Arranged... With Love...

29. Annulment

Standing in front of the family court, Cade was having mixed feelings. He never expected his marriage to end so soon on the day he got married.

"Khun Cade, let's go in, " His lawyer tapped his shoulder.

Cade nodded and walked into the court with his lawyer.

He saw that Raya and his lawyer had already arrived before him.

Cade settled on a seat that was a bit far from Raya's he had no intentions of interacting with his soon-to-be ex-husband.

Raya saw that Cade had arrived and wanted to approach him. He was genuinely worried about the younger guy.

After that night in Busan, Cade had refused to talk to him. In the rest of the days they spent in Busan, Cade had avoided him at all costs. He too didn't try to force Cade to talk to him.

"Case number thirty-seven" The announcement was heard.

Raya and Cade entered the chamber with their respective lawyers. Since it was an annulment of mutual consent, there was actually no need for their lawyers to stay in the same room. Once the papers were placed in front of the judge, the lawyers left the room.

The couple sat across the table from the judge who was in charge of granting the annulment.

The judge flipped through the papers and raised his head to look at the couple in front of him. "You want to annul your marriage?"

The couple nodded.

" That too just after two weeks of marriage?"

The couple nodded again.

"May I know the reason why you want an annulment? " The judge asked.

"Neither of us is willing to stay in this marriage, Sir. " Raya answered.

" I am asking you for the reason behind such a decision, Khun Tinrat. "

" He is unwilling to part ways with his girlfriend. I have submitted evidence of his infidelity in the days after marriage as well, Khrab. " Cade pointed to the bunch of documents his lawyer had submitted to the judge.

The judge took a look at the documents and raised his head again to look at the couple. " I am sorry to inform you that your marriage doesn't fulfill the criteria for annulment. You two can't file for an annulment. "

"Why? " Cade felt himself losing control over his emotions. As much as he wanted to save his marriage, he knew that splitting ways with Raya was a better option for him.

"As I just told you your marriage doesn't meet the categories of marriages that are eligible for getting an annulment. " The judge repeated. "The criteria for the voidable marriage are age, mistaken identity, fraud, or force. Neither of you have submitted anything that shows signs of any four of these criteria."

"But I have-"

"Khun Rewat, I understand your emotions. " The judge in a calm voice. "But the woman who is allegedly in a relationship with your husband is asexual. Which means, she is unable to be romantically or sexually involved with anyone. Having a relationship with such a person can only be considered a platonic relationship and nothing more. Hence, it can't be defined as adultery or fraud to be used as a reason for divorce."

Cade was shocked by the new piece of information. He looked at Raya accusingly.

Raya never thought that Helly's sexuality would be brought up by the judge. He had indeed not informed Cade of Helly's sexuality as he felt that it was not right to publicize it without her consent.   

The judge could read the expressions on the couple's face. "If both of you are completely unwilling to stay together that much, I would suggest that you two should apply for a divorce instead. You are allowed to file for a divorce after six months of your marriage. As you both are willing parties in the divorce, there might not be much problem with the separation. But there is one condition that you two might have to fulfill."

"What condition, Khrab?" Raya asked.

"Condition that both of you will have to live under one roof. I know both of you might be unwilling for this. But I am advising you to do it so that the divorce process ends faster. Due to the increasing number of divorces, many new marital laws are being set up to bring down the numbers." The judge answered.

"What happens if we don't live together?" Raya questioned.

"If you are living apart and you are applying for a divorce, it might take long time to finish the procedures. Normally, you will have summons, service, response, trial, interim orders and final orders. But in the cases of newlyweds like you two, the marriage counselling and stuff would take a long time. I hope that two of you would think like mature adults and make a decision about your marriage." The judge looked at the two young men before him alternatively.

"You two can go now." He pressed the busser to let the staff announce the next number.

As they walked out of the court house, both Cade and Raya were silent. 

Just as they were approaching their lawyers, Cade turned to Raya. "You did it on purpose, didn't you?"

"Did what on purpose?" Raya frowned at the question.

"Revealing your girlfriend's sexuality. There is no way the judge would have gone and found out about her, right? Did you submit it along the other details you provided?" Cade crossed his arms across his chest and glared at his husband. 

"No! I did not!" Raya denied. Even if he wanted to stop the marriage from being annulled, he would never drop to this extent.

"Oh, really? Then who else did?" Cade was thoroughly pissed.

"I did it, Hia," A familiar voice made the couple turn around.

Seeing the person standing before him, Cade laughed in anger. "I don't know how I even thought that you would be different from rest of your family, Few. You really opened my eyes today. You proved to me that you have the blood of Jampatom family running through your veins. Such a bunch of selfish people who would do anything to get what they want, no matter how bad the consequences of their actions on others are."

Few lowered his head in shame. He was indeed selfish. He didn't want Cade and Raya to split ways just like that. 

He knew the reality of Raya and Helly's relationship. Their relationship was an empty shell that looked pretty from outside. Despite having thoughts that his brother could have handled the situation in a better way, he somewhat understood the older guy. His brother was a very loyal person and disliked hurting other. It wasn't difficult for him to realize how suffocated Raya must be feeling in a situation that caused a lot of hurt to Cade. He wanted to help Raya out in every way possible.

He badly wanted Cade and Raya to give themselves and their relationship a chance. He was sure that they could make it work as long as their misunderstandings are cleared.

✨✨✨

Please don't curse at me for not going ahead with the annulment. This is a story about their marriage and of course they wouldn't split so easily.

This is a fiction and a lot of the things mentioned above are from my fragments of imagination. I did do my research about marital laws in Thailand. But I have added my on flavors so that the story is cooked to my taste.