His Wife (A Contract Marriage Story) by Heer Mangtani

Chapter 65
I didn’t think the call would be picked up. A part of me didn’t want it to be, because what if the reality was worse than my
overthinking?
When the phone stopped ringing, there was silence on the other end. I had to check to confirm that the call had been picked up
before pressing it back to my ear real quick. “Hello? Gabriel?”
Silence again.
My heart was beating so loudly, I felt it would make its way out of my body any moment. “Hello?”
Silence again.
“Mhm.” A sleepy groggy voice answered, “Who’s speaking?”
My heart sank so quick in my chest, I didn’t have the time to process it. It wasn’t Gabriel speaking. The voice was very feminine.
Very familiar. Very dreaded.
I couldn’t speak back. I sat numb.
“Hello?” The soft voice belonging unmistakably to my husband’s ex asked again.
“Lily” greeted, my voice sounding so unfamiliar and foreign. “Where’s my husband?”
“Shit Shit. Sophia. Shit. I didn’t check the caller ID before picking up. I thought it was my phone, Shit. Her self r ended with a
small, “Shit. I’m so sorry.”
Tears were stinging my eyes. “Where’s my husband?
One blink and they would fall. One blink and they would fall. I kept focusing on the wall. This wasn’t happening. This isn’t
happening. This is not real.
“Sophia, you shouldn’t hear it from me... Her voice trailed. “Listen, he’ll call you back, okay?”
“Give him the phone, Lily. Right now.”
“Sophia... he’s he’s asleep.”

I gulped. “He’s asleep with you?”
“Sophia,” Her voice contained a level of sympathy that nobody even showed me at my Grandpa’s funeral. I... It was for six
months. It’s over. He’s not your husband anymore. I’m sorry.”
“I don’t believe you,” I told her, my voice as broken as I felt inside. Tears that I was trying hard to contain streamed down my
face. “I don’t believe you. Put Gabriel on.”
“He’ll call you back when he wakes up, okay? I’m not really sure, but he had mentioned in passing that he would send the
divorce papers to you today.”
I don’t believe you.” I sucked in a deep breath.
“Sophia.” She paused, “It wasn’t real. You and him. I’m sorry. I.. You shouldn’t even be hearing this from me.”
“I don’t believe you, Lily. And I’m not going to, not until he tells me this himself.” I was aware of how pathetically clingy this would
sound if she was telling the truth, if he had really sent me divorce papers, if it really was over. How naive and desperate I
sounded, I was aware. But I didn’t care. “If he really is sleeping next to you, you tell that coward to have the decency to at least
tell me it’s over by himself.”
1/3
Chapter 65
I disconnected without giving her the chance to reply.
As soon as the call was over, I sobbed. Uncontrollable tears blurred my vision and I had to put my hand on my mouth to muttle
the noise.
Any other time, I could have dealt with this. Maybe it would hur just this much, but I didn’t have the mental capacity to deal
with this now,
Not when my Grandpa just died.
Now when I didn’t have anyone to turn to.
I had cried so much in the past week that crying more made me feel weak, and I was anything but.

1 had faith in Gabriel.
We were real.
We were real.
We were real, I reminded myself. Every time he told me I was his wife, every promise he made me to not leave, every time he
reassured me about Lily, it was all real.
Wiping away my tears, I got up to go to the bathroom to freshen up when my eyes fell on the white folder I had dismissed
earlier.
Reluctant steps found my way to it and with trembling hands, I opened it to reveal the divorce papers.
They were signed by him.
The divorce papers were signed by him.
Gabriel signed the divorce papers.
And that was supposed to be that? The alimony amount written in bold letters, the terms of our contract underlined with a dotted
line with both our signatures from all those months ago followed by divorce papers signed by him.
He said he’d tear the contract up.
He said the contract didn’t matter to him anymore.
He said I was his wife and he didn’t want to leave me.
One meeting with Lily was all it took to forget all of this?
One meeting with her was all it took to forget me.
All his broken promises clouded my head as I opened a bag and dumped everything I had brought to this house from my
grandfather’s. F*ck his expensive clothes and bags. F*ck his expensive make-up. F*ck his jewellery. I didn’t want anything from
him except him and if that was too much for him to give, Id settle for nothing.

Luna walked in on me going berserk when I was almost done packing my bag.
“Sophia! What’re you doing?” She all but yelled when she saw me, and I had to take a step back from the bag. I had no idea
what I had packed in there in a panic fit.
“L. I...I breathed. A wave of nausea started to hit me, and the feeling to throw up food I hadn’t even eaten was overwhelming.
Chapter 65
Are you leaving” Luna asked again 1. Im going to call Peter. He’s on leave but he’ll have a way to reach Sir. I’m going
“Don’t take a step in that direction, Luna” My voice was crisp and cold in a way it had never been, and she freezes half way
outside to get her phone. Tears well in my eyes again, ones I refuse to let out no matter what. “He doesn’t want me.”
“Of course he does, Sophia. Sir... he’s happy with you. I practically grew up in the Whitlock servants quarter, my mother being
the head gardener and all at Mr. Whitlock’s house. Alister Whitlock, that is. Gabriel Sir... he lost his spark at a very young age
and never found it back, Sophia. Not until you came here and now the only time we see it is when he looks at you, or talks about
you. Please don’t take that away from him. Please don’t take it away from both of you.” Her rambling shouldn’t affect me, not
after Lily’s phone call and the signed divorce papers sitting on the table as proof, but they did.
“I want to believe him, Luna.” I sigh, “I have faith in him. 1. But
Then please do, Sophia. Please. She practically begs, “Please don’t give up yet.”
“You’re right.” I give a small nod. I’m going to have faith in him. I will wait for him to tell me himself that he doesn’t want
The.”
“I don’t think that’s ever happening,” she smiles, but I wish I felt as confident as she did.
END GIFT