His Forgotten Ex- Wife

Chapter 7

Amelia

The car rolled along the familiar roads, the passing scenery a blur as my eyes fixated on the landscape, seeking solace in the comforting familiarity. Home was near, yet an emotional distance seemed to stretch between me and Karl. The weight of silence enveloped the space inside the car, a heavy atmosphere that had settled since Karl's confession growing thicker with every passing moment. It had cast a new light on our relationship.

We both were dancing around each other, hiding gazes, trying to act as if nothing had happened. The flight had been an awkward zone too. I had spent all my time looking out the window while he had just stared at the screen.

I think I've fallen for you The words echoed in my mind with his face imprinted in my mind of how he was looking at me as if it had happened a few minutes back. I dared to sneak a glance at him. He was looking out of the window just like I was. For a second he stole my breath away. He looked dashing even with his rumpled hair. Every time his hand reached to move into his hair, I would look at him. It was a habit of his when he was nervous.

As I stared at him more and more, all I could think was how someone like him could like me. The inferiority complex had gotten inside of me not deciding to leave now even when I had achieved so much in life. It wasn't always there but ever since Daniel it had developed with a progressing speed. He had made me feel like that, his family had made me feel like that. All those cruel words had taught me a lesson that I could never forget.

"What makes you think that we have ever accepted you?" Her words didn't make any sense. What was she trying to say?

"You were the best-kept secret," Josephine smiled with pure malice. All these months we had lived together I had never seen this side of her.

"Secret," I tried to make sense but all I got was nothing. "How come?" I asked with confusion enveloping me.

"Oh my dear, no one knows about you," she walked across the hall to the bar with my eyes fixed on her. I had been the one to serve her drinks, even after my marriage with Daniel I had always made them for her. She had sat there while I had always been standing. Suddenly the realization dawned on me that she had never considered me to be her equal. She had never considered me good enough to sit with her.

"How many people know that you are Daniel's wife?" Her question had me stare at her blankly.

"Count that for me, my dear," she persisted. "I bet you can count them with your ten fingers. I hope you know how to do that," her words felt like stab wounds in my self-esteem. I knew I didn't have a college degree. My grades weren't good. I had barely been able to make it to graduation but I didn't deserve such a degradation.

"I might not be that educated but I know the basics. If you had such low thoughts about me and my upbringing you should told me so," my lips trembled. "I wouldn't have become a part of this family," she laughed at my words.

"Family?" she teased. "Oh my dear, you were never a part of this family."

"You were so gullible and willing to do anything that I had to use you," she drawled as she took out something from one of the drawers.

"The only image we had taken of your marriage," I saw the picture in her hand. "Can you count the people in it," she crossed the expanse of the room to reach to me with one of her hands nursing her glass of whiskey.

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, and ten including you my dear. Court marriages are the best. I already knew that I would be throwing you out after Daniel's eyes opened up. So I had urged upon a court marriage with a handful of people to know about it. What a pity that no one besides these people will believe in your marriage, and five of them already hate you," she chuckled as tears welled in my eyes. I was hurting even though I didn't have the whole picture of what she was trying to say.