Chapter 3
Georgina’s POV
I push Derek off me, watching his eyes go wide with surprise. I don’t know why he’s shocked when I know he no longer cares.
“Did you quit your job to start that business?” I ask. “Was it even you who wanted to start it? Or was it Vivian?”
“What? You got it all wrong!” he explains. “We all did it together. It was a good proposal. We wanted to seize the chance while it was there.”
He tugs at his tie and stares at me softly. I can almost believe he has love in his eyes.
“My love, don’t stress yourself out,” he whispers. “You’re going to be a mom soon.”
A mom? I almost laugh. Our baby is long gone.
I get so close to telling him about the abortion, but his phone rings.
Out of instinct, Derek answers the call in front of me.
Immediately, a child’s voice pipes up. “Daddy! Where are you? I miss you and I want you to come home..”
Derek muffles the phone in panic. He looks at me, then he shoots straight into the kitchen to be out of earshot. “I’m sorry, Georgina. Vivian told me that her kid got sick and wanted to see me. I don’t know why..”
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“I don’t mind,” I say. “Go ahead and talk to the kid. You’re the daddy.”
He kisses me on the cheek. “Hey, as soon as we get all the details fine–tuned for the startup, I’m going to stop hanging out with them and have some time for us. And our baby.”
***
The next morning, as soon as Derek leaves home, my phone blows up with messages from his friends.
“Is Derek with you? Ask him to help Vivian. She’s in trouble.”
I don’t reply. I’m already at work, and I have things to discuss with Joana about my new assignment.
Instead, I go online. I see that Vivian has made a new post, showing Derek and her little boy.
The caption says, “My two favorite boys.”
I swallow it all back. I’m about to log off when my phone buzzes with a text from Derek.
“The business is going good. We just got our first client.”
I don’t even know what that business is. Besides, I know now that he’s only away because Vivian needs him.
“Congrats,” is the only thing I respond.
His texts keep coming. “Come to the celebration dinner.”
So I oblige. After work, I meet him at the restaurant he texted me about. But Derek wasn’t even there to meet me at the
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To make things worse, the maitre d tells me, “Let me just check if I can change our guest’s plus–one.”
Turns out that she can. I walk inside the restaurant, and Derek arrives just then. We both sit down, and I text Joana back about some details the company needs to verify..
“I’m going to spend more time with you and the baby soon,” he keeps saying as I text. “It would just be the three of us. If there’s anything more you want me to change. I will do it.”
“Hmm,” I mutter, distracted.
“You really can’t put off work for me?”
“I’m sorry,” I say blandly. “The office needs me. I had to time out early for this.”
His face falls, but I find myself caring less. I have given him many chances before.
Every time I needed him, he would always say he’s busy.
One time, when I brough lunch to his office, he didn’t even meet me. It’s his assistant who talked to me and made me feel better.
But when Derek saw us talking, he pulled me aside angrily.
“Do you really have to do that here? Jesus, Georgina. Why do you have to be so clingy? I need to be at work all day. I go home to you anyway. Stop taking my time.”
But now, as the situations are reversed, he’s annoyed that I have to work.
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In fact, he’s starting to get upset.
He gets to his feet, pacing the floor.
“I invited you here because I know that you feel bad about the time I spend with Vivian,” he says. “And now you want to work. Now you don’t want to be with me. If you want to leave, just go.”
“Okay,” is all I can say.
Derek looks pissed, but what for? He asked me not to be clingy.
***
“You’re losing a lot of weight,” Joana notes as we finalize my papers for the overseas assignment. My flight is next week. “What’s going on between you and your husband? Still fighting?”
I open my mouth to answer, but just then, my phone pings with a message request. I recognize the profile as the restaurant’s logo. I click on the message, only to see a video of Vivian and Derék sharing a drink.
They look happy.
The friends all look happy too.
Of course they are. They’re the biggest supporters of that relationship even though they know their friend is married.
And Vivian. she met me. She should know her boundaries. She has a child, for god’s sake.
“I’m sending this message because I want you to leave the beautiful married couple alone,” the message says. “Home- wreckers like you are not welcome in the establishment.”
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Wow. Now I’m the one who looks like the other woman.
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I take a screenshot, sending it over to Derek and deleting the request. I turn off my Wi–Fi, only for a call from Lucy to come through after about five minutes.
And she sounds mad.
“Georgina, where the hell are you?” she screams. “Derek’s been arrested. Because of that fucking screenshot you sent, he went amok and hurt the restaurant staff. Not even Vivian could stop him!”
I almost drop my phone.
“Go to the station,” Lucy commands, trembling. “Bail him out. Do what you should have done in the first place. God, you’re the worst thing that’s ever happened to him.”
She hangs up after that, leaving me no choice but to do as she
says.
