Ten

"Thank you, Jameson," I mutter before finally closing my eyes to sleep. The kind of day I had requires that I soak myself in a hot bath until every knot the pain has caused unties itself.

I had contemplated opting for the hot water bath, until I remembered the words Matt said to me before he and Lauren left my room. It is then that the thoughts of relaxing drift off my mind. What need is there to try to ease the pain when it will do nothing to the scare their actions have left on my soul?

Jameson's nonchalance plan had worked quite well until Lauren dragged me by my head and yanked me across the room while screaming several curses at me.

Matt didn't bother to lift a finger to stop her. He just stood there, watching my sister treat me like a wild animal, a shameless smirk lingering on his face.

It was at that point that I knew he hates me with every gut in him.

It is one thing for him to treat me badly just because he feels like it. But it is another thing to watch someone else give me the same ill treatment.

A single tear slides down my eye as the image of what took place this evening replays in my mind.

I wonder what I ever did to deserve such a horrible treatment from the three of them as I roll to the other side of the bed. My gaze catches the moon hanging low in the sky, its silver rays streaming into my window.

Sighing deeply, I sit up on the bed, allowing my back to rest on the bed frame while wrapping my arms around my legs. I stare at the moon.

Moon gazing has always been one of my most favourite things to do as a child. I remember how excited Lauren and I are whenever Dad allows us in his master's suite.

While Lauren would go straight to our Mom's dressing table to try to make herself look prettier, I would run straight to open the balcony door. The fresh air which usually hits my face first is one of the things I used to look up to. The next thing is the moon.

I have always loved that huge silver ball hanging in the sky and the tiny stars that usually surround it.

I must have slept off watching the moon, which is the only thing that gives me joy at this point in my life, since it is the golden rays from the sun streaming into my window that wakes me up the next day.

Having already made up my mind to get a divorce, I enter the bathroom to do my morning routine, which I haven't done in days. I stare at my reflection in the mirror, hating what I am seeing.

My emerald green eyes are so dull that I couldn't recognize them anymore. Those eyes used to be one of the prettiest features I have. It used to be the first thing everyone notices about me. I shut my eyes and inhale deeply.

Splashing some water on my face makes me realize how much I have missed how simple my life used to be. The mundane things of life were what used to excite me. Waking up to my skin care routine in the morning. Then having a sumptuous breakfast on my bed, since I despise the awareness having breakfast with my family brings to me.

Immediately I step out of the bathroom, the images of everything that happened last night rush back into my head, making the little joy I had gained last night quench both my spirits and my appetite.

I pick up the telephone near my lampstand and dial our family lawyer's line instead. He answered his phone on the third ring, sounding so groggy.

"Yeah? Who is this?" he asks in a tone that suggests that if I don't speak up immediately, he will hang up the line the next minute.

"Hello, sir, this is Bella Vanderblib."

"Be–Bella? What's wrong, Bella? Why are you calling me with this strange line?"

"This is the Vanderblib's landline. I kind of lost my phone in the whole craziness."

There is an awkward pause as he does to process my words. I am sure he must have heard about my running away on my wedding night escapades, so there is really no need to beat around the bush.

"Is there a problem, Bella?"

"I want a divorce," I tell him as a matter of factly.

The awkward pause returns. This time, it lingers longer than the first time. When he finally speaks up, his voice was stern.

"What do you mean you want a divorce? Do you know what a divorce means, Bella child?"

His words stir up another round of anger inside me. I reply to him through gritted teeth, "I am not a child! I just turned 21 the other day. Why does everyone keep treating me like a child?"

"I in fact know the answer to that. Do you really want to hear it?"

When I ignore him and his stupid sarcasm, he goes right ahead to say, "It is because age doesn't make you an adult. Just because you turned 21 also doesn't mean anything. You still think and act like a child. What do you mean you want a divorce?"

"I mean that I am no longer interested in marrying Matt Davenport and would like to end it. Does that make any sense to you?"

"No, it doesn't, honey. It takes at least six months into the marriage before you can start thinking about anything related to divorce."

"Wh-what?"

"That's literally what the law says. I told you you were still a child. If you were an adult, you would have known this and there wouldn't be any need for you to put a call across through a fucking landline."

I bite my lips hard at the thought that I would have to stay with that devil for a whole six months. "S-so you are saying that there is nothing you can do as the family lawyer?"

"There is nothing anyone can do about it, Bella. End this call and go enjoy your blissful marriage."

The beep that comes through when he ends the call resounds in my mind. I gasp while staring at the phone like it is some foreign object. My knees give up on me the next minute, making my butt find the ground.

Divorcing Matt's crazy ass is the only hope I have. That is my only escape route. What am I going to do now, knowing that I have to endure him for another six months?

I stretch out my legs and lay my back on the ground, looking pointedly at a spot on my ceiling. What am I going to do now? How do I live, knowing that the next six months of my life are going to be a living hell?

Jameson…

His handsome face filters into my mind, making a slow smile curl up my lips. Just these few moments I have spent with him, but it has somehow brightened up my life.

How do I explain that a stranger has a more positive effect on me than my so-called husband whom I had loved for years since I was a teenager?

Just the baritone of his voice alone touches me in a way that makes me chuckle each time I remember the little time we have spent together. I was so distracted yesterday as he put me through the revenge plan that I didn't get what he said at first.

He had asked me if I was feeling alright, his baritone reducing to a soft rasp as he felt my forehead.

"Whatever those damn fools are doing to you now, they are going to get a double of it," he had assured me.

The urge to continue with the plan returns at that point. If a stranger can treat me better than my family, then maybe it is better to seek the love I lack at home from him. After all, he has treated me way better than all the Vanderblibs combined.

"What should I do?" I mutter to myself, still looking at that point on the ceiling.

"To join Jameson with the revenge plan against my family or to run very far away?"

Staying back to endure the pain my family and Matt are putting me through isn't part of the option because I don't know how long I can endure it.

A loud bang on my door jolts me out of my thoughts and up on my feet. My heart is about to explode in my chest as I try to make out what just happened.

Then the door unlocks, Dad barging into the room with his whole body vibrating.

"How dare you think about a divorce?! To talk more of calling to request one?! Are you out of your damn mind!?" he barks at me.

I remain frozen at that spot, not able to move or process the words he had just said.

"Answer me you damn girl! Do you realize what you have just done? How you just destroyed this family with your foolishness?"