Capítulo 12: Breaking Up on One Condition
Disaster was what Kai expected to happen when Aria showed up and spoke.
He had been dreading facing reality before going back home that night. He was not ready to get yet another dose of headaches and heartaches.
For the past several weeks, the cold looks, cutting words, and continuous blame had waved Kai goodbye through the front door. 'You're still with me, and that's the problem,' he remembered Aria say before like it was just yesterday, and while he pretended to be unaffected at the time, he knew that did the deed.
'I'm done. I've had enough.'
Things had gotten worse when the company started raising demands. Kai gave it his all, but Aria was never there for him. He would return late at night, and she would appear early in the afternoon. Kai and Aria never got a chance to talk things out.
It was odd and painful to witness the woman he had once trusted so much give up on him. By this point, though, Kai was too numb to react. All he could do was shrug away the worries that were plaguing his mind.
Soon after his grandparents' anniversary, Kai settled with how Aria wanted things to be.
His wife would demand his signature on the appalling divorce papers, and he would stand there unstable like a weak tree surrounded by her violent winds. As usual, he took the problem and tossed it to the back of his head. He closed his eyes, pretended it was a nightmare, and ignored everything else. It worked more often than not, but not this time.
Kai turned to find Aria in a plain black evening dress.
It was the same thing she had worn when they last slept in the same room, but she clearly didn't remember or care. The feeling of nostalgia stabbed him in the heart, causing him to frown.
The glare Aria wore, frankly, made Kai feel scared.
Admittedly, a part of him was still confused. Her scorching gaze lit up something inside of him, and it reminded him that she managed to turn the scariest expressions into beautiful ones. And honestly, that worried him.
'I was sure as I could be. I knew I was over her.' Yet, the feeling of longing that Kai would get whenever he saw Aria lulled him into a sense of false belongingness.
He had tried to believe that he belonged with her. But perhaps, he only craved to be that way to anyone – to be a person someone actually needed. Life had gone empty for him again since she began showing changes. Nevertheless, he decided not to make any rushed decision tonight.
"I'm tired, Aria. I'm heading to bed."
---
Tired as usual.
Kai was using that as a poor excuse again. Aria couldn't be any more exasperated.
She refused to give him another free pass, and so, she took a deep breath as she readied her words, careful not to let the shakiness in her voice show. "You always say that."
He tilted his head slightly, and with an expression she couldn't quite place, asked her gently, "What happened to you, Aria?"
For a moment, his voice soothed her, causing her to hesitate before looking into his eyes, that pair of honey-gold she used to get lost in, and she could tell that the now-hollow orbs called for her with a pleading look, one that said, 'Don't give up on me. Not yet.'
However, she hardened both her expression and her resolve. 'I'm sorry. We're much better off without each other, Kai.' And so, she shook her head in disapproval.
Aria wasn't going to let Kai suffer any longer. "I'm doing you a favor, just so you know."
Kai looked at her through squinted eyes, then scoffed and turned to march out of there. Just as Aria opened her mouth to demand his signature again, she found her vision getting blurry.
'You're making this harder for both of us,' she lamented, quickly blinking the tears away before he could notice them.
Aria felt like a caged animal in an empty zoo. She was stuck in the indefinite maze of her husband's mind with no way out. Aria couldn't quite tell what she had to do.
'You'd look at me like I'm the only obstacle in your life, but when I gave you a chance to cut me off completely, you'd run away like a coward again and again.'
Aria wiped her eyes with trembling hands, making sure to keep the tears that threatened to fall stay inside. 'Another day. Another delay.' She walked back to her room, but before she could step inside, she heard Kai call from behind her.
"I'll sign," he said with an unsmiling expression, finally conceding. "But on one condition."
Aria's eyes widened. "What?"
"For the last time," he trailed off briefly, taking a deep breath before continuing, "Sleep with me."
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