CLAUDE
“I plan to divorce Sia. But I don’t want to go through the process because Mom might really carry out her threat to disinherit me if I completely separate from Sia. It would be a waste of the almost two years I’ve endured in the company if I have nothing to gain. I left my job at SEAL just to replace Dad at Artisan Furnitures, only to find out I might lose my inheritance. What about me?”
Monte chuckled slightly. “Are you afraid of losing the money? Is that it?”
“Nah! That’s not the point. I’ve worked hard for my job now. And I have rights as the eldest child. So it’s annoying that Mom would use Sia just to scare me.”
“Why? Is there really no hope for you to like Sia?”
My face soured. “It’s also useless to like her because she’s gone. She left the house a week ago.”
Monte widened his eyes. “Is that true, bro? Your wife left you?” Monte’s voice raised slightly, catching the attention of our friends still at the table.
“Did your wife leave you, Chaos?” Jenson and Caelan asked simultaneously.
“What’s that? Did your wife leave you?” Arlo inquired, approaching us. Repeating the same question of others.
“Welcome to the club, Chaos,” Zion patted my shoulder.
“Yeah, soon you’ll experience what we’ve gone through,” Vaughn agreed.
Darius, Zadkiel, Jaime, Shawn, and Jesse also stood up. They gathered around us.
“We sympathize with you, bro,” Earl said.
My shoulders tensed at their words.
“What are you sympathizing about? I didn’t lose anyone!” I snapped at them.
Some of my friends exchanged glances.
“Maybe not now. But after a few days, you’ll feel the pain. It’s hard when the person you love leaves you,” Darius said.
I glared at my friend. “Excuse me, but I don’t love Sia. I only married her because my parents forced me to. So when she left, it had no effect on me. I’m more concerned about what Mom said about disinheriting me if I completely break up with my wife.”
“Are you sure you don’t love your wife?” Reigh, who had been quiet and listening, pressed.
“One hundred percent sure!”
Vaughn sighed. “Okay. You said that. That’s exactly what my dialogue was when Mom forced me to marry Kazel. I even had a girlfriend at that time. I loved her so much. But I still fell in love with Kazel. I learned to love her without realizing it. So it hurt when she left me without even saying goodbye. Mom even gave me an ultimatum: if I completely divorce my wife, I get to keep Azure Oasis Resorts. But I chose to stay married even though she left me, so the trade-off was leaving the mansion and resigning as CEO of Azure Oasis Resorts. Didn’t you guys help me establish Harmony Sands Resorts because of what happened to me?”
“What’s your point?” I asked irritably.
“If you really don’t have any feelings, not even a little love for your wife, then you have nothing to fear even if she leaves you. You should separate amicably to avoid resentment,” Jaime suggested.
“But remember, Chaos. If you have even a little bit of feelings for your wife, think carefully if you really want to leave her. You might regret your decision,” Zion advised.
“Because women don’t leave for no reason. She agreed to marry you and be with you. In some way, she invested emotions, time, and effort in your relationship. Maybe she already loves you. But because you don’t love her, she doesn’t show her true feelings. That’s how Sadie was with me. I thought she didn’t have feelings for me. She was just hiding them because she was afraid I won’t take her seriously,” Shawn added.
“Our friends are right, Chaos. Think carefully about your decision. You can’t correct one mistake with another,” Zadkiel squeezed my shoulder before leaving the conference room.
My other friends started to leave after giving me sad looks. It seemed like they were all affected by what they heard about my plans.
Except for Monte, none of my friends seemed to approve of me leaving Sia. In fact, they didn’t really know my wife. They hadn’t seen her in person. Because not only did I not invite them to our wedding, I also didn’t bring her along to our outings even though she was invited. I thought that if I always brought her, she might cling more to the idea of our relationship lasting longer. Since we were going to separate anyway, why would I introduce her to other people, especially to my friends? They might think I had feelings for her when I really didn’t. I was only interested in her body. Unfortunately, since the night she left, I had trouble sleeping. I didn’t have anyone to sleep next to anymore. No one to hug and warm my nights. My bed felt as cold as ice. It felt like I was inside a fridge.
But I didn’t want to tell my friends that, not even Monte. They might think I had even a tiny bit of feelings for Sia. But there really weren’t any. How can I develop feelings for a woman whose qualities were the opposite of my ideal woman?
As I left the building, I headed straight to Midnight Manor. Maybe there is a woman there who could entertain me. I was going back to my old ways, collecting women. Sia wasn’t the only one who could make me happy. There were many other women I could find, the type of women who were willing to please me for money but without asking for commitment. That’s what I was looking for, not the type of woman like Sia who needed paperwork and sacrament before surrendering herself to me. I didn’t want commitment and complications in life. I am not like my friends who believed in love and marriage. I am different from them.
I didn’t dream of being tied to one woman. I believed I would be happier if I had more women to choose from. I envied other cultures where they could have more than one wife. That was my dream, and I hoped it will happen. But my parents had a different view. So if I couldn’t get what I wanted, I didn’t want to be tied to any woman, including Sia.