章 1: Let's Get Divorced
"Let's get divorced."
Ashley felt relief once she said these words. After almost five years of marriage, she finally had the confidence to utter these words to her husband.
Nathan Li, her husband stared at her with his usual stoic face. His next word shattered her excitement. "Don't be playful, Ashley. I'm working."
"I'm not joking. I'm serious. I want a divorce." The man ignored her. Ashley hated that. She hated when he brushed off her words like they meant nothing. He had been doing so for many years.
"Nathan!"
The man looked back up at her, his dark blue eyes staring intently into her grey ones. "If you're going to divorce me after only a few years of marriage, why did you marry me in the first place?" The man then went back to his work, leaving Ashley in a trance.
He was right
Why did she marry him
Ashley Scott and Nathan Li's marriage was all over the news when it occurred. It was a grand wedding between the Scott family's only child and the Li family's heir. The wedding was mostly talked about because the Scott and Li families were two off the most powerful elite families in the world.
And besides, who didn't know Ashley Scott: one of the best novelists in the world. If one wouldn't know her, then the name Nathan Li was known worldwide. He was the heir to the Li family and CEO of Li Corp, one of the biggest companies in the world.
Ashley still remembered the reason why she married Nathan. And that reason was her mother. Leticia Scott, the head of the Scotts and chairman of Horizon Group, was known for managing the Scott Estate and business with an iron fist.
Leticia was a single mother. It was said that Leticia, after disappearing for three years, appeared at the Scott manor- Velvet Gardens-with a bulging belly at the age of twenty-nine. After two months, she had a little girl and named her Ashley.
Four years later, the head of the Scotts, Caleb Scott died of liver failure making Leticia, his only daughter, the head of the Scotts. Under Leticia's lead, the Scott business soared higher than before. The woman was strict to both outsiders and her family excluding her only daughter.
Only a few people in the family knew of the reason why Ashley married Nathan. Leticia wanted power and in order to get that power, she had to corporate with Li Corp which had more influence than Horizon Group. The best way to do that was for the two families to get together. And that was through marriage.
Leticia had wanted Ashley to marry Luther which Ashley disagreed to. Hence, she was given two options: either she married Nathan or she watched her lover die. Ashley knew her mother very well. Leticia was cruel enough to end an entire family let alone a measly man's life. Without a second thought, Ashley chose to marry Nathan.
She did not love him; he did not love her. In fact, once they were away from the public eye, he ignored her presence. Nathan was cold and unfeeling towards everyone and everything, that Ashley knew. However, not being able to receive any emotion from one's husband would hurt any woman.
Ashley did not expect to receive any love from her husband but she couldn't stand his indifference toward her. After almost five years of marriage, Ashley was tired. She needed a break, an end to this. She didn't care about her mother's thoughts anymore. She just wanted to be free.
….
Ashley lay on the bed in her silk nightwear, her gaze on the ceiling but her mind elsewhere. She remembered the memories of the past.
When she had married Nathan, she was anxious. At that time, Ashley had deep hatred for her mother for marrying her off to a man she had never met. When she first saw Nathan, once he had taken of the veil during the wedding ceremony, he stared at her with a dark gaze, a look of apathy splashed all over his face. With the pastor's words, he did as he was told-he kissed the bride.
It was a stiff kiss. One without any emotion. Ashley felt his cold, thin lips on hers for a few moments before he moved away. The next thing she heard was a loud applause.
After they had moved to their marital home, a huge villa in Princeton Hills, located in the South of Washington, Nathan continued to be indifferent towards her. It was only in the night he spoke to her and that was when performing their marital duties.
That night, Ashley felt no passion. Their intimacy was as plain as the emotions they had for each other. To him, it was a duty; a duty to produce his successor and to her, it was the only way to save the one she loved.
The door swung open, pulling Ashley out of her reverie. Nathan walked into the room and towards the bathroom. Ashley's gaze followed his figure. When he came back out, Ashley was sitting at the foot of the bed with her glasses on. Nathan continued to clean out the water droplets in his hair. Just as he walked towards the closet, his gaze landed on a few papers on the bed.
He immediately picked them up. His brows furrowed with every word he read. "What is the meaning of this?", he asked, unconcealed sternness in his tone.
"I meant it when I said I want a divorce., Nathan.", Ashley said softly.
She then watched as the man ripped up the papers. To Ashley, it was an unbearable sight. He reacted this way every time. He reacted this way every time she expressed herself. He always thought of her words as frivolous and that irritated her.
"How dare you!" Fury was drawn all over her face. "I'm not joking when I say I want to divorce you. I hate this marriage. I hate everything related to you and most of all, I hate you!"
Nathan kept a straight face throughout, his eyes flashing with nonchalance.
"We're not getting divorced."
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