a meeting? Telling me this?”
“No. There’s something I would like you to pass to Theresa,” Armand said.
Loredana’ heart clenched as she wondered if he really did bring the divorce papers with him. She asked in a low voice, “What’s this?”
Armand pulled out a luggage bag from the back of the car, walked towards her and said, “These are all Theresa’s things.”
Loredana, looking at the bag in his hand, did not immediately take it as she asked, “What’s this all about…”
“Wherever she chooses to live, be it here or back to City C, anywhere would be better than living with me. If she had really thought it through, if she really wants to… Divorce, I’ll not have qualms with her.” Armand said while looking down, concealing his emotions and added, “Thank you.”
Loredana replied, “I see. That’s not exactly a bad thing. You two should think about it long and hard after you’ve calmed down. Though Mrs. Bernie is indeed a problem and both of you won’t be happy anyway if it is handled poorly.”
“I understand. She’s the one who raised me, I can’t just ignore her. Theresa…I’m very indebted to her…” He could not even begin to pay off his debt.
Loredana knew that Armand was feeling down. She did not reply as she carried the luggage back into the house.
She opened the door to Theresa’s door and saw that she was sitting alone on the balcony. Theresa acted as if she was the only person left in the world. Loredana approached her slowly, as Theresa was in very deep thoughts about something and did not realize that someone entered her room.
“Theresa,” Loredana called to her softly.
She turned around slowly as Loredana smiled and said, “What are you thinking about?”
“Nothing much.” She caught sight of the luggage bag in Loredana’ hands and asked, “Is this…”
“Umm…”
Loredana sat her down on the bed and told her everything about Armand’s visit. “He said that he will follow whatever you wish.”
Theresa lowered her head, her eyelashes twitching as she continued looking at the bag, “So, all my stuff is inside that bag, along with the divorce papers?”
“Theresa…”
“I’m alright, it’s not exactly a bad thing.” She stood up and took over the bag, opened it and saw that it was indeed containing her belongings. On the top of the pile was a sealed document bag.
Theresa thought that the bag contained the divorce papers, as she hesitated when picking up the bag. Between all that, her eyes started tearing up.
In one’s imagination, many things seemed a lot more manageable than they actually were. When faced in reality, however, is where one’s courage magically disappears into thin air. Thankfully, Theresa quickly composed herself and reached for the document bag. She opened the bag and reached for its contents.
She imagined that the papers within would have the words ‘Divorce Agreement’ plastered on top. She was proven wrong when she realized that the bag’s contents were all of Armand’s savings. She was further proven wrong when she found out that it was not only his savings, it also had all of his assets, his savings, and his properties deeds.
Theresa’s eyebrows raised in confusion.
In the meantime, Loredana sneaked out of the room, closing the door on the way.
Now alone, Theresa poured everything out from the document bag, which contained deeds, a banking card, and purchased funds.
Ding dong-
Her phone on the nightstand next to her bed sounded. She stood up and looked at the phone, which was showing ‘Armand’ and opened his message.
‘Theresa, I’ve stored all my money on this card, the password to it is our engagement date. Some of it can’t be withdrawn quite yet, but eventually, you can withdraw and use them. Also, here are all of my assets, I’ll hand them over to you. I’m too indebted to you, this is the least I can do, giving you enough cash to live carefreely…I’ll give you some time, you can go wherever you want to live. Once you’ve really thought everything through…I’ll give you freedom, for you to find love that truly belongs to you. No matter how much I will miss you, I am still unable to provide you with love. So, I’ll let you go, I can’t let you just wither away by my side. I’ll be waiting for you.’
Theresa’s fingers that were holding the phone weakened as she fell onto the bed. Looking through a curtain of tears at the things that Armand left her, she sobbed and said to herself, “Are there two people on this world that love each other, think of each other, miss each other, but are not by each other’s sides?”
Her tears unapologetically flowed down her cheeks.
New Book: Beginning with a Daring Encounter
Celsie was tired of being labeled as an introvert, workaholic, and dull virgin by her friends. Determined to prove them wrong, she made a bet that she would do something daring on her 25th birthday. Now that the day had arrived, it was time to fulfill her promise. On her daring to-do list, there was one task: a one-night stand with someone.