After nearly three weeks in a wheelchair, Nicole was glad to finally get off it, the doctor who was examining her smiled.
“You healed properly that you might never remember if you were ever in the wheel-chair, there isn’t even a scare,”
Yeah right, there wasn’t any physical scare but there was a wound in her heart that was never going to heal, a wound that no one saw, she has been doing her best to keep herself from taking into depression and she has done her best, the past two weeks since she left the mansion had been tough on her but she was glad she could do it, she had her parents and Grace with her, they were always there, especially Grace who even though she left for Harvard last week had kept I’m touch and made sure she didn’t feel lonely, she spent the whole of her break with her and had to return a week before classes resume because she had pending assignments to do. Natalie on the other hand was never around, she hasn’t met her up to three times since she moved back into her parents’ house, her sister always avoided her when she was around and the few time she met her, she always left in a hurry, leaving no room for her to talk to her, she really wanted to talk to Natalie but she couldn’t with her running away.
“Thank you, doctor, so does that mean I can resume everything like as before? I have some pending works and I will like to finish them?”
She asked, the doctor knew she was an artist.
“Yes, girl, you can do anything, just don’t overdo it okay? Take everything slow and positive,”
“Alright, thanks doc,”
She said to the doctor, who gave her the final doze of drugs she had to take and she left the hospital, got in the car and the driver zoned off.
After leaving the hospital, she asked the driver to drop her off and she took a walk, she made sure to wear her mask to protect her and her baggy clothes did a lot too, she knew people were too busy to recognize her but she didn’t want to take any chances, she made a stop at one of her favorite art stores and checked out their new collection, she didn’t even realize they now had an art school too, when she had entered there had been about ten people who turned to look at her, at first she had wanted to run away, but then the teacher who owns the studio had welcomed her in, she sat with one of the students and watched them walk, she was given painting brush, she couldn’t reject it, she sat in front of an already drawn image of a young woman carrying an infant, the sight of it almost made her cry but she held her ground and willed herself to forget her past.
It’s has been over a month since she last held a paintbrush, that was the day of the incident that changed her life forever, she hasn’t held a paintbrush since and hadn’t drawn anything either, it took her a while to start working but when she did start, she found some sort of peace she hasn’t felt in a while, she should have done it sooner, painting had always helped her stay calm, she should have done more painting during her trying times, it wasn’t too late to start again so she decided she would resume and let it be her healing therapy, she thanked the lady who owned the studio after she had finished painting the work she gave her and left, she might not know it but her little gesture had given her a new will to start her passion again.
Nicole spent a fruitful afternoon exploring the beautiful streets of Florida, it was refreshing to walk around with her legs again and going on unbothered, no one knew who she was, it was as if they forgot all about her and she liked it, she brought a couple of things, a lot of which were to be sent to her at home, all of which were related to art materials, she made up her mind to start painting again, and she wasn’t going to hide her works, she planned on showing it off which is why she was going to reactivate her social account that she had deactivated before, she would go back to using her old studio at her family’s mansion until she could get a new place away from home or Rafael gives her the one he gifted to her, she still didn’t here from him about the divorce thing every day she expected to wake up to it and every day there was only silence, he neither called nor sent the papers over, as the days went by she just had to keep the thoughts behind her and continue living.
She got home at about six pm, after having an eventful day, she looked forward to taking her bath, eating and going to sleep both her legs were tired and needed rest, she was going upstairs when one of the staffs stopped her.
“Good day, Ms. Nicole , this came in for you while you were out,”
The staff said, she didn’t know her since she was new, there were a lot of new people in her parent’s mansion that she didn’t care to know about, she was just here until she can find a place of her own and move, she took the parcel from her wondering what it contains.
“Thank you, you may leave,”
She said going to her room, she dropped the parcel on the bed and went to take a shower, she finally could take a full bath and use the bathtub in over a month and it felt so nice that she spent hours in the bathroom, when she came out she wore an oversized t-shirt that belonged to Rafael which she had adopted as hers, it was her favorite thing to wear for bed as he made her feel close to him, she knew she shouldn’t be doing it but she couldn’t help it, she looked at the parcel and walked by it to get her phone, left the room and went downstairs for dinner, her parents were once again not in town, she was used to it and now she understood them, they made sure to keep in touch. And since her parents weren’t around, she knew Natalie won’t be coming home either, after eating, she went back into her room and opened the parcel, even though she had hoped that it wasn’t it, it turned out to be the papers that she had been expecting with fear for weeks, she knew this day will come, but she wasn’t prepared for it, she took out the divorce papers, saw that Rafael already signed his side and it was just for her to sign.
“It’s really going to end,”
She said out loud, reading through it, she couldn’t understand much and was just skipping through the papers until a part caught her attention, she ready it, turned the next page, came back and read it again, hoping that it wasn’t what she read but it didn’t change.
“What is this? These aren’t mine,”
She said out loud, reading all over again, the more she read the more confused she became, when did she own a hotel? And why was there a clause where the mansion is hers? She understood the gallery that he gifted, that was hers but the hotel, what hotel, she didn’t even know, and the mansion was not hers, he must have made a mistake or she must be reading it wrong, she decided to call her family lawyer and explained to him and he agreed to come to see for himself the next day she thanked him and kept the documents away, she went for a stroll in her parents garden to clear her minds off things, of the fact that it was ending for real, she went to bed sad, had a bad night and woke up the next morning expecting the lawyer to show up and answer her questions before she knows what to do next.
“Ma’am, the lawyer is here,”
The staff said, others days Nicole would have corrected her about the use of ‘ma’am’ for her but she wasn’t going to do that, she had too much on her mind right now, so she told her to let the lawyer in, the lawyer who she had known since she was a kid walked in and she stood up to welcome him.
“It’s so good to see you, Gavin, I am so sorry I dragged you out of your office,”
“It’s okay dear, I am at your service,”
“Thank Gavin, please sit down while I go get the papers I want you to check out for me,”
“Sure,”
Gavin said and sat down, she told the staff to serve him something and went up to her room, she came back with the papers in hand and gave them to him, he dropped the water he held and opened it, she sat down quietly while he read through, it took more than twenty minutes before he lifted up his head.
“You guys decided to get a divorce,”
“Yes,”
She responded.
“Okay, this is quite clear, there are a few properties he is giving to you which is stated here are all in your name,”
“What? That’s the problem Gavin, it’s just the gallery that is mine, he gifted that to me, I don’t even know the hotel he wrote there, I haven’t heard of a hotel in my name,”
She revealed.
“I think it’s the new hotel since he never opened it again, I am guessing he wants you to do it yourself,”
“There is no way, and the mansion too, it’s not mine, it was already built before we got married,”
Nicole said wondering what Rafael was thinking adding all these things.
“It’s clearly written here that the mansion, The hotel, and the gallery which you already know about are yours, and it is written that after the both of you sign of which he has already, then he will send over the documents of the said properties.