She tried to resist and push Geoffrey away, but to no avail.
It wasn’t until the very end that he finally calmed down.
Outside the window, the first light of dawn filtered through the sky.
As his gaze swept from her bony figure to the glaring red on the sheets, his heart was gripped by indescribable emo-
tions.
A loud smack rang out.
She slapped him across the face with all her might.
The slap, at the same time, shattered all her past fantasies about love.
Fury surged through her, her blood pounding in her ears and drowning out his words. “Get out!” she snapped, cutting him off.
Geoffrey didn’t even know how he managed to walk out of that motel room.
Scenes from last night kept flooding back to him.
Once in the car, he called Wayne. “Find out every man Maureen knows.”
Wayne was a bit dumbfounded.
Geoffrey had been Maureen’s entire world after their marriage. How could she possibly know another man?
***
In the room.
After Geoffrey left, Maureen scrubbed herself time and again.
They slept together just as they were finalizing their divorce, Talk about the cruelest joke.
Around 9:00 a.m., Gareth brought breakfast over, not noticing anything wrong.
He said, “Oh, I forgot to mention this last night. I’ve got an apartment available. You’re welcome to stay there.
“Living here alone isn’t safe.”
Maureen shook her head, turning him down.
She didn’t want to owe anyone–repaying would be too much of a hassle.
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Chapter 14
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He had already anticipated her reaction. “No one lives there anyway. Besides, I will charge you, in case you’re won- dering.”
“But I can only stay there for a month,” she said.
“Alright. Better than nobody living in it.”
A month? The thought struck him as odd. After all, there was plenty of time ahead, wasn’t there?
He drove her to the apartment.
All she had was a small suitcase.
In the car, they started to chat.
Their conversation kicked off with childhood anecdotes, and then he moved on to tell her everything he’d accom- plished in the years since.
He went abroad after graduating from high school and worked part–time to put himself through college. At twenty, he started his own company. And now, he was quite a successful business owner.
Listening to his rich experiences, Maureen thought of her own.
After graduation, she married Geoffrey, remaining a housewife till now.
She couldn’t help but look at him in admiration. “That’s so impressive.”
“You could be just as great. In fact, after you left the village, I kept up with your news. I saw you on TV, winning first place in that youth piano competition. And … singing, right? You were my idol back then…”
Gareth deliberately omitted some painful details.
His life abroad had gotten off to a rocky start. He’d fallen into bad habits, giving up on himself.
But later, he saw news about her online, which pierced his darkness like a light, giving him the strength to change.
He went on and on, recounting glories from her past that she barely even remembered.
Soon, he dropped her off at the apartment.
Before he left, she smiled, saying, “Thank you. I’d nearly forgotten who I was.”
She moved into his apartment.
Looking at the calendar, she realized there were only a dozen days left until May 15th, the day she and Geoffrey were scheduled to finalize the divorce.
Thinking of her last conversation with Noelle, she bought an urn one morning.
Then she went to a photo studio and requested a black–and–white photo for a memorial purpose, which drew odd
looks from the staff.
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Chapter 14
On the way back, she gazed out the window in a daze.
Just then, her phone rang.
It was Zoc.
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“Reenie, you gave me money again? I told you that I don’t need it. I’ll save it for you. It’ll come in handy if you wanna do business sometime…”
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