His Wife (A Contract Marriage Story) by Heer Mangtani

Chapter 66

I wish there was something more to hold on to, something that hinted that all of this was wrong. But right now, all I had is divorce papers signed by Gabriel, and his call being picked up by Lily.

The best of me wanted to consider the most optimistic scenario, like he was kidnapped by her and she was an evil plotting witch doing all this, but the likelihood of that happening was almost zero. He lied to me by himself. No pressure, no influence. One call from her and he ran back home leaving me alone in my hometown after being persistent for all the previous days that he didn’t want to leave me alone.

He hed. Every day, he called me, and I asked where he was and what he was doing, and he told me he was at work, rearling through a file or two Sometimes, he was heading towards a meeting When I asked him what the urgent work was because of which he had to leave, he told me it was in progress and he’ll tell me once he sees it through.

He left every morning and came back here every night. Alone. I think. I hope. That’s not a man who’s been kidnapped and being forced to he to me

Heck, he even lied to Zach to not meet him.

1 kept telling myself to take deep breaths and keep faith, but things didn’t look too optimistic.

Lama didn’t leave my side. I think she was scared that she’d leave the room and I would jump through the window to escape. or something, but on the contrary. I had climbed into bed and crossed my legs, opening my laptop in front of me.

1 searched up my husband’s name on google, and all of the latest articles involved talking about his forthcoming expansion to the UK, except one.

One teeny, tiny article by a news channel whose name I hadn’t even heard spoke about our marriage and it being in trouble. I clicked on it, and sure enough, there were pictures of Gabriel and Lily sitting in a cafe, dated just yesterday.

I tried not to let the hollow feeling in my chest returt, the stabbing sensation, the betrayal, the urge to curl up in a ball and cry and never get up, I wanted to be held and just cry, but the person I wanted to be held by was the reason I wanted to be held in the first place.

I had eaten nothing since morning, yet my stomach churned. The nausea I couldn’t control anymore, and I ran into the bathroom, throwing up nothing but the little liquids I had had.

Luna followed me inside, patting my back, and then leaving to get me juice and some fruits, but the thought of eating anything at all just made me want to slouch on the bathroom floor and throw up forever

remembering the picture opened on my

Gabriel’s hand reaching out

was nothing called innocent lies to your wife to meet your ex and hold her hand in a restaurant. There wasn’t anything innocent about this situation, no matter how much I tried to look at it from a

edge. I dialled Gabriel again I wanted to bite my fingernails off in anticipation

I asked, the silence on the other end being so

patchy and rasp Maybe the phone was on speaker. Maybe he actually had just

“What is going on? What is all

a sigh just a

my eyes again. Gabriel, where are

“Lily”

what?” I asked, and silence filled the space between us again. Tears fell. “Oh.” Realisation struck. “You’re

Silence again.

you come here once?” I ask, beg, really. “Come here and tell me that it’s over and

Silence again.

than a broken whisper and

myself in a silent

patchy, raspier, denser… I was running out of objectives as I played the three words he told me in a loop, again and again. Maybe I was overthinking it to no limit, but it felt like the man I was talking to didn’t love me. He never loved me. He never cared for me. He sounded like he was doing a formality because he was in love with someone else, most

as she entered clutching the plate of fruits and juice in

the disconnected

arms quietly, desperate to be held by my grandfather or Gabriel, the reality that neither of them were

my feet. Like I was falling in an

there was no one to catch

was officially out of tears, and I make a silent vow to not cry any more. At least not for the next year or so, because I had finished the quota of a lifetime in just the past ten days, losing not one but two men I loved. Losing

get up, looking at the papers lying in front of me. Divorce