Sorry Dear Ex It’s Your Loss Not Mine Novel – Brie POV Two things came to my head at once. My husband is awake, and he is divorcing me. “It does not make sense,” I said to Mr. Langley who looked so much like he wanted the ground he stood on to swallow him. His body language screamed of guilt and pity. I can’t stand it anymore. There had to be a misunderstanding somewhere, and the only person who could clarify and explain the questions in my head was my husband, who, I believed, was still lying in the ICU bed. Immediately, I asked one of the company drivers to get a car ready for me, but no one was moving. It looks like everyone knew about Noah’s decision to divorce me except me. I could not help feeling bitter, seeing how these same people who used to bow down in my presence suddenly turned cold and uncaring.
How have the tides quickly turned? I pivoted on my heels and started walking back to the hospital. But before I could do that, Uncle Matt called me. When I turned around to inquire, I was shocked when he upended a box and let its contents drop to the floor. Anger rose inside me when I noticed those were my office things he was throwing. My favorite pens, my mug – one of the couple’s mugs I bought for Noah and me, several notepads, and my framed wedding picture, which previously sat proudly on my desk. I dropped to my knees to collect them, glaring at Uncle Matt’s smirking face. Mr. Langley took the box Uncle Noah threw to the side and handed it to me so I could put my things into it. The mug was in disrepair, as was the glass on the frame. Still, I took everything with me. I thanked him and walked away.
With the box in my arms, I half-run to the hospital and went straight to my husband. “He was transferred to the ward.” The ICU nurse told me, unaware of my inner turmoil. Noah Hunter was awake from a coma, and the first thing he did was to divorce me. Even so, I could not help saying a little prayer in my head for this bit of good news. Hurriedly, I left the box I was clutching in my arms at the nurse station and proceeded to my husband’s room. My heart thudded in my chest. A small gasp escaped my lips when I saw him standing by the window. I almost cried at this miracle. How I despaired in the past few weeks when Noah’s condition did not show any improvements. I drank on the sight of his back. “Noah,” I called to get his attention. “I knew you would come.” He told me, still refusing to look my way. A sudden yearning invaded my senses.
I wanted to see his face. I tried advancing to the room, but my feet would not carry me. I suddenly find it hard to step forward. “I believe you have our divorce papers?” He asked while his back was to me. His position denied me a glimpse of his face. “Why?” I asked in a hoarse voice. There were a few moments of impenetrable silence between us until Noah broke it. “Simple. My parents are dead. I no longer have to endure keeping you around. You must know that I did not marry you for love.” The ruthless words were so not the Noah I know. It was like he was a different person now. My chest tightened. “Noah.” I said, trying to make an appeal. “My parents insisted I marry you after they found you in my bed.” He reminded. Yes, I knew it had always been his parents’ idea for Noah to marry me. They had been open about it since they took me from the orphanage. They groomed me to be his perfect little wife. I have no complaints. I loved Noah the first time I saw him.
But Noah does not share my feelings. He opposed the idea. He left home and did not return for years. I also knew he loved someone else while he was away. He had someone he wanted to marry but later called off the engagement. I was not privy to the reason. Back then, Noah returned a changed man, I was so sure love changed him drastically. It took him a while before he came around and accepted me. We became lovers secretly until the morning when his parents found out about the affair. Noah married me. I thought it was because his feelings had changed. In our three years of marriage, I never had an inkling that he was faking it. “I thought you wanted me, too? That you liked me as much as I liked you?” “Have I ever told you that?” He countered, that shut me up. Not once in the three years we were together did Noah tell me that he likes me.
My silence was broken by Noah’s sarcastic laugh. What he said next sealed our fates. “I am pretending to be happy for my parents’ sake. Now that they are no longer with us, I could not keep the pretense anymore. I want you gone. From this day forward, we do not have any connection with each other.” “I don’t love you. I can never love someone like you.” I bit my lip when a whimper started to break out. “Are you sure this is what you want?” I asked. “Never been surer.” He replied with a hint of arrogance in his voice. The room became silent after that. I did not speak because I wanted to give Noah a chance to change his mind, while at the same time, I debated with myself on whether to tell him about the baby. In the end, I did nothing and just nodded and accepted what he wanted. “Okay,” I said. There was a knock on the door, and Mr. Langley’s worried face showed.
“You asked for me, Mr. Hunter?” He asked Noah before nodding at me. “Give Briana the divorce agreement so she can sign.” He told her without looking back at us. I took the paper. “Where do I sign?” I asked Mr. Langley in a voice that surprised even me. It was strong and steady even when my world was crashing down on me. Mr. Langley pointed at the space where he needed my signature and handed a pen to me. I took it, walked to the retractable table on Noah’s bed to lay down the paper, and signed my name in bold letters. BRIANA JOHNSON. Staring at my signature, one fact glared back at me. It is a reality that I have to face from now on. I am no longer Mrs. Hunter. — Brie POV After signing my name on the divorce agreement, I walked out of Noah’s room as if the devil was after me. There was something about the air in Noah’s hospital room that had me suddenly feeling suffocated. “Mrs. Hunter, are you alright?” One of the nurses asked when she saw me pressing my palm to the wall for support, breathing heavily. The nurse walked up to me and held my arm.
“You looked pale. Do you want me to get the doctor?” She asked, sounding concerned. I shook my head. It was then that I realized I had been crying. “I am alright. Thank you.” I told the kind-hearted nurse and hurriedly wiped at my tear-stained cheeks. I winced, feeling a sudden overpowering sense of nausea. “I have to go,” I told her. “Your box.” She reminded. I looked at the box in repugnance and shook my head, my chest constricting in pain. That box represents painful memories of today. I cannot take it. “Can I leave it here? You can throw it away for me.” I said. The elderly nurse looked at me with a frown. But maybe she saw something in my face. “You are a strong girl. Whatever problems you are facing now, know that it’s only temporary.” I nodded and walked away with her words playing in my head. “This too shall pass,” I murmured to myself.
Outside the hospital, I hailed a cab and asked to be sent to the house I shared with Noah. From the outside, the mansion looked the same, but knowing that it would no longer be my home starting today, it felt different from afar. It was like looking at someone you love and before your eyes that someone turned into a stranger – like Noah. An unexplainable ache gripped me. “Are you going out?” The driver asked. He was a kind gentleman. The car had been parked outside the gated mansion for a while, but I didn’t dare get out. I let my eyes roam outside the house, committing it to memory. For three years, this mansion had become my home. It was our nest. We had so many memories here. As it turned out, all of those were a hoax. My husband never loved me and was just pretending. That had to be one of the most excruciatingly painful realities I had to deal with. “I am sorry, miss, but I have to go. I have another client waiting.” The driver called my attention. A look of hesitation was on his face. Reluctantly, I opened the passenger door and got out.
At the gate, I rang the bell. A maid opened the door for me, but her face showed a coldness that wasn’t there when I left the house that morning. “Carla.” I greeted her. “Sorry, Mrs. Hunter.” Carla cut me off before I could say anything. And then she half-run to the mansion, scared stiff like a mouse. I followed her uniformed figure with my eyes as it disappeared inside the house and squinted when I noticed my things strewn outside the main door. Dorcas, our head housekeeper, had been standing by the door with her hands on her hips. A disdainful look covered her face. She was blocking my entry. “Mr. Hunter’s orders.” She informed me even before I get to ask my question. She had been with the Hunters for as long as I can remember, and her loyalty will always be with Noah. I remembered how Uncle Matt threw my things outside Hunter Enterprises’ building and grimaced.
Hunter may have divorced me, but do I deserve to be disrespected like this? I felt like a piece of sh*t nobody wanted. It was too much. The anger that was simmering inside me at the treatment I received from my husband and his people started to boil my blood. I took my phone from my bag and dialed Noah’s number. “I presume you already evacuated the house?” His cold voice greeted me when the call connected. “Do you have to humiliate me just to make sure that I leave your house and company immediately?” I could not help the bitterness that frothed off my mouth as I asked in a grave voice. I could not believe Noah, the man I loved with all my heart, could be this cruel! While tears started to blur my vision, Noah’s taut and clipped voice came to the other line.
“You should be thankful that’s all you got from me. I could have thrown you to jail, but I figured humiliation is enough.” “What do you mean? What have I done to warrant throwing me in jail?” Noah snorted. “Don’t play innocent on me, Briana. You may have fooled my parents with your innocent act, but you cannot fool me. Are you sorry that you did not kill me, too?” He sneered. From his voice, I could feel how hard Noah was restraining himself. He was so angry. I was angry, too. “What?” My brain could not process what he said. “Are you trying to imply that I was the perpetrator of your parent’s death and the reason you were in the hospital for a coma? What motive do I have?” Noah snorted. “Do you want to go to court so they can extract that from you? We could go public if you want.” He was threatening me, and something inside me rebelled.
I also wanted to prove my innocence. How can Noah think that way of me? But I figured Noah, with all his wealth, could easily make life a living inferno for me. I should settle for what he was offering because fighting him on this would be exhausting and detrimental to my baby. If it were just me, I could do it. But I have my child to think of. — Brie POV Noah must have assumed that I had accepted his accusation with my silence because when he spoke his words were full of venom. “Facts won’t lie Briana. And the report said that someone deliberately caused the accident. Someone tampered with the car.” “It wasn’t me!” I argued in my defense. My voice came out harsh because I never thought that I would become a suspect in the accident. Not in my wildest dreams. “You have the motive.” “What motive?” “Don’t tell me you have forgotten about your lover? Didn’t you plan this whole thing with him so you would be left to inherit our family’s fortune once we were gone?” His voice held his contempt, and my brows furrowed, recalling when I had ever had a lover.
“You know I can never kill them. I love Marsha and Danny too much!” I tried to grope for the right words to say to make him see that what he was suggesting was preposterous. I can never kill the two people who took me in from the orphanage when I was young. The ones who had taken the role of my parents? “I love your parents. I love you,” I said, my voice sounding flat. There was a tense silence following my outbursts before Noah laughed insultingly in response. “Lies. They were all a bunch of lies. Too bad I believed them.” Noah hissed. “I never lied to you, Noah.” I insisted. “Do you think you can still fool me? Be gone, and don’t show yourself to me ever again.” Noah shouted before dropping our call. I looked at the black screen with shock on my face. How could this happen to me? How can my life vanish in a flash? This is not how Cinderella’s story went.
She lived happily with her prince, why can’t I? I looked heavenwards and saw that the sky had started to darken. Moments later, the sky started crying, too. “Lord, what have I ever done to deserve this?” I implored the skies while tears streamed down my face. Three years ago, Noah married me. That time, I was the celebrated one. I was the proverbial Cinderella who got her prince. Everybody loved me. Now, I feel like the discard nobody wanted. Suddenly, everyone does not know me. No one came to my rescue when my husband threw me that dismissal letter, firing me from my job or forcing me to sign those divorce papers. And now this! It was like everyone rejoiced in my downfall. I felt so alone and scared. I caressed my belly – an unconscious act – that was also a way to remind myself that I was not alone. I have a baby to protect at all costs. I dropped to my knees and started picking my things up, carefully choosing the important ones and intending to leave the rest.
“If you wouldn’t take them all at once, I am afraid I will have to put them in the dump,” Dorcas told me when she noticed what I was doing. “Noah does not want to see anything belonging to you when he returns from the hospital.” She added. That brought a bitter smile to my face. Of course, what else would I expect from the same man who quickly dismissed his wife without talking it out? Why was it so easy for him to believe in the evidence rather than talk to me? “It’s alright. You can throw everything away.” I told her bitterly. “I only needed my documents,” I added. I loathed to bring all the things that Noah paid for. The elegant dresses, the jewelry, the bags, and the shoes – all of those – were gifts from Noah, and I do not need them anymore. Dorcas looked at me strangely. “Those are Noah’s gifts. Are you sure you wanted me to throw them away?” I saw her falter while she asked, and something in her voice changed, but I was too hurt to even give it so much attention. All I want is to get away from here. I nodded. “What was the use? Noah bought them for his wife. He did not buy them for me.”
I said contemptuously, causing a frown to form on Dorcas’ head. Then my eyes accidentally caught sight of the wedding band on my ring finger. I took it while Dorcas looked on. “I forgot to return this to Noah,” I told her, putting the ring into her palm. At first, she refused to take it, but I insisted. That ring was no longer relevant to me, and holding on to it meant I was still holding out for Noah to change his mind. I do not have any illusions now. Not after what Noah did and said to me today. He believed I killed his parents. He believed I caused the accident. My shoulders started shaking as I tried to control the sobs that wracked my body. I do not want Noah’s household staff to see me like this. I walked out of the house slowly because my chest felt too stuffy, and I felt light-headed.
At the gates, I have to hold on to the frame to keep my balance. “Are you okay, Briana? Do you want me to call a cab for you?” It was Dorcas. I did not know she followed me here. I shook my head no and smiled my thanks. “I can manage. I don’t want you to get in trouble with Noah.” I told her. She did not smile back, but her look was probing. I waved at her. “Thank you for your kindness in all the years I stayed in the Hunters,” I told her and left. Outside, the rain was pelting hard, but I didn’t mind. It seemed as if I was numbed off by what happened today. I opened my mouth to inhale because my nose was clogged. My vision became blurry, and I suddenly swayed to the side. Blackness took over.