As soon as Olivia remembered she had no underwear on, she meant to get off the bed when she attempted to move to the side but that only made the back of Ethan's hand rub against her inner thigh.
He looked down at her and her lower body was exposed since the sides of her robe spread to the sides. With the robe knot still cinched at the deepest part of her waist, her hips curved outward more as his eyes traveled down her thighs.
He ran his hands along her inner thighs, then moved them away and towards her knees as he said, "You're still my wife."
With a mouth that hung open and hands holding onto the sheets on both sides, she raised her head and spoke in a shaky tone. "So what if I'm still your wife?"
Without saying another word to her, he applied some pressure to her knees, spread them apart, moved further back, then lowered his face between her legs.
She dropped her head on the bed and stared at the ceiling whenever she could keep her eyes open but for the most part, she had them shut at the sensation pulsating through her body.
That night, despite rejecting him earlier right before they had gone downstairs in Ms Hudson's mansion, she finally let herself indulge in the pleasure he would give her.
~
When Olivia opened her eyes the next morning, her skin felt lighter than usual and that made her look under the covers. As soon as she saw that she was naked, she dropped her head to the side to look at Ethan, but he wasn't there. She faced the ceiling and shut her eyes with a sigh, then sat up to run her hands on the back of her neck as she looked at the clothes on the floor.
Not even having been a minute since she woke up, she heard her phone vibrate from her purse so she wrapped the sheet around her body and reached for it.
When she saw the caller ID, it was her mother-in-law, which was unusual since she rarely called her. Wanting to know why she called her, she picked up, only to be yelled at and called a good for nothing daughter-in-law. After she belittled Olivia, she demanded to know why she didn't answer her phone during all the times she had been calling her.
Olivia chuckled while shaking her head, then first mentioned to her mother-in-law that she needed to stop calling her the same thing all the time and had she known she would be insulted, she wouldn't have picked up and if she had nothing important to say, she was going to hang up.
Her mother-in-law continued yelling, asking if Ethan was there and she couldn't get in touch with him the whole night because he left his phone at her house. It was why she had been calling Olivia but being the good for nothing daughter-in-law she was, she didn't bother to pick up and once again, proved to be useless.
"I didn't pick up because I was sleeping," she said.
"When I'm calling you, it doesn't matter if you're sleeping! You wake up and pick up my calls!" Ms Hudson yelled.
"Starting today, I'll never make the mistake of thinking you won't insult me."
"Where's Ethan?"
"I don't know," said Olivia, then hung up. She dropped her phone on the bed and paced around while looking outside the window.
The bathroom door creaked and she shut her eyes when she felt Ethan's presence. As the sound of his flip flops got louder with every step he took towards her, she stepped away from the window without looking at him and cleared her throat, as if to make herself busy.
"I see you're avoiding me," he said.
"Why would I do that?" she asked as she sat on the bed but without facing him.
"You know exactly why you would avoid me. Last night, you were s-"
"Your mother just called me," she said to cut his words.
Just when she said that, she finally looked at him and he was only with a towel covering his lower body. His wet hair was all clumped together and pushed back to reveal his striking features.
"Changing the subject? I see," he said, stroking his chin.
The fact that Ethan noticed right away didn't change anything. She continued to tell him about how his mother insulted and belittled her as usual, before asking about him.
Right when he heard that, he sighed heavily as he ran his hands through his wet hair to calm down, then focused on wearing one of his suits.
"My mother must be so upset," he said.
"Is that all you have to say?"
"I shouldn't have left my phone there."
"I just told you how she insulted me the moment I picked up and you're only concerned about how upset she could be? It's my mistake for expecting anything different."
Without saying a word to her, he was ready within a few minutes and hurried out of the mansion.
As he drove to his mother's house, he thought of different ways to explain himself to her.
When he arrived, the maid directed him to where his mother was and he took a deep breath when she glared at him.
"Good morning, mom."
"It's not such a good morning for me. Where did you go last night without saying a word and why did you leave your phone? That was irresponsible of you!"
She then mentioned how Olivia responded when she was asked where he was, and finished off talking about Olivia by insulting her.
"Anyway, I called Pete but his phone was off. Where were you?" she asked, crossing her arms on her chest.
"I..... I had gone home."
"Why did you go there?"
"To....sleep."
"Ethan!"
"Alright, I'll be honest. I was drunk and wanted to be with my wife."
She sighed. "Even after telling Olivia about the divorce, that good for nothing daughter-in-law has you right under her spell!"
"I only went to her because I was drunk. I'm sorry I didn't tell you."
It was enough to hear from him that he only went to Olivia because he was drunk. She let it go, then told him to have breakfast with Natalie.
Wanting to ease her disappointment because of how he had left the previous night. He headed to the dining table right away with her.
They both sat at the dining table, with his mother sitting at the head of it and he took the seat that was right next to hers.
As they waited for Natalie, his mother mentioned to him that Natalie might have been disappointed because he wasn't around the previous night and to make her feel better, he should bond with her during breakfast.
A few minutes later, Natalie walked in and when she saw Ethan, she started approaching him and as she did, he got up from his seat. When she reached him, she held onto his shoulders and kissed him on the cheek, telling him how she was glad he arrived right before she was about to have some breakfast and leave.
Ethan didn't know what to do or say in response, so he looked over at his mother and felt at ease when he saw her wide smile.
The three of them had breakfast together and Natalie told him about her interests and because his mother had suggested he bond with Natalie, he spoke about his interests as well.
Right in the middle of breakfast, he received a call from his secretary, giving him details on an important meeting he had that day. He needed to leave as soon as possible because he needed to pick up some documents which were back home.
Seeing that this was work related, his mother excused him and Natalie got up from her seat so she could hug him, but he was already on his way out and never looked back at her.
When he drove back home, he stopped in his tracks when he reached the living room. Olivia's suitcases were all there. He furrowed his eyebrows as he headed upstairs and when he entered the bedroom, he found her packing a smaller one.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"I'm leaving this house for good."
"But why?"
"You and I are getting a divorce."
"But we're still married."
"So what? Is that reason enough for me to stay? I can't live like this anymore and earlier, you showed me once again just how much you put your mother first, whether she's right or wrong."
Ethan burst into laughter while shaking his head then spoke with mockery. "I'll always put my mother first before anyone else. And you're leaving? Where will you go?"
"Are you forgetting that I own a house? It's currently vacant so I can move in. I also have some money in my bank account so don't mock me."
"Come on, you can't leave this beautiful mansion to go to that thing you call a house."
"I definitely can. By the way, last night only happened because I was drunk."
She then proceeded downstairs with her last suitcase and he didn't go after her. Instead, he searched for the documents he needed.
When he had them, he walked past her in the living room, then stood still as he changed the direction of his foot, as if to turn around to face her. In a similar way, she looked over her shoulder but didn't look at him. Instead, she faced the floor.
Despite that good start, which would have resulted in them speaking to each other, they both looked away and she headed back upstairs as he stepped out of the house to get to the office. It was the last time they were together in their home as a married couple.
~
After a few weeks of the two living apart, the divorce proceedings were underway and Ms Hudson pushed for it all to be over as soon as possible.
Despite making efforts to stay away from everyone who was close to Ethan, Olivia received an unexpected visitor one day, Pete, who brought her a huge bouquet of flowers to once again try to win her over.
Still standing by what she had told him, she rejected his flowers and asked him to take them back because she wanted nothing to do with him.
No matter how hard she tried to get him to leave, he didn't and left the flowers on a small table in the living room. They were so spread out that they covered more than just the middle part of the table.
Ethan was still unaware that Pete had been making advances towards Olivia and it seemed that he would never find out.
During all the time he was apart from Olivia, he focused on business and his mother had been setting up dates for him and Natalie. He still showed up to most of them and they all ended the same way, with Natalie suggesting they go to his house and spend the night together, only for Ethan to turn her down.
It didn't take long for the divorce papers to be ready and Ethan planned to serve them to Olivia himself.
When he arrived at her house, he found it embarrassing that the person he was once married to lived in such a house, which was far from looking like one of his mansions.
When he rang the doorbell and she opened the door, he tilted his head while scanning her body and said, "What happened to you?"
"I'm not sure what you're talking about so just give me those papers if they are what I think they are," she said, pointing at the papers she could see.
He snapped out of it, blankly stared at her and handed her the divorce papers and spoke in an arrogant tone as he said, "Sign them."
With a scoff, she took them from him, set them on the table and signed them right away. As he watched her do it, his blank expression changed as his forehead creased for a moment, then soon returned to the same blank expression.
When she was done, she sighed with relief and smiled at him as she expressed her joy of getting even closer to freedom.
They blankly stared at each other for a few seconds and then he walked out of the house without speaking to her. He clenched his jaw and walked faster, trying not to squeeze the papers she had just signed.
~
Not too long after that, the divorce was granted and they were now in no way connected to each other, which gave Ms Hudson the green light to push further for Natalie and Ethan's wedding.
Olivia, now a free young woman, believed she would never see Ethan again and even had plans of leaving town when she would have some money.
As she was looking up different houses in different towns on her computer, the doorbell rang and when she opened the door, Ethan was right there with a small bag in his hand.
"Not you again," she said as she rolled her eyes. "What do you want?"
"Trust me when I say that I don't even want to be here. I just came to drop these off," he said as he dangled the bag in her face.
"It's the shoes you bought for me before we got married. You should've sent someone else to drop them off."
"Is that your way of insinuating I used these shoes to see you? Don't think too much of yourself. I just don't want any of your stuff in my house. I could've thrown them in the trash if I wanted to, but these shoes are the one thing that cost more than what could be the value of this house. How about you sell them and make some money?"
Having heard enough, she narrowed her eyes and pointed at him to respond but right before she could, she groaned and placed her hand on her forehead.
He frowned and got closer, asking if she was alright but couldn't get a response because right then, she passed out. After failed attempts to wake her up, he called their family doctor.
Later, Olivia opened her eyes when the doctor had just finished examining her and she looked at the doctor with a puzzled expression because she wondered why she was in her house. She then looked over at Ethan who was standing on the other side of the bed.
"Hello, doctor, what happened?" asked Olivia.
"Your husband called me after you passed out," the doctor said.
"He's not my husband anymore," Olivia said.
"Oh, I see," said the doctor. "You opened your eyes right before I could break the news to Mr Hudson."
"What news?" Ethan and Olivia asked at the same time.
"Congratulations! You're pregnant!"
It should've been a new start for Olivia without Ethan in her life, and a new start for Ethan as he fulfilled his mother's wish to marry Natalie. Now with a baby on the way, they both looked at each other with eyes that were characterized by confusion.