Ex husband's Plea for Forgiveness

It was a quiet restaurant in a relatively remote location, so it was private which was what Emily was looking for since she had
become quite popular of late.
If it weren't for the demands of the team that she was working with, she would have liked to advertise how she and Jonas were
doing so well together.
Since Jonas was a member of the restaurant, he had arranged for a private room in advance for Melinda and even gone a step
further and ordered many of the dishes that she liked.
Both Melinda and Jonas arrived at the restaurant early, but they had not expected that Emily would have arrived earlier than both
of them. As soon as Jonas entered the restaurant, he was guided to the room where Emily was occupying.
"Go ahead, I'll wait for you in our room."
Melinda smiled at Jonas and then asked a waiter to lead her to the room that Jonas had booked. Coincidentally, their rooms
were next to each other.
It was not until Jonas saw Melinda get into the room that he pushed open the door of the next room. As soon as Jonas walked in,
Emily, who had been applying a touch of lipstick and trying to make sure that her make-up was on point, hurriedly packed up her
things, and straightened up her clothes, revealing her perfect ensemble. Emily had dressed up with a lot of care, and every item
of clothing was strategically chosen to make her look irresistible.
"Jonas, here you are."
With a bright smile, Emily walked up to Jonas and tried to guide him to their seat by the arm, but Jonas sidestepped her actions
and she grabbed on to air. To cover her embarrassment, Emily swiftly turned to the waiter at the door as if that was what she had
intended to do all along. "Serve the dishes now."
The waiter left and closed the door behind him discreetly. Jonas pulled his tie and sat down at a position closest to the door and
furthest from Emily's seat, as if he was ready for flight.
Emily picked up the red wine on the table and poured two glasses for each of them. "This is your favorite wine. I have been
keeping it for a long time, so today I came here in advance so that I could open it since this is just the right time to drink it. Have
a try."
Jonas took the glass from her but put it back on the table, leaving it untouched.

"Jonas, are you angry with me for some reason?" Emily asked cautiously.
She thought that Jonas accepting to meet her at the restaurant was an indication that he had forgiven her and was willing to
forget what had happened. However, the way things were developing, nothing was happening as the way she had expected.
"No."
"Jonas, I want to thank you for helping me. I propose a toast to you."
While speaking, Emily drank up the red wine and started producing a guttural sound, coughing incessantly with tears filling her
eyes until she took a sip of water. Seeming to have no care in the world or at Emily's distress, Jonas sat there disinterested.
"Emily, this is the last thing I am doing for you. Never contact me again from now on."
Jonas still remembered that he had agreed to meet Emily specifically to break up with her. When Emily heard his words, her face
went pale and her hands shook violently as if the wine glass had suddenly become hot.
"Jonas, are... are you kidding me?"
"Do I look like I am joking with you?"
Not at all. That was why Emily was so scared.
"Jonas, we've been friends for so many years. How can you break up with me so easily like a discarded piece of tissue? Did you
forget the deal we made when we were young? I have patiently waited for you. Even when you were forced to marry someone
else, I never blamed you. I just assumed that as long as we were together for the rest of our lives, it did not matter. Even if I am
just your lover, I would accept my position for the sake of our love. What has now changed? How could you be so heartless?"
The more Emily talked the more she felt her heart getting heavier. It felt as if someone was squeezing it with a grip of steel. She
suddenly burst into bitter tears as her heart shattered into tiny little pieces.
"Jonas, don't cut off contact with me, okay? I won't contact you. But, if you're in a bad mood and need someone to talk to, if
you're in any kind trouble or if you miss me, you can always call me."
She was unwilling to accept such a final decision. Jonas decided to cut off contact with her for the sake of keeping Melinda
happy!

So she began to convince him the only way she knew how. She began by reminding him of their childhood agreement and how
much she had sacrificed for him, hoping that the guilt would make him change his mind. Every time when they had a
disagreement, and she mentioned their agreement, Jonas would be softhearted and hesitate over any decision he had earlier
made.
Jonas did get softhearted and for a while it seemed as if her strategy had worked. Whatever had happened was all good while it
lasted, but that was just it. It was all in the past. Emily's words reminded him of a woman who had loved him unconditionally for
so many years and suffered such humiliation in silence.
At the thought of Melinda, Jonas's face softened and a rarely seen sweet smile appeared on his face. While Emily was busy
celebrating, he turned to concentrate on what they were talking about and she realized that there was no emotion in Jonas's
eyes.
"Emily, this is the last time I am going out of my way to help you. As long as you make good use of this opportunity, your position
in the entertainment circle will not be affected. I hope you will not try to contact me in the future. Otherwise my wife will not be
very happy with our interaction."
As soon as Jonas finished his short speech, which seemed as if he had rehearsed for a few hours, he stood up from his seat.
Just then, the door of the private room was pushed open, and the waiter began to serve the dishes.
"This is my treat for today. My wife is waiting for me, so unfortunately I can't accompany you further. I have to go."
Jonas finished his statement, turned around and left without waiting for any response from Emily, who was still shocked at the
new Jonas who was apologetically ending their years of close contact. Because they had cut off ties from each other, he didn't
even bother to be polite and say goodbye.
They had booked a room next to Emily's for dinner and it was quite convenient since Melinda didn't have to ask Jonas much
about how the meeting went. Melinda had overheard some gossip from the waiters when she passed by their work station on her
way to the washroom.
The moment the two returned home, Nelson was out pacing in the foyer, anxiously waiting for them. As soon as the car door
opened, he was at the door shooting questions at Jonas, trying to get a feel of how the meeting had turned out. He seemed
relieved when he realized that Jonas had cut off contact with Emily and their unhealthy relationship.
"Jonas, now that work at the company has kind of slowed down, why don't you take a break since you have been putting in so
many hours and take Melinda with you for a holiday?" advised Nelson.

Nelson waited for the right time when Melinda wasn't around to lowly speak to his grandson. He worried that his grandson wasn't
intelligent to come with ways of mending their relationship and get Melinda to forgive him.
Jonas thought the idea was a wonderful means to get closer to his wife and began to think of exotic places they could both visit.
He then reorganized his work and tackled the most urgent while pushing the dates for those that didn't need immediate attention
so that he could get a few extra days for the trip.
He also organized for someone to get an exit visa for Melinda but kept it as a secret hoping to give it as a surprise.
A week passed by like a blur from the day he organized everything for their travel. Melinda on the other hand was oblivious of all
the activities that were going on. She was purely focused on her writing and therefore didn't notice anything unusual.
"Mellie, do you have a specific country you like or have ever thought of visiting?" Jonas asked.
While organizing for their trip together, he had come to the realization that he knew nothing about Melinda's likes and dislikes. He
blamed himself for not caring enough about Melinda.
"I don't like any particular country. Our country is great and good enough for me."
Melinda didn't know why Jonas was asking such weird questions, but she gave him the most truthful answer she could master,
which frustrated Jonas. It seemed that getting information from her was like trying to get water from a rock.
"Do you have any specific place in mind that you would like to go?" asked Jonas once again.
Melinda took her time and put down what she holding in her hand, and then turned wide eyed at him, in confusion. She had
made a guess of what he was talking about but didn't want to speak out her suspicions.
"Jonas, what on earth are you talking about?"
It was really hard for Jonas to express himself since he had a low emotional intelligence and he had assumed that the question
would be obvious.
"I applied for a visa for you and me. I have a well-deserved long vacation days coming up in two days. Let's travel together.
Besides, don't writers like traveling as part of their research?"
Once he noticed that Melinda was aware of his plans, Jonas didn't bother beating around the bush, but spoke out his thoughts.
Melinda was a little surprised to hear him come up with such a detailed plan within such a short time.

"Never mind, I don't want to go."
She turned him down without bothering to give him an explanation. Jonas didn't expect that Melinda would treat his proposal like
a pest without even giving it any consideration.
"Mellie, I have prepared everything."
'So, don't be so heartless,' he thought, feeling dejected. He had been busy, leaving home early in the morning and returning late
in the evening so as to prepare for this trip. If they couldn't go, he would be really sad and disappointed.
"You can go alone. I don't have to accompany you,"
Melinda said sincerely, feeling a bit pressurized. Jonas was speechless for a moment since he had not envisioned such an
outcome.
During dinner time, Jonas brought up the issue again, knowing very well that his grandfather would support him. Nelson tried to
persuade Melinda into going with Jonas after he learnt that she wasn't willing to go.
"Mellie, you are a young person and young people should go out more often. It's rare that Jonas makes time and clears his
schedule for a holiday. Why don't you just go with him?"
"Grandpa, I don't want to go out."
Melinda liked this kind of undisturbed peaceful life very much, and she didn't want to disrupt it, especially considering that she
was uncertain about her feelings for Jonas.
"Why do you keep staying at home like an old man at such a young age? I don't think it's a good idea. You can consider the
holiday as the honeymoon that you never had. I am getting old now and can't go for such long distance, so you should take more
photos and send them to me," Nelson added.
He tried to negotiate and convince her into going for the trip, while also making obscure requests as a tactic to guilt trip her into
doing his bidding. Melinda knew that if she refused, Nelson still had a lot of words in his arsenal, just waiting to convince her to
do as he wanted.
She nodded in agreement, tired of listening to him say the same thing in different variations.

Jonas still had no idea of the exact place that they were going, and his attempts at picking Melinda's brain had been a
spectacular failure since she was very indifferent to his arrangements. Jonas therefore decided to pick one of the novels written
by Melinda and read it all night long trying to figure out one of her favorite places. He finally came across a place that she kept
repeating regularly, so he settled on Mauritius as their first destination.
The luggage was all prepared by Jonas. Melinda felt a little embarrassed that she hadn't done much to help so she decided to
sort out their luggage in person.
For some things, Jonas decided to buy locally. Anyway, they had sufficient time on their hands. This time he had only one
purpose, to make Melinda happy.
Mauritius, Melinda was shocked that they were there since she had only seen the country in the movies. She had been quite
interested in their customs and culture when she was writing her last novel.
She had thought that Jonas would arrange for a trip in places like Paris, or New York, but she hadn't expected that it would in
that country.
When she jokingly expressed her thoughts to Jonas, he took her suggestions into consideration and replied, "If you like them, we
can go there next. I had asked if you had any preferences, but you didn't tell me, so I went to one of your novels and looked up a
country that you had talked about."
Melinda was deeply touched by the love, care and details that Jonas had obviously put into organizing for their trip. Being cared
and loved by others made her feel happy and contented.
There were many people who were of African descent living in the country. Their first stop was Port Louis, which was the capital
city of Mauritius. Surrounded by mountains giving it a dazzling natural beauty, it was a natural port. It was situated at the Indian
Ocean on the East Coast of the African Continent, and Melinda could feel the culture of the country oozing from the city.
Apparently, Jonas had done a lot of research and kept giving tit bits of information to Melinda about every location they visited. At
night, he took her to the seaside to enjoy the breeze.
Melinda wore a light floral skirt while Jonas also wore a casual shirt and shorts which was a very rare outfit for him although he
looked very relaxed and handsome. He even prepared the same kind of sunglasses for himself and Melinda.
There were a lot of people on the beach, so Jonas held Melinda's hand tightly as if he was scared she would get lost in the
crowd. He kept whispering information to her, telling her what he had read about the country in a low voice. Melinda suddenly

turned around, her ears a little red.
When Jonas turned to look at what had given her that interesting reaction, he noticed a couple kissing passionately on the beach
not far from where they were standing.
"Mellie,"
Jonas spoke in a husky deep voice. Hearing his flirtatious voice, Melinda curiously looked up at him and was met by a pair of
warm lips, a welcome contrast to the breeze blowing from the ocean. She slowly closed her eyes savoring the taste of his lips as
she also responded timidly to his kiss.
This was a positive sign for Jonas. At least she hadn't pushed him away.
The day was peaceful and nice.