Mr. Ex, You Want Me Back?

"Sign the file!"

Laurie stared at the folder her husband had handed her. Her hands were shaking because her heartbeat suddenly became twice as fast. She had a bad feeling about the contents of the file in the folder.

"Honey, can we talk about something else first?" Laurie asked as she looked up, trying to delay looking at the contents of the folder. "I have important news to tell you."

Tommy's eyebrows furrowed and his lips pursed. "Come on, Laurie, don't waste my time. We already know that there's nothing more to talk about between us. I want a divorce and you already know why."

"But," Laurie's breath caught in her throat and made her chest feel tight. "You should know that--"

"I will give you enough support, at least until you get a job or maybe, you need capital to start a business, just tell me, I will send the money," said Tommy, cutting Laurie off impatiently.

Laurie looked into Tommy's eyes and there was only a sea of ​​ice in them, making her shiver and realize that there was no warmth left for her in Tommy's heart at all.

Laurie's hand moved to open the folder and pulled out several sheets of paper from it. Her heart bled, when she read the title of the letter. Divorce Documents.

Tommy handed her a pen. An expensive pen that he always used when signing important agreements or contracts in his business affairs.

Laurie took the pen. Laurie's heart was broken. Before signing the divorce papers, she asked Tommy, "If I get pregnant, are you still going to divorce me?

"Of course not!" replied Tommy. "But, Laurie, you're weak and sterile. Elle isn't. So, just sign it and go."

Laurie took an inhaler from her bag and sprayed it into her mouth, helping to relieve the tightness that was making it difficult for her to breathe.

Tommy clicked his tongue at what Laurie was doing. The woman who would soon become his ex-wife was wasting time.

Laurie read the contents of the document and signed it. She stood up and looked Tommy in the eye with a feeling of hurt that she did not try to hide at all.

Just as Laurie was about to open her mouth to say something, Tommy's office door swung open. Millie, Laurie's mother-in-law, and the twins Jenny and Jessy, Tommy's younger sisters, walked in quickly. Their faces looked anxious.

Millie grabbed the document on the table and read it quickly. Her face changed from anxious to a wide smile.

"Good. Apparently you are quite self-aware, Laurie. You must have realized that you have been a burden to Tommy for too long, right?" Millie said in a soft tone.

"Tommy, does that mean Elle will be living with us soon? After Laurie leaves?" Jenny asked.

Tommy didn't answer. He looked at Laurie who was still staring at him sharply and secretly he felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.

"Laurie, don't misunderstand. Elle and I--"

"--will get married soon," Millie interrupted with a very clear tone of joy. "Elle is seven weeks pregnant and she said she doesn't want to get married with a big belly, so I've started preparing for Tommy and Elle's wedding."

"You better pack up your stuff soon, Laurie," Jessy said mockingly. "Don't leave anything behind. It will make Elle uncomfortable if she sees your stuff here."

Tommy glared at his two younger siblings and motioned for them to get out.

"Mom, go. I still need to talk to Laurie, about alimony and stuff," Tommy said as he turned Millie's shoulder and led her to the door. So does his sisters.

Millie turned around as she was almost at the door. "Tommy might be kind to you, Laurie. He'll give you a big allowance. Use it well and don't undermine him again later. At least you should try to find a job yourself so you don't trouble my son anymore."

"Or find a new husband," Jessy said with a mocking laugh.

"That's if anyone wants to marry a barren woman like her," Jenny added.

The three of them exited Tommy's office with a laugh that hurt Laurie's ears. She clenched her fists at her sides, until her knuckles turned white.

Tommy closed the door and walked toward Laurie, but she walked right into the door.

"Laurie, you can--"

"I'm leaving and I hope, after this, we don't have to see each other again for any reason," Laurie said, cutting Tommy's words off.

Tommy shrugged. "You can pack up the things you want to take with you in peace, Laurie. I'm not heartless and want to throw you out just like that."

Laurie laughed sarcastically. "I won't take anything, other than what I brought with me since I entered this house, I bought with my own money, or what my parents gave me. Enough with your insults, and just save the allowance money for your child's future birth expenses. I don't need any penny from you."

Laurie open the door and walked quickly to her room on the second floor.

She hugged her bag tightly to her chest. Three test packs with bright red lines and the lab test report she had just taken a few hours earlier, would remain her secret.

Six Years Later

"Please, baby, can't you just sit still for a minute? I've counted three times and it's not the same because you keep taking one or two apples out of the box."

Forest, a chubby, reddish-cheeked boy with dirt, grinned and scratched his curly-haired head.

"I'm just picking out the overripe apples for Hunter, Mommy," he said with his head tilted. "He's crazy about ripe apples."

Laurie took off her gloves. "Tsk! You're just looking for an excuse to mess up my work. Come here, you naughty boy!"

Laurie approached Forest menacingly and when she had caught the boy, she lifted him up and tickled his belly by making funny noises with her mouth.

Hunter squealed in amusement and struggled. "Please, Mommy, please, I won't do it again."

Laurie let go of Forest and held him in her arms while kissing his vanilla and lavender scented neck.

"Don't spoil Hunter too much, baby, he'll become lazy and you can't use him for training," Laurie said while nuzzling Forest's plump cheeks.

"Yes, Mommy, sorry," Forest said obediently. "I don't want him to starve."

"Come on, honey, he won't starve because Mr. Edmond always gives him lots of grass and apples every day regularly," Laurie replied while putting her son down. "Ugh, you're getting heavier now."

Laurie led Forest out of the warehouse and met Valerie on the way to her office. Valerie stopped and pinched Forest's cheeks affectionately.

"Hello, young man, are you bothering your mother again?" Valerie asked with a raised eyebrow.

Forest rubbed his cheek while glaring. "Aunty V will get karma," he said in a fierce tone.

"Hm? What karma?" Valerie asked while bending down until her eyes were level with the cute boy.

"Because you like to pinch me, you will be eaten by monsters," Forest replied with a serious expression.

Valerie laughed and took out a colorful lollipop that looked pretty.

"I'm so scared, young man. Can you help me get rid of that karma with this candy?" Valeri said while handing the candy to Forest. "This is grape flavored."

Forest took the candy from Valerie's hand, then hugged her neck. "Of course. Thank you, Aunty V. Your karma is gone."

Forest then let go of her hand and looked up at Laurie. "Mommy, I'll visit Hunter for a moment to show him this candy."

Forest had already run towards the stable before Laurie could answer. Valerie laughed seeing the little boy running and jumping like a basket ball being bounced on the floor.

"Don't keep giving him candy, Val," Laurie said. "You'll make his teeth decay faster."

"I just spoil him a little because his mother is too strict with him," Valerie argued. "Ah, I was just about to see you. I thought you were in the office."

"Is this about the Sunrise company? Did you get the tender?" Laurie asked enthusiastically.

"Of course. Starting next month, all their restaurant branches will only buy Apple, peach, and pear from us," Valerie said proudly. "They even want to try the processed wine we make."

Laurie felt very happy. She held Valerie's hand, turning towards her house.

"Let's celebrate by opening a bottle of wine after lunch," Laurie said. "I was already sure we would win the tender, but this still makes me very happy."

When Forest had fallen asleep after dinner, as usual, Laurie opened her laptop and started working. Mostly just checking some incoming proposals to do the final validation, sorting and replying to emails, or just looking at the graphs of each division in her company.

She was satisfied to see the trend of sales of plantation products and the factorie had continued to increase in the past three years.

This was all thanks to the cooperation of the people around her who were so compact and solid, including one of them, Valerie, the marketing director who never knew the word give up.

Laurie also feels grateful that she did not give up, even though at first she was lost in confusion because she did not know what to do with an 80-hectare apple, peaches, and pears orchard, inherited from her parents.

"Your father said that one day you might come back. He saw the signs long before you realized what kind of man you married," said Nelson, Laurie's uncle, her father's youngest brother, who managed and guarded the orchard.

"But I don't know anything about this orchard, Uncle Nelson. Especially about the factory," said Laurie with great concern that she might make what her parents had inherited be destroyed because of her incompetence.

"I'll help you, but you have to be serious and study. I'll retire once I think you're capable enough to manage all this. You know, your aunt wants to live in the tropics and I've bought a house and a potential restaurant that she wants in Bali, Indonesia," Nelson said.

"I... Don't want to be alone, uncle. Can you and aunt Bella stay and be with me?" Laurie said with a little sob in her voice.

Nelson stroked Laurie's hair gently. "You can do it, honey. Get up and show that jerk that you're not down and out just because he ignored you and divorced you. Don't you want revenge?"

That motivation made Laurie study hard about how her parents managed the apple, peaches, and pears plantation that they had owned since they first got married. Also, restarting the canned fruit processing and dried fruit processing factories, which had been abandoned for a long time.

She had her ups and downs at first, but thanks to Nelson and Bella who always accompanied her, becoming people who always supported her wholeheartedly like her own parents, Laurie slowly began to see the results of her hard work.

Laurie turned off and closed her laptop while looking at the clock. It was almost midnight. She was checking the doors and windows, when her phone rang.

She saw Valerie's name on the phone screen.

"Val, you haven't slept yet?" Laurie greeted when she received the call. "We have a meeting with the Southern production team tomorrow, right?"

"I just finished sorting my emails when I saw something interesting, Lau," Valerie said enthusiastically. "The message went into spam and I almost deleted it. I checked and it was true, but the sender might have been careless so the invitation went into spam."

"Hm? What is it?" Laurie asked curiously. "An invitation?"

"Yes. It was an exhibition invitation held by a consortium of world tourism industry entrepreneurs. They invited us because our company is considered the top processed food supplier in America and Europe," Valerie said enthusiastically. "They sent it this afternoon and asked for a reply of attendance within the next three days."

"Are you serious?" Laurie asked happily. "Oh, that's a great opportunity to start pioneering our desire to penetrate the Southeast Asian market, right?"

"Of course!" Valerie replied. "However, that's not the only thing that makes me excited, Lau. Do you know who will be participating in the exhibition?"

"Huh? Who?" Laurie asked curiously. "Our competitors, of course, right?"

"That's no problem," Valerie said. "I think this will be your chance this time. He's already confirmed his attendance and his name is on the exhibitor list."

"He... Come on, Val, don't make me wonder."

"Silver Light company. Tommy McCharty."

Laurie's heart suddenly started beating twice as fast.

Laurie PoV

The dress I'm wearing now is designed by a famous designer whose dress is only made in three sizes and each size only has one piece.

To get a dress from that designer, you have to order it from the time the designer starts showing the rough design on paper, usually three to six months until the dress is completely finished.

It once happened, a celebrity ordered the dress, which turned out that after the dress was finished, the size was too small for her. The celebrity went on a strict diet in order to be able to wear the dress once, at her lover's birthday party and after the party was over, she had to be hospitalized due to malnutrition and fluids due to her diet.

Now, I'm wearing a dress designed by that amazing designer. I've been eyeing it since I saw the designer show the sketch of her design on her Instagram story, then without thinking twice immediately ordered the right size for me and paid the down payment.

I don't know. I really like the designer's design this time, because I imagine, from the presentation of the sketch, when it's finished, the dress will look similar to the wedding dress worn by my mother when she got married. I still hang her picture on my bedroom wall until now.

I am not a wasteful person who likes to spend money to buy branded and expensive items because of prestige. Not at all. I just want to buy the romantic value of the dress, even though it actually only exists in my own feelings and thoughts.

However, when the dress arrived three days ago, delivered by a special courier, I was speechless, even when Valerie gripped my hand tightly, with her mouth wide open.

I don't understand why the timing was so perfect. I thought the dress would be a long time coming. I had even planned to buy the dress to wear to tonight's event, with Valerie, two days ago. But the dress arrived the day before I went shopping.

It was a very beautiful dress. Extraordinarily beautiful. Silk fabric with blue pantone, from the darkest to the palest, from the bottom of the dress to its high neck, made the dress look graceful. The model is made similar to a cheongsam, a traditional Chinese women's dress, wrapping the body tightly to the ankles, with a side slit on one side, from the bottom to the middle of the thigh and sleeveless.

One of the most amazing things is the peacock image that is made like a hologram, will only be visible when the wearer moves or stands under the light.

"Laurie, you will be the most beautiful and sexy woman at the event and Tommy will be crawling all over you!" Valerie muttered in an irritated tone.

I pinched her waist lightly. "You're overreacting. He will definitely come with his wife and child and they will definitely try to pretend not to know me."

"Tsk!" Valerie snapped in an irritated tone. "Don't be shy to beat him up if he tries to approach you. You have to show who you are now, so he won't underestimate you anymore."

I just laughed at Valerie's words. Although at first I was quite shocked to hear from Valerie that Tommy had registered his company as an exhibitor, I was not afraid either.

I did tell Tommy that I didn't want to see him again for any reason, six years ago when we divorced, but now I was ready to face him no matter what.

I was not the Laurie who used to be belittled and bullied by him and his cruel family. I could face him with my chin up and my head held high now.

My uncle Nelson once said that when my father was sick and I rarely visited him because Tommy restrained me, he often cried and lamented how unfortunate my fate was for falling in love with the wrong man. He was always worried that I would end up miserable with Tommy, which turned out to be true.

Now, I will face Tommy, for the first time again, after six years of separation. I will take revenge that I have long harbored against him and his family. They must know what it means to me that they consider useless and unworthy.

Valerie helped me dress up. She had taken a makeup and hairdo course after graduating from high school, to fill in the time before college.

After Valerie finished dressing me up, I couldn't blink, staring at my reflection in the full-length mirror. It didn't seem like me.

"Oh, Laurie, if I were a man, I would have fallen in love with you at first sight," Valerie said in a voice that sounded like she was about to cry.

I laughed at her words. Valerie stood next to me. She herself looked beautiful and graceful in her maroon A-line evening gown with Sabrina sleeves. We looked like sisters.

"Are you ready, Laurie?" Valerie asked as she grabbed her and my handbags. "Let's go and make every man fall on his knees."

When we arrived at the building where the event was held, the atmosphere was already quite lively. It was a big event attended by many large and developing companies in the world.

Not only product exhibitions were held at the event, but also business seminars, auctions, and dinners.

My company had participated in such events several times since two years ago, although on a smaller scale and usually local or national. This was the first time my company had been invited to an international event like this.

Valerie and I handed the invitations to the reception manager and he invited us in with a pleasant, friendly attitude.

Valerie nudged my arm as we walked on the red carpet. "Do you feel that many eyes are staring at you right now?"

"Staring at us," I said, correcting. I took two glasses of wine from the waiter who offered wine to the guests, and gave one to Valerie. "Let's go around first to see what's in this event. After that, we'll take part in the auction, who knows there might be something interesting to buy."

Valerie and I looked around the exhibition and chatted with several other businessmen who greeted and invited us to talk.

My company's booth also looked crowded. I had time to greet the five staff I assigned to guard the booth and accompany them for a while to greet the guests, before walking around again.

We got to know each other and exchanged business cards with businessmen from various countries who attended the event. We also exchanged information and business knowledge and I felt lucky because my company was invited to participate in an event like this, because it turned out that there were many other companies that seemed like they could become business partners after this.

A packaging industry entrepreneur from Finland looked very enthusiastic to hear my explanation about the company I run.

Valerie nudged my arm and pointed to a booth. "I'll take a look over there for a while. Mr. Finland seems to still want to chat a lot with you, so talk to him until he is willing to give a big discount if one day we order packaging for our fruits from him."

The Finland businessman looked disappointed when I said goodbye to him to go to the auction room. We promised to contact each other again for more serious business discussions.

I breathed a sigh of relief when I had walked a little bit away from the guy. He was kind of making me uncomfortable because he seemed to really like skin ship and was always trying to touch my hand.

I looked for Valerie, but she was nowhere to be seen. My need to pee was unbearable, so I decided to bypass the auction room and head straight to the back, following the signs that pointed to the ladies' restroom.

I checked my appearance in the mirror after I finished peeing, and only added a little perfume behind my ears and a spritz of face mist to freshen up my face.

Just as I was about to walk out of the ladies' restroom, the door swung open from the outside and someone rushed in. Her cream-colored dress had a reddish stain on her chest.

Our eyes met and the woman stopped right in front of me, her face looking shocked.

"You..."