Chapter 1 One

Sophia's POV

It's Christmas Eve and I'm sitting all alone in our big house. Donald, my husband had gone to work and won't be back until later in the day. The snow from outside was still falling hard. It's always been like that every Christmas Eve here in Marquette.

"Hey Sophia," Mr. Jack said as I picked the call, "we can't make it today due to the weather."

"Oh, alright." I responded.

"You take care, okay. We'd surely be there tomorrow," he said then quickly added, "Evelyn send her regards, bye."

Afterwards, there was silence. I was tempted to call my parents. But I guess they don't even want to talk to me. It's been years yet they still haven't forgiven me for marrying Donald.

I took a sip of the hot coffee as the memories came back to me. They didn't acknowledge me marrying Donald. Their reason was funny. Well, maybe not to them, but it is to me. They told me I can't marry Donald because he's of a higher social class? That's an inferiority complex at its peak, isn't it? I had gone ahead and disregarded their reason. And they had cut off all ties with me.

I placed my mug on the table and watched briefly the unending snowflake from outside. Now was the time that I wish I had friends here in Marquette. Since I got married to Donald, Christmas had always been celebrated with just his family.

Donald and I had no friends either. At least not that I know of. So I was all alone sitting in the big mansion, gently sipping my coffee. Luckily, Donald should be home soon.

I decided to watch some news to keep myself busy after sending another text to Donald. There had been a car accident according to the news. I watched keenly to know all the details. The accident had happened not too far from Donald's company. I looked outside again to see it was snowing even harder.

"He's going to be okay," I said, assuring the baby in my womb. "Maybe the meeting with Anderson isn't going too well."

Anderson is a family friend and also Donald's business partner.

Some moments later, I checked my phone and there was still no reply from Donald. I was becoming worried. There was a noise from downstairs so I strolled down to confirm. I sighed in relief as I saw Donald was back and was eating his meal.

"Welcome home honey." I said, my face lighting up.

"How was your day?" I added thoughtfully.

He grunted in response. Immediately I saw him take the first bite of the turkey, I noticed the irritation in his eyes.

"What's wrong?" I asked in a concerned tone.

"This rubbish you served as my food," he said, looking at me with sharp, cold eyes.

I felt a knot in my stomach. "What do you me-an?" I stuttered.

He gestured to the plate, his lips formed into a thin line. "This turkey is spoiled. Can't you taste it?"

I took a tentative bite. Then, my face scrunched up at the foul taste. "I'm sorry, I didn't taste it before serving you. The maid cooked it before vacation, I just re-roast the turkey."

Donald's expression darkened. "You never do, do you? You're always so careless."

I felt a surge of defensiveness. "It's just because of the baby, I-"

"Don't use the baby as an excuse." The words escaped his lips in a growl. His hands are fisted beside him.

"Please Donald, I don't want to fight." I pleaded, trying to avoid the whole drama.

A soft chuckle broke on his lips. "Fight? No one is fighting. I'm just sick and tired of your dirty tricks."

"What tricks are you talking about?" I probed, staring at his face.

He jerked up from his seat, his hands fisting. "How you fooled everyone to marry me. Including my mother! You are the perfect daughter-in-law to them, but I saw through your charade. I only honored my mother's dying wish to marry you–"

"Don't, please..." I begged, not wanting him to continue as his words were beginning to sound hurtful.

And that moment, he stormed away, heading towards his room. His words played in my mind as I went straight to the kitchen to prepare his favorite meal–hamburger and cheese.

I had first met Donald while he came shopping. I was the one who attended to him. He sounded so cool and I immediately fell in love with his aura. He had been frequenting the mall then but I didn't know how to tell him.

On a particular day while at work. There was a power outage and I was stuck in a lift with a middle-aged woman. The woman had a claustrophobic attack and I had done my best in helping, until she got medical attention. The woman whose name was Mary, turned out to be Donald's mother. She had taken a liking to me and must have noticed the way I feel about his son. Mary had ensured Donald and I married before cancer took her away.

I was already used to Donald's attitude so what he said didn't bother me much. Instead I focused on making sure his meal was quickly prepared. I was still in a rush when I mistakenly flipped the pan and the hot oil poured on my legs.

"Ouch!" I cried out as the hotness of the oil burned deep into my skin.

Donald rushed into the kitchen, a look of worry on his face. His upper body was bare as he seemed to just have his bath as his jet black hair was tousled in a sexy kind of way. My eyes trailed his broad chest down to his packs and I felt my heart beat fast.

Immediately he confirmed I was okay, he turned back and headed out of the kitchen leaving me frustrated. I cursed in my mind as I stepped out from the kitchen to serve his meal.

Who was I fooling? I was upset. He didn't care about me, he only rushed out because of the baby. I should have known that he didn't care in the first place.

As I stepped into the dining area, I saw Donald smiling widely while he stared at his phone. Donald only smiles once in a blue moon so that seems to pique my interest. What was he smiling about? Was he talking to a lady? That must have been the reason he had been coming home late recently.

He was still smiling at his phone and that made my blood boil. He didn't even notice I had served his meal at the diner, or was she back?

"Your meal is getting cold." I called out to him, as I couldn't hold it any longer.

He looked up at me and the smile on his face disappeared. It had been replaced by the cold, distant gaze I was now used to.

"There would be no need for that." He said, then added. "Have this!"

His hands were stretched out to me with a blank, brown envelope. I was tempted to ask what the content was as I moved closer to collect it. Did he get a Christmas gift for me?

I opened the seal and what I saw got me shocked and confused at the same time. A divorce paper? This must be a joke, right?

"What's this?" I asked, my heart pounding in my chest.

"You are not blind," he said, sounding irritated.

"Why?"

"Seriously? You are asking me why?" He stood up, leaned closer to me. "I only married you to make my mother feel happy, now that she's gone I have no business with you."

"Don't do this. Think about us. What happened to what we have built?"

"That's where you are wrong, Sophia. It's time you wake up from this dream. There's no us, why don't you still get it," he said without a hint of emotion.

"Laura is back, she's the only woman I ever loved."