Reyona braced herself the following morning for Thomas' confrontation. She had been unable to have much sleep the night before, partly because of his incessant knocking and more because of the turmoil in her heart.
"Well, there was no going back now," she said to herself in the mirror as she did her makeup. She woke up earlier than normal to get dressed for work. She had no intention of making any breakfast, not that either of them would be in the mood to eat anyway.
She couldn't believe that she had slapped him the night before, but somewhere beneath the shock, she felt a bit of excitement that she had done it. The bastard deserved more than that, of course, but she had made up her mind fully during her toss and turn that she would simply let go of him and take charge of her life back.
She was glad that she at least had some of her money back, and the woman herself was getting what she deserved now. She knew that Thomas's anxiety recently had to do with that as well. She had determinedly said that she did not want any updates regarding the lady's case, so by now Reyona had no idea what was happening with her.
She did know that whatever it was, it certainly affected Thomas too. That was enough for her. She convinced herself.
"Yes, enough is enough," she said firmly to herself in the mirror as she accessed her dressing that morning. She was in a red power suit with matching palazzo trousers and a befitting pump, and she did her hair in a French updo. She knew there would be a lot he would want to say to her that morning, but she was not going to allow it. Once she gets to her office,. She would immediately call the firm's lawyer to recommend a very good divorce attorney.
With her matching Chanel bag in place, she took a bolstering breath before unlocking the door. She wouldn't put it past him to jump out at her from wherever he could be waiting for her at that moment, so she was ultimately shocked when she did not see him anywhere.
"Okay," she muttered slowly to herself as she looked around. Nobody was in the corridor, and by the time she got to the living room as well, he was nowhere to be found.
Reyona knew that there was a possibility that he was anywhere in the house at that moment, but she doubted it because there was a feel to the house like she was the only one around.
As she drove her car out of the garage, she saw that his car was not there, and she nodded to herself with the satisfaction that she had at least dodged any messiness that could have happened that morning. She intends to have that talk with the lawyer as soon as she is through with the first meeting she had that morning.
"Where had he gone too early?" she thought fleetingly before reaffirming to herself that she was happy that he was not waiting for her at the door that morning to try to convince her or to keep questioning her "Yes, his absence was for the best," she said as she put on the stereo and played the tape she paused the last time. Alicia Keys belted out "This girl is on fire!" as she drove to work, putting all thoughts of Thomas out of her head until she needed to deal with it again.
Which she knew would, unfortunately, be in a short time.
*********************
It ended up being shorter than she predicted because she had just started her first meeting when Charlotte came to her and whispered to her that a woman was on the phone.
"What woman is that?" Reyona asked, her mind partly on the case of one of their clients that Phil told her just got defrauded of his money by his family. She remembered that she advised the man against the investment that his nephew told him was a lucrative one. The man still went ahead to make a huge withdrawal out of his company's fund and now...
"She said that her name was Ruth. She had been trying your number, and you were not picking it up. She said it was very urgent," Charlotte said.
"What else could be more urgent than the fact that her son had gone to tattle to her?" Reyona thought in derision. Of course, she had seen her missed calls right before she came for the meeting, but she had deliberately left them unanswered. She purposely left her phone in her office to prevent any interruption.
"Tell her that I am in the middle of a meeting and can't get away now," Reyona said, steeling her heart when a thought came to her mind that maybe she should pick up to listen to the woman first.
"Okay, ma," Charlotte said before leaving. A bit confused. She knew that Reyona wouldn't ignore anyone who called with such urgency.
Reyona was just getting back to her office after brainstorming with her team on how to best cooperate with the bank and the police regarding their defrauded customer when another call entered from Ruth.
Reyona intended to ignore it before, but then she picked up the call, intending to get it over and done with.
"Hello,"
"Hi, Reyona. I have been trying your number since, but you aren't picking it up. What…"
"Yes, I am sorry. I was in an important meeting," Reyona answered curtly, forcing herself not to snap at the woman.
"Thomas told me what happened. Well, what you said to him because he said he had no idea what he did to you could make you decide to make that kind of decision. What happened, my dear?"
Reyona shook her head at the hypocrisy of these people. Like a mother, like a son. She was tempted to disconnect the call and even block Ruth's number, but she just said wearily, "It's nothing. I just do not want to be married to him anymore."
"What?" Ruth said it from the other end, surprise evident in her voice. Reyona wondered if she was truly surprised or if it was another show from the mother-son script.
"How can you even say such a thing?" Ruth said with a raised voice. "You two were married for about eight years, and now you just decided that you don't want to be with him anymore? Why would you do such a thing?"
Reyona let out a curt laugh in disbelief. "How far did they intend to take their deception?" she thought to herself as anger welled in her, and she knew that she might say something irreversible to the older woman.
"I need to go, please," she said firmly
Ruth seemed to understand that she would disconnect the call, so she hurriedly said, "Reyona, my dear. Whatever this was about, can you please properly talk about it with him when he gets home? You know he loves you and..."
"Don't! Just don't. I need to go now," Reyona said, unable to take the snap out of her voice.
"Okay, I am not going to say anything again," Ruth said instantly. "I know that you are just upset now. I will ask him to head home immediately.
Reyona let out a bitter short of laughter: "No, he can take as much time as he needs to tattle to you. I don't care."
"That is not the reason why he came here, my dear. I was the one that called him because... his cousin's daughter had been ill for days now, and it escalated over the night. You know I can't drive so I asked him to drive us to the hospital."
Not your problem. Not your problem. Reyona's subconscious yelled at her repeatedly. Reyona sighed in defeat, as she knew that she was going to ask anyway.
"Which of them?" she asked with her eyes closed tight against the frustration she felt in her heart that she even bothered to care after everything their parents did to her.
The name she hoped the woman wouldn't mention was exactly what Ruth mentioned: "Leah. It breaks my heart to see that poor child suffering like... "
"Which hospital?" Reyona snapped, barely biting back the retort on the tip of her tongue, and she was sure that the woman did not have any heart to break.
"Oh, my dear. I wouldn't want to disturb you with something like this."
"Fine," Reyona said instantly. "Don't tell me then. Bye"
"Okay, okay, hold on, please," Ruth said as if she had a change of mind.
And she told Reyona.