Everyone turned to look at the entrance. Meera was familiar with that voice and as expected, it was none other than Vivian, Ben’s ex-fiance, the sensational B-list singer who chose her career over Ben three years ago.
Never would she have guessed that Vivian was his reason for asking for a divorce. Didn’t he tell her all these years that he was over Vivian? So, what is the meaning of this?!“Ben? What is going on here?” Meera questioned. Her chest constricted. She was about to go insane!“I– ““Ben never loved you. It was me he loved. The three years of your ‘happy’ marriage was a plan we made to fool his grandfather. Now that his grandfather is dead and the company is Ben’s and his grandfather’s inheritance would be his from next week, there’s no reason to continue this facade anymore,” Vivian beat him to it.“Wow,” none of them could believe what they were hearing. Meera’s heart was in turmoil as she stared blankly at the duo in front of her.“Asshole!” David yelled and lurched forward to throw a punch at Ben, but his attempt was easily deflated by the twenty eight years old Ben. Before he could fight again, Maria quickly pulled him back.“Let me go! I want to teach him a lesson!” The boy was furious but on a serious note, what could he do? His punches would only fall like cottons on a huge guy like Ben. In fact, David would be the one who would hurt his knuckles.“Ben, what is going on?” Meera didn’t know what was running through her mind at the moment. It felt like she was in a horrible nightmare. How could the man she loved so dearly hurt her like this?He had always been the type who stood by his words. He promised never to hurt her. He told her he loved her. Ben promised to grow old with her!“Ben!!” she screamed when he didn’t speak.“I’m sorry, Meera,” he apologized again.“Fuck you, Ben!” Maria threw her drink on his face.Almost instantly, Vivian yelled at her, “How dare you!”“Shut your mouth!” David threw the nearest vase at her in a fit of rage, but she easily sidestepped and avoided it.The tension in the luxurious sitting room didn’t get to Meera who was still standing there like a statue, staring at her husband. How much she loved this man, words couldn’t say. He loved her too, her love wasn’t one-sided... She knew this much.“Ben, what are you doing?” she couldn’t keep it together as tears stung her eyes, “How did we get to this point?”He must have a reason. They could still salvage the situation if he told her what was happening.“Is anyone threatening you?” she asked in a small voice.“Meera, why are you in denial? He doesn’t want you– ““Let my husband speak!” Meera didn’t scream but her words carried great power which sent Vivian tugging on Ben’s sleeve like a child.“Vivian was right. I never loved you. It was all a plan to kill two birds with one stone… But you can’t blame me, Meera!” He suddenly grew more courageous. “I tried to be with you, I did my utmost best to stay in this marriage, but you, you couldn’t give me a child…”“Wh– What? This is unbelievable!”“How much lower do you want to get, Ben?!”David and Maria spoke over themselves. This just felt like a hallucination. How could Ben blame Meera for not giving him a child?!Ignoring their cries, Ben continued, “You know how much I love children, Meera. If you had given me just one, even a disabled child, I would have forsaken Vivian for you, but you couldn’t…”“You bastard! She suffered three miscarriages, you knew this!” Maria screamed in rage. If only she could beat the shit out of Ben right now.“That was not my fault!” Ben yelled back as though his sore had been poked. “I thought it was my fault that was why I stayed to this day. But this wife of mine was the cause of it all! Had she not whored herself away, her womb wouldn’t have—” he held back for whatever reason.The tears she’d been holding finally couldn’t stay still and gushed out of Meera’s eyes like a fountain. It was hard to believe that her husband was doing this to her in front of her little brother and Vivian, their enemy.“How were the miscarriages her fault?” Maria questioned with a frown.“You can as well tell them so they don’t go running their mouths and blaming you for what you did,” Vivian urged on.This infuriated David more, so he hollered, “My sister could never do no wrong! Don’t try to pin this on her! Ben and Vivian are evil people!”“Shut up, you wimp!” Vivian thought to intimidate him, but David wouldn’t give in.“I won’t, you bitch!”“I dare you to call my woman a bitch again!” Ben suddenly turned his sharp glare at David.“Is she carrying your baby?” Meera let out the question that was bugging her mind. Although she didn’t want to believe that he cheated on her, her husband didn’t give her another option. Silence descended in the room as everyone directed their glares at Vivian’s flat tummy. “You’re not dumb after all,” Vivian puffed her chest and smirked. A sharp pain stabbed Meera in the heart. It was so painful that she wanted to die. “You evil woman!” David freed himself from his captive and swiftly pounced on Vivian. Vivian, who didn’t expect such an attack, took a hard kick to her stomach and fell back with a sharp cry, ending up falling on the tall cake. “Ahh!”“Vivian!”Ben rushed forward to rescue her but it was already too late. Her white dress was stained with different colors of cake. He scooped her in his arms and was about to rush her to the couch when David swung another vase at them. Unexpectedly, the vase, which was meant to hit Vivian, slammed on Ben’s head, causing him to fall
It was night when Ben returned home from the hospital with Vivian. Ben paused by the entrance and took a glance around the living room. The house which used to be a cozy home suddenly was shrouded in sadness. “Ben, why aren’t you entering?” Hearing Vivian’s soft voice, he flattened his lips and stepped in. “I’m hungry, get the servants to prepare me something.”Ben glanced at her, “We don’t have servants in the house.”Vivian gasped, “What do you mean? Then who used to prepare everything? You?”“Where do I have the time? All the work in the house was done by Meera.”“Then, get her to prepare something for me. I can’t cook and the doctor said I mustn’t starve.”“Right. Her brother hurt you, so she should take responsibility until you’re well,” he helped her to the couch before adding, “I’ll be right back.”Ben left for the stairs and soon enough, he arrived at their bedroom door. He stood there for a few moments, thinking of how to start a conversation before he turned the knob and
The next day...Meera was seen coiled up in her bed, refusing to eat or drink. Maria looked worried as she paced back and forth, trying all she could to get her friend out of that destructive mood. “Meera, David is worried about you and he wouldn’t eat since you refused to eat. You know he has an ulcer and you don’t want him rolling around, so please eat something.”Meera stayed silent while staring down at her toes. She wouldn’t blink nor utter a word. Maria sighed, “Come on, don’t do this to yourself. This is exactly what they want to see. Get a hold of yourself, Meera. Do you think they’d give a fuck if you die?”“What did I do wrong? He told me he was fine with my body’s situation after what happened six years ago, so why did he try to bring it up yesterday?” Meera lamented in a hushed voice. Her eyes were swollen and red. More tears cascaded down her cheeks as she spoke. Maria sighed again and sat beside her on the bed, “I understand. You were not to blame for what happened si
A few hours later, Maria barged into Meera’s room, yelling in excitement. “Meera, look, yours and Ben’s news is all over the internet and everyone is on your side!” Meera, who just managed to fall asleep after not shutting her eyes since yesterday, moaned as she tried to sit up. She was having a severe headache and her dimmed eyes wouldn’t open wider than it already had. Seeing she was having difficulty sitting up, Maria put the matter aside and got on the bed, “Are you okay?” she touched her forehead and winced, “Oh My God! You’re burning up. We have to go to the hospital.”“I’m fine... What happened on the internet?” “Forget about the internet, you need to see a doctor. You look excessively feeble and dying!” without waiting for her to protest, Maria helped her out of the room while screaming for her brother. “David, we’re going to the hospital, your sister is unwell!”David, who was in the sitting room, impatiently waiting for Mr. Greg’s message while also reading the news abo
Vivian froze and slowly looked up at him. “You have feelings for her...” not hearing a response after a while, she added, “I knew it!” standing up, she pointed at him, “then why did you betray her? Why have you been sleeping with me behind her back?”“Be thankful that I chose you over her. Whatever I do should not be your business– ““You lie! Benjamin, you lie! The earlier you know that I’m not Meera, the better for us all,” she glared at him. “What makes you think you can ever be Meera? If not that I needed a child, would I have accepted you back?”“Excuse me?”“You heard me. You can’t hold a candle to Meera in any way. She doesn’t give me as much trouble like you do.”“Then why did you come running back to me? Was it that she couldn’t satisfy you in bed like I do?”“Don’t delude yourself,” with that, he walked out of the house and slammed the door behind him. He needed something to calm himself. Vivian narrowed her eyes at his disappearing back and a villainous smile crept into h
“What’s wrong with Meera?”“She’s dear to my grandfather. What if she gets some shares from him? Some of the board of directors want my stepsister on the seat. And you know how her mother is. She would do anything to have her daughter on that CEO seat. As it stands now, she and I have the same amount of shares. She’s intelligent and capable, so right now, I need more shares to be victorious. I can’t count on my grandfather’s shares, but I am more inclined to think that he would reserve some shares for Meera.” “Since you have such worries from the start, you should have waited until after the Will was read. How did you manage to ruin your chances so badly?” the other guy couldn’t understand. Ben sighed in frustration, “It was Vivian. She wanted me to give Meera the divorce papers on our anniversary, otherwise she’d abort the pregnancy.”“Wow, Vivian is ruthless and I tell you bro, you have a dim future with that girl around you.”“You’re not helping matters, James.”“Hahahaha... Poki
The frustrated Ben had no idea what to do next. The papers were already with his lawyer– Vivian’s uncle. The man had been pestering him to give Vivian what she deserved after she got pregnant for him and now, trying to take the divorce papers back from him would be impossible. Meera will definitely be enraged if she knew that he already sent the divorce papers to court. A thought crossed his mind and he went for his phone. “Let me call her and explain,” he picked the phone he threw away only to see it was damaged. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!” anger and frustration burned in him. He passed a hand over his hair as he paced the room. “I have to go to her, I have to…” he picked up his car keys and dashed out of the room. Meanwhile, at Meera’s home..Maria sighed for the umpteenth time as she looked worriedly at her friend who was lying on the bed with eyes fixed on her phone. Her friend received a court summon from their lawyer a few minutes ago. She agreed to go, but her eyes had been stuck t
“Meera, I saw how much you also wanted to give us a child, so I became desperate to fulfill our dream. I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you, I swear, I was going to tell you but Vivian threatened to abort the pregnancy if I didn’t do as she said. I know it will be hard for you to forgive me… I’m not asking for forgiveness right now, but please, I just want us to forget about the divorce and return home.” Maria laughed out of anger. Is this man for real?!Meera who had been quietly watching him as he knelt in front of her, parted her lips and said slowly, “You still haven’t learned to stop blaming others for the mistakes you choose to make.” “Can’t you feel my sincerity?” He looked straight at her face, hoping she would be moved by his tears, “It was a mistake that was committed only once and it was through the influence of alcohol. You can ask James and Ray, they were aware of how and when it happened. The woman I chose to carry our child was not Vivian. I have no idea how I woke