Afternoon in Florence, at two o’clock in the afternoon.
Estrella Berrocal grabbed her pen and tried several times, unable to get the pen on the signature paper.
The divorce agreement even included severance pay, and Adán Rouco had actually decided to divorce her.
She may have been the passive one in the relationship, but this time, when Adán Rouco did initiate the divorce, she could no longer submit to him.
Divorce meant that there would be no more Adam Rouco for so many boring days, and that any woman by his side could never be her.
Estrella Berrocal wiped away her tears, picked up her cell phone and plucked up the courage to make a call.
It is night in Florence, but it is morning in the Holy City.
…
Jerold Rouco, who turned up after suffering a traffic accident, received Florence’s call with a cold gleam in his eye.
He flatly refused to listen to the call.
…
Estrella Berrocal grabbed the phone, the tears she had stopped shedding couldn’t help but wet her eyes again as they fell fast and furiously after hearing the busy tone of a rejected call.
Adam refused to answer his calls …
Was he angry? At her for leaving without saying goodbye?
If not that, deeper reasons Estrella Berrocal can’t think of.
Had he made the decision to divorce her and not even bothered to take a phone call?
But even if she divorced, I wanted to hear her voice.
If she signed and faxed the divorce papers now, she knew very well that even if she did not return to The Holy City, with the position and power of The Rouco family in The Holy City, Adán Rouco could divorce her completely without any problem.
It is clear that Estrella Berrocal is a very respectful and sensitive person and does not usually call a second time to people who have refused to listen to her calls once.
But …, since it was Adán Rouco on the other end, she preferred to lie to herself, telling herself over and over again that maybe it was an accident, maybe it was a slip of the tongue by Adán Rouco, or maybe she refused to answer because it was a strange call.
With that thought, Estrella Berrocal got a runny nose and sent a text message.
The text message was simple and concise –
“Adam, it’s Star.”
After successfully sending the text message, Estrella Berrocal did not expect an immediate call.
The heart, for the most part, is cold.
On one occasion, when she left him without saying goodbye, he kept looking for her until he found her.
But this time, he wouldn’t really come looking for her, refusing to ask her even if he knew where she was at the moment.
But if you get too attached to someone, you unconsciously think of all contingencies.
Estrella Berrocal thought that it was close to nine in the morning in the Holy City and that perhaps Adán Rouco was still sleeping and had not received the call or seen the message he had sent.
So he sat on the carpet, looking at his phone, and waited ten more minutes.
In those ten minutes, she felt like the moment she sat down in front of the computer to check her results in the entrance exam year, excited, lost, anxious and consoled herself countless times.
Adán Rouco has not yet replied to the message, let alone called.
No longer caring about all the supposed decency and pride, he picked up his phone and called back.
This time, … he even slowed his breathing unconsciously during the wait.
Out of fear, Adán Rouco again refused to listen.
The phone rang for a long, long time, and just as Estrella Berrocal’s heart was about to hit rock bottom, the call was answered.
She became very happy, like a child who has been crying for a long time and suddenly gets candy, and said anxiously: “Adam, why did you only answer the phone? I’ve been waiting for you for a long time, I … I’m in Florence, Florence is Florence … I’m sorry… I didn’t tell you before… …”
Before she finished apologizing, the man on the other side spoke calmly and reassuringly, “You don’t have to give me so many explanations, now that you are gone, it will be good for you and for me, and for The Rouco family. ”
Estrella Berrocal froze and, in a thick nasal voice, choked, “Adam I’m sorry …. are you still mad at me? Even though we were blood relatives I never wanted to leave you…. I only agreed to Dad’s arrangement to avoid the recent publicity … I was afraid that Shoshana Duque would scream about it and so…. … I never wanted to divorce you…”
At this point, all decency and pride are worthless, just … do not want to lose such a nice and pleasant Adam Rouco.
But the “Adam Rouco” on the other end of the line was not moved at all, and his voice remained calm and unperturbed as he interrupted her sobs.
“But if we don’t get divorced and Shoshana Duque shakes up our relationship, everyone will vilify us, even Paulita, and The Rouco family and the Rouco group will face an unprecedented crisis, do you really want the situation to be like this? ”
“I …”
Estrella Berrocal froze with the question, but what surprised her even more is that she did not expect that, one day, Adán Rouco would ask her so rhetorically.
Adán Rouco’s words were not selfish, but they left his feelings completely out of his consideration.
He thought of the Rouco family, of the Rouco Group, of Paulita, even of his own situation … without giving the slightest thought to his feelings.
It was as if she really had been abandoned by him, even if she hated to admit the fact that it might be true.
Tears, coming to the surface.
Her fingers paled as she gripped the phone tightly, “But you said …. that if the world ended, you’d take me to the safest place.”
Over the phone, the man said in a particularly glib way, “Do you believe the love words and the “what ifs” that men say when they are in love?”
There was even mockery in that tone, to put it delicately.
Estrella Berrocal had never expected such sarcasm from Adán Rouco, and taking a deep breath, she finally closed her eyes and asked, “Would you be happy if I signed?”
“If you sign, none of us will be harmed, and I will compensate you to the last cent of the compensation you want.”
Compensation? Has their relationship dwindled to the point where they have begun to settle for money?
Adán Rouco seems to dismiss a beggar.
“Adam Rouco, I’m not so impartial, and it’s true that I might be foolish enough to do the Fall of the Whale for you, but … now, I kind of hate you.”
The man’s thin lips curved, “Do you hate me? Do you hate me because I mention compensation?”
Estrella Berrocal, red-eyed, shook her head with a bitter smile, “It’s just that I thought it was so important to you, but in the end I found out it was just my opinion.”
Adán Rouco, on the other end of the phone, didn’t seem to want to talk to her more than he should, so he said, “Whatever you want, ask for it, it’s better for both of us if we leave this marriage. If I were not Adán Rouco of The Rouco Family, or Adán Rouco of the Rouco Group, all the loving talk I’ve had with you would be nothing more than a joke. If I lose all this, where can I take you to escape to?”.
Estrella Berrocal covered her lips tightly, not wanting her sobs to be heard by Adán Rouco on the other end of the line.
It is very humiliating.
Not wanting to say another word, he hurriedly hung up the phone.
Staring at the reflection of himself in the glass table, tears streaming down his face, he hooked his lips softly, ironic to the core.
It turns out that the love she believed to be as important as her life was nothing more than a figment of her imagination alone.
For Adán Rouco, she is the most insignificant in comparison with the Rouco family and the Rouco Group.
She was still foolish enough to think that she had suddenly left The Holy City to come to Florence, that Adam Rouco would be anxious not to find her, that she wouldn’t be able to sleep at night, that she would miss a thousand things as much as she did …
But now he realized that Adán Rouco was desperate for him to leave The Holy City for good.