Rain Again (Completed)

Chapter 19

It was like standing in the middle of a cross-road, where according to the myths - evil resides. It felt like Alex had been waiting there to render his very soul to the devil.

Kate's audacious indication that night that she was perhaps truly serious with that bloody Victor - had been already stuck inside Alex's throat like a torturous spike that would neither go away nor let him forget about it.

Hitting the gym had been as useless as shouting at his clueless employees. Even whiskey could not burn his throat enough to dull down the ache in his chest.

And then there was this freaking engagement party that was looming closer. When he'd mistakenly picked up Maya's call, her incessant nagging over the phone about -why he had been not picking up her calls- made him want to punch someone in the face. If it was not for the sake of his business then he would have gladly told Maya to f*ck off. But that definitely was not possible. One drunk night he had blurry memories of and that freaking debt to Nolan Ashworth proved to be the worst shackles on his limbs.

Was this how the rest of his life going to be?

Bloody hell! It already seemed like hell.

And Alex could not help but recall Kate, conversations with her never ever tired him. It used to be so different, so effortless with Kate, until her real face was uncovered, of course.

In front of the mirror on his closet's door, Alex clamped the last button of his dress shirt. It was finally the evening of the party. He made sure to keep his face void of any of those risky emotions twisting in his gut.

Picking up the car keys from the side table, he was in the midst of turning around when his knuckles accidentally hit the empty vase. Before he could even react, the vase crashed down onto the floor, and as the pieces of broken glass laid scattered around his shoe-covered feet... a sudden unsettling feeling settled in his stomach, almost similar to a presage. It seemed almost as though lurking around the corner was something terrible.

--

Kate stood before the mirror and looked at her reflection. The royal blue, knee-length dress hugged her perfectly. She was bare of any ornament, but the hair cascading down her shoulders filled that emptiness.

There was absolutely nothing provocative about how she dressed for tonight, and that was what she actually aimed for.

She sighed before turning away from her reflection, the practiced smile on her lips did little to subdue the exhaustion from her eyes.

The vomiting, drowsiness, and feelings of suffocation were making her days worse. It was expected that her health was not faring well, and the side effects of Chemotherapy was showing up quicker than she had expected. She was already having to eat bland food for the sake of her poor digestion system but she seemed to be refused that as well. 

To top it all, the struggle to keep her dismal emotions in check was becoming quite a strenuous task.

Every minute since Alex had given her the divorce papers and the invitation to his engagement party, she had been wondering ceaselessly - how could it be possible to move on from someone so fast? That was a secret she craved to uncover, for her own self. Because clearly she was still stuck where she had found herself ruined.

Kate picked up her purse, and then, hesitated for a small moment before finally reaching out to the divorce papers - signed.

She had discovered that it would only be fair to hand these papers to Alex on the same night of his step towards a future with the woman he had chosen, just like he had given her the papers and the invitation at once. Besides, she figured a divorce would be the best gift she could give him.