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Exes' Baggage And More

Tác giả:

Chương 1: Chapter One

Macy Bianca Cruz, a thirty-three-year-old woman, has a perfect life. Or so she or probably everyone who knows her thought. She has a handsome husband, Ken Reyes, and a son who has just turned five, Marcus Kennedy Reyes. Macy, as she is from one of the well-off families, and her family live in an exclusive and high-end apartment. Aside from her perfect personal life that everyone will surely kill to have it, she also succeeds professionally. She has a fairly well-established job as editor-in-chief of a publishing company. She also has good friends. Macy is happy and content with her life now.

But no, that’s just not true. Like an illusion and fantasy. A happy life for her is like a fairy tale. Like one of the books she handled in years in her position as editor-in-chief, too perfect, too mainstream, and too fictional.She couldn't handle her marriage with Ken anymore. And the enlarged conflicts between them led them to the divorce.

Currently, Macy is in a lawyer's office with an interior that looks minimalist but elegant with a predominance of black and red. The soft sofa covered in black leather with a little red outline felt so awkward for him. It was never in her life that Macy dreamed of visiting a lawyer's office like this.

Macy let out a short sigh as she looked at the documents her lawyer gave her. The corner of her eyes looked black and her face looked pale and tired. She grabbed the document and read it. Macy could see that the document was signed. No matter how many times she denied it, it was clearly on the paper.

Macy glanced at the lawyer who was her senior at the university – Hani Kim. "When did he sign it?"

"He signed it yesterday. When I came to Lawyer Kaye's office, he was there too. He even signed it in front of me," Hani answered.

Macy took a deep breath and looked back at the document. She didn't deny that her life was completely in a mess and ruined. It’s just that, what is happening now is far from what she envisions to have.

Hani who was watching Macy could see that the woman's hands were shaking, but from the expression on her face, Macy looked so calm. She just looked exhausted.

Well, who wouldn’t be when you have to take care of a divorce and are busy with some important work, plus you have a son who won’t have a complete family the society dictates from now on because the divorce process has been finalized?

Macy was exhausted physically as well as mentally. After all, it's been almost two months. However, this divorce case did not end after Macy signed the document. There is still the issue of custody of Marcus, Macy's son with her husband – or Hani can call him now an ex-husband of her friend – which will be difficult.

If only Ken could easily give custody of their son to Macy, then they just needed to arrange some conditions for co-parenting. However, if Ken insisted on asking for custody, then, Macy would still have to go back and forth to court for three months – that was the minimum. And Hani plans to quickly solve Macy's problem so she can live her life again.

Hani then handed a pen to Macy. "Sign where I marked."

Macy glanced at the pen and grabbed it. Without delaying any further, she signed the document and handed it back to her lawyer again – along with the pen. "When is the next trial? About Marcus’ custody."

"I think two or three weeks. I'll call you, don’t worry," Hani said while checking the document thoroughly, making sure that Macy signed all the parts she marked and needed. "You're going back to the office?" the lawyer asked afterward.

Macy shook her head. "No. I have to go to the clinic first.”

“To check your condition? Your face looks very pale. Can you drive yourself? I can take you there if you don’t.” Hani then offered while looking at her friend worriedly.

But Macy smiled faintly, indicating that she is rejecting the offer. "I’ll just take a taxi. I will need a parking space though since I will leave my car here. You’ll lend me yours, right?” She pauses.

”Don't worry like that, Hani. I will just go to the clinic to take Marcus’ medicine. And… thanks for everything,”

Hani sighed in frustration. She stood up and walked to her desk to keep Macy's divorce documents in one of her desk drawers. "I'll take you to the clinic and then to the office."

"But..."

“No buts, Macy Bianca. Besides, you need to see a doctor. Just to check your condition. Maybe you can ask for vitamins or something," Hani insisted as she took her car keys and cellphone.

Macy stood up from the comfortable sofa planning to run away before Hani forced her to leave. However, the lawyer sensed it and moved quickly to approach Macy and grabbed her wrist. “You may be able to dodge for these two months, but not now. Follow the words of your senior as well as your lawyer, Macy." Hani isn’t the type of person who will use her profession and her seniority to get what she wants. She actually loathes those kinds of people, but her friend clearly needs it.

Macy, having left with no choice, could only groan in annoyance.

*****

"Isn't this too big for you?"

Andrew's brow furrowed as he looked around his new apartment area. The living room is indeed quite spacious but that's because it is directly connected to the kitchen area – only separated by a dining table with four chairs. In addition, there are only two rooms. One room with a larger size with a bathroom that has been converted into a wardrobe room – usually the main room – while the other room becomes his bedroom. The area of this apartment is not even as large as the apartment he has in Singapore. But most importantly, Andrew doesn't have to bother arranging the interior of his apartment.

It hasn't been a week since Andrew came to Manila after he spent about fifteen months in Singapore. And when he decided to move to Manila, Andrew gave a condition that when he arrived, his apartment was ready for occupancy. He doesn’t want to bother himself with looking for an apartment by himself in the flesh and get stuck in a hotel room while looking for a suitable apartment. It’s a waste of time for him. He only needs to bring some suitcases and several large boxes containing his personal belongings.

Well, David did pretty well. Even though he's now complaining to Andrew about the size of the apartment.

Andrew then snorted. “Are you commenting like that so you can stay here too? Don't even dare to dream about it, David Lee!"

"Hey, I didn't mean that. But because you only live alone, it feels too spacious," said David who took a seat on the sofa. He glanced at the window where all he could see were other skyscrapers.

Andrew walked to the kitchen area. He opened the refrigerator door and found that it was already filled with some groceries and drinks. He smirked then took out two soda cans as he decided that it's still too early for a beer.

"But my apartment in Singapore is bigger than this," he said as he returned to the living room.

Andrew handed a can of soda to David. “And to be honest, of the five apartment buildings you recommended to me, this is the only one I think is the quietest. On one floor there are only four units.”

David took the soda can and sighed.

“Your apartment in Singapore also includes your studio. If you want the same thing, I can find another location. Maybe the Makati area. Even though the price can be more expensive than this," David suggested as he opened the soda can.

Andrew shook his head. "That's not necessary. This is good enough. I just hope that my neighbors aren't noisy.”

David sipped the soda slowly. "Why? Have you started any other projects yet?” he asked as he placed the soda can on the coffee table. “It's only been six months since your last project launched, hasn't it? Usually you give yourself almost a year's lag before you start again. Any special reasons?”

Andrew took a sip of his soda and leaned his back against the back of the sofa. He breathed slowly. His hand was still tightly gripping the can of soda which was still cold on the surface of his palm. “No apparent reason. Just suddenly getting inspired to start a new one.”

David's brow furrowed. This is an unusual occurrence. Usually, Andrew is very difficult to find inspiration for his latest project, but this is the fastest record. But he decided to just shrug it off. "It's up to you. You are more involved in the creative process. Oh yeah, you have to go to the publisher's office."

"When?"

"Tomorrow? I might be able to reset the time to the day after tomorrow or whenever you want if you're still tired. You also need to look at the location for your studio, don't you?"

Andrew took another sip of his soda and mumbled. "Tomorrow. I don't want to delay any longer. This is for the previous three projects? I'm surprised they're only interested now compared to two years ago when I released it."

David glanced at him and snorted. "Don't be big-headed. Even though your three books are selling well in some countries, it doesn't mean that planning a release in other countries is easy to do. The publisher here just got a printing permit from CR Publisher. If you want to leave tomorrow, I'll contact the publisher."

"Uhm..."

David then stood up and looked at Andrew closely. "I'll call you later. Take it easy."

The man just nodded at David who is by the way his literary agent and cousin. Since Andrew started his career as a writer five years ago, David has helped him a lot to get his books published and published. I don't know where his cousin has connections with people in the publishing world. But because of his help, Andrew's name became one of the most famous novelists.

Andrew stood up and took David to the foyer. He leaned against the wall as his agent is wearing his shoes. He finished his soda before asking, “Oh yeah, what's the name of the publisher here? And the name of the editor?”

David raised his head. “St. Haven Publishing. Didn't I give you the business card of the person in charge of your novel?”

"Is that true? I seem to have forgotten where I placed it.”

His agent snorted. “Look in the business card folder. Usually, you just save it without seeing any information on the business card.”

Andrew nodded then muttered goodbye to David. After the door closed again, he walked back in. He put the soda can on the coffee table before he went to his room.

Andrew took his bag and looked for the name card folder. After finding it, he immediately looked for St. Haven Publishing. That's if David really gave it to him.

Andrew sighed softly when he found the business card. Indeed, his agent knows him best.

“St. Haven Publishing? What kind of person calls his company like that?” he muttered softly.

Then Andrew focused on the names of the editors in charge of the three novels to be published.

"Macy Bianca Cruz..."

*****

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