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FIVE
~ Elina ~
My heart sank when I realized who it was.
It had been a long day at work discussing various blueprints the computer-assisted design guys had been working on, and I was exhausted. Sunday, I had suffered through a horrendous hangover, so by the time Monday had rolled around, I was already tired. Spending a day in the office pouring over incorrect calculations had driven me close to the edge. The last person I wanted to see was him.
As I pulled up to my driveway, I saw a dark figure hidden in the shadows of my porch. At first, I was excited, thinking it was Zane, but I realized how wrong I was as he stepped forward. What was Seth doing here?
“Elina,” he called as I got out of the car.
Just him saying my name made my skin crawl. I thought that after I moved out, I would be rid of him forever. The divorce was almost finalized, and there was nothing left to discuss. He was paying me back half the cost of the house in installments, and I wanted nothing else to do with him. So why was he standing on my porch?
“Seth,” I said between gritted teeth, “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
Slamming my car door shut behind me, I walked up the pathway. Seth walked out from the shadows, his features now highlighted in the dwindling sunlight. I frowned. He had dark circles underneath his eyes as though he hadn’t been sleeping well. I knew he didn’t deserve my pity, but as a human, I was still concerned.
“Is everything okay?” I asked as I neared him.
He shook his head, “I can’t stop thinking about you. These last three months have been awful without you. I thought I would be able to move on with Lorraine and the baby, but I can’t seem to let go.”
“You seemed to let go of your morals when you slept with her in the first place. Is that all you’ve come here to say, or is there something else?”
I put my hands on my hips and glared at him. It was one of those rare occasions where I felt I had more power than him. It didn’t last long.
“Are you really that cold-hearted that you don’t care? I know I upset you, but you must still love me. Deep down. Don’t deny it.”
My laugh was sharp and brief, “Are you delusional? How can you think I still love a man who went behind my back to knock up another woman? Do you know all the pain I went through when people found out my pilot husband was sleeping with one of the airline stewardesses? I’m surprised Falcon Airlines hasn’t taken you off their books.”
Anger bubbled beneath the surface of Seth’s face. I knew I had touched a raw nerve mentioning his work. He took great pride in his piloting career, but I was bitter, enraged, and didn’t care. After all the suffering he had put me through, it felt nice to hit back. I had been rather meek and tamed at the house before I left, but now I was by myself and living my own life, and I started to regain my confidence. Everything he had drained away from me over the years was coming back.
“You never seemed to complain about my career when I was raking in the cash. You seemed all too happy to spend it on your little book collection, precious plants, and jazz records.”
I rolled my eyes, “Are you kidding me? I’ve always made more than you.”
He took a step down from the porch, towering over me, “What kind of woman becomes a civil engineer anyway? Did you ever stop to think about how that would look on me? Why couldn’t you just be happy at home like the other wives?”
I was speechless. Seth had mentioned over the years how he wanted me to take early retirement and settle into domestic bliss. But I hadn’t pushed through years of studying to get my degree and working my way up the corporate ladder to let it all go just for his ego. I was one of the leading engineers in my workplace, and as a woman, it had taken a lot of sacrifices to get there—something he clearly didn’t understand even after our years of marriage. Just having this conversation made me realize how lucky I was to escape when I did.
“Did you come over here to try and win me back or just annoy the fuck out of me?” I said.
This seemed to be the last straw for Seth as he rushed at me, grabbing hold of my arm tightly. I was about to slap him when I heard his voice. Both of our heads whipped around to see Zane sprinting across the street.
“Get your hands off of her!”
