4. Her past identity

"Ma'am, here's the file of Mr Rodriguez." Shawn said as he forwarded a file toward Arabella. Arabella nodded at him before signalling him to leave as well.

He bowed at her a little before leaving the room. It was only her in the room. She looked around to see another file and a phone left on the other side of the table. She recognized that phone. It was Mr Rodriguez's.

She pulled a chair and sat down. She opened the file and started running her eyes over it. She knew Damien will be here any moment to take his belongings. So, she couldn't concentrate on the file. She just read the basic details of him when the door opened. She saw from the glass wall..

It was him.

He slowly walked toward his belongings and picked the phone up but he wasn't showing any interest in leaving the room and she noticed it. She didn't pay attention to him and to flip through the pages when something caught her attention.

There is a photo… her photo at the end of the file with "The ex-wife" written boldly in red letters. She looks so different in the photo… she almost didn't recognize her if it wasn't for the pendant on her neck in the photo which she still has.

She was Damien Rodriguez's ex wife…

Her eyes widened and the file fell from her hands. She looked up at him in shock which caught his attention. Damien looked at Arabella blankly but didn't say anything. Arabella didn't say anything as well. She was just looking at him with a frown now.

His eyes fell on the opened file in her hands.

"Damien Rodriguez."

"Ex-wife, Arabella Smith."

Why did he run a background check on him as if she doesn't know all these? She knows everything about her. Also, why does she look so shocked as if it's her first time knowing that she was his ex-wife?

"Why did you run a background check on me?" Damien asked Arabella in a cold tone. She looked at him coldly before closing the file and walking toward the door. She locked the door, making him frown.

"Why did you lock the door?" Damien asked in a cold tone.

"Why are we divorced?" Arabella asked out of nowhere, making him frown.

"What the fuck do you mean by that?" Damien asked in confusion.

He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Why was she asking that question as if she didn't know? She let out a few breaths to gather her thoughts before looking back up at him.

"Answer a few questions of mine for god's sake, will you? Please, I request." Arabella said in a dead serious tone, looking deadly in his eyes. He wasn't going to lie. That intimidated him and he ended up agreeing to see where it was going.

"Go ahead. Ask your questions." He said in a cold tone.

"Am I…your ex-wife?" She asked the weird question in a weird tone. She didn't know what she was expecting but the question sounded very weird to her. He looked at her in disbelief but didn't comment, seeing her warning glare.

"Yes, you are my…ex-wife." Damien answered with obvious discomfort which made her frown.

"Why did you marry me?" She asked her second question, made him look away from her and she knew the answer wasn't anything pleasant.

"It was a forced arranged marriage." He answered curtly, making her frown. As far as she remembers about her family, she wasn't surprised.

"Was it forced for you or for me?" She asked with a raised eyebrow, making him grit his teeth in annoyance.

"For both of us." He again answered curtly before looking at her annoyance. "Are you done?" He snapped. She shook her head negatively.

"One last question. You seem to hate me. So, that means our marriage ended on bad terms, right?" She asked another strange question and this question turned his aura completely dark.

"Yes." He answered through gritted teeth. "Wanna know why we ended our marriage?" He asked in a ruthless tone but she shook her head at him.

"I don't think you alone can answer that question because it's a question which has two sides of the coin as an answer." She replied, making him go blank. "I will find that out myself." She replied and he glared at her once again.

"What the fuck are you trying to prove by asking this questions?" He clutched her right arm and pulled her close to him. She frowned at him, after hearing that.

"That means you don't know about the ac-.." She had started saying something but got cut off by the sharp caller tune of her phone. She frowned and fished her phone out of her black leather purse and her eyes widened seeing the caller ID. Damien looked at her in confusion. What was she going to say?

It was Maria, the babysitter whom she brought with her in America from France. She completely forgot about her babies in all these tensions. She looked at the time and her eyes widened some more.

It was around half past seven in the evening. The bedtime for her babies. Aaron and Ariana never sleep without her no matter how late she is. As she has never been this late, they must be crying for her. She hurriedly received the phone while Damien looked at her in a questioning look. But she doesn't even spare him a glance.

"Hello?" She asked worriedly to the opposite person.

"Ma'am, please come fast. Aaron has a high fever and he's literally burning in it. He's continuously crying for you which is worsening his condition." Maria said from the other side of the phone.

Arabella's face lost all its colour upon hearing the news. Damien was now looking at her worriedly even though didn't hear what the opposite person said. He didn't even know where the worry was coming from.

"What happened? Whose call was this?" Damien asked after a moment.

"Maria." Arabella breathed out, she was still in shock at how she could be so irresponsible to forget about her son. The new weather, new place, long journey and her absence must have taken a toll on her poor son and she wasn't there to comfort him.

"What's happening? Who is Maria? What did she say that made you so pale." Damien asked in confusion with a frown.

"It's about Aaron.. he's in pain and he needs me." Arabella said in one breath even though she knew he wouldn't understand a word and when her own words registered into her head, her brain started to function. She rushed out of the place despite Damien's continuous calling.

She has to be with her son at this moment. Aaron and Ariana are her first priority. She even gave up her whole life for them.

She was out of the premises in a minute and Shawn immediately opened the car door for her before jumping inside the driver seat to drive to the hospital while Damien kept on standing there

"Who is Aaron?" Damien asked to himself in a dark tone before smashing his right hand on the glass wall beside.