His Wife (A Contract Marriage Story) by Heer Mangtani

Chapter 75
GABRIEL (continued...)
The next morning:
I seemed to have been in a comatose. The nights of not sleeping in Sophia’s hometown because she couldn’t sleep, and then
coming back and working away my nights had finally caught up to me.
I don’t know for how long I slept, but it was definitely the most intense sleep I had had in a very long time.
I woke up to my phone buzzing next to me,
For the first time, how much time it was and how quick I needed to get to work weren’t the first things on my mind.
“Hello?” I press the phone to my ears without looking at the caller ID.
“Gabriel,” There was a breathy whisper on the other end. “It’s me. Lily”
“Lily.” I repeated after her, a little dumbstruck and foggy. “Hi”
“Hey,”
My mind cleared, and suddenly, all the sleep disappeared. I rolled over to the other side of the bed, Sophia’s room and her
paintings coming into my view.
“Lily,” I greeted again, clearing my throat. “What’s up?”
“Nothing. Um. There was another question in my mind that I couldn’t get myself to ask last evening.”
I shut my eyes, putting my hand through my hair. I would be frustrated if I wasn’t in a situation of my own making. Scratch that. I
was still frustrated. “Hm?”
“Did you ever love me?”
“In my own ways. I did, Lily.”
“And if it wasn’t for Sophia, do you think we would have a chance?”

“I don’t know.” I tell her, truthfully. I don’t mention how I had bought a ring and if I would’ve proposed, I would’ve loyal to her till
she left me herself. But to be trapped in a marriage like that, so loveless and dry, it scared me after all with Sophia. “Look, I don’t
think we should be talking. It isn’t fair to my wife.”
I could hear a sniff from the other end.
“I gave you the closure you deserved, Lily. You should move on!
“Okay,” she breathes. “Goodbye, Gabriel,”
“Goodbye.”
I disconnect the phone, toss it aside, and contemplate between going back to sleep or getting my a*s off and going to work. In
the end, I decided the former. I took a quick run to one of my manufacturing work places to check on the process of my
upcoming London deal, and then went to my grandfather.
My grandmother was still with Sophia in her hometown, and I wanted to check on Alister, how he was taking the news of his
cancer. If it weighed down on me, I was sure it did on him too. There were also a few documents I needed signatures on.
1/3
Chapter 75
“Gabriel. Son.” He greeted me with a smile when I found him sitting by his outdoor pool.
“You’re not at work.” I eyed his loose shirt and shorts, and the drink he was sipping, which didn’t look anything like his regular
black coffee, and looked a whole lot like a c*cktail.
“Of course I’m not. His smile was so wide, it was nauseating. “I have retired.
“Are you having an existential crisis?” I ask, taking the chair opposite to him. “Let me know if you are so that I can call the shrink.
He frowns. “I spent all my life working and building the empire we have today. Now that it’s in your hands, I can finally enjoy the
remainder of my life.”
You’re drinking early in the evening by the pool. We need to revisit your definition of enjoying your life,” I taunt.
“Always a grump.” He rolls his eyes.

“Learnt it from the best.”
“I called you last night to invite you to my pool day. Your phone was switched off. Your loss.”
“It was? My eyes narrow and my hands reflexively reach my pocket to remove my phone. “No, no missed calls.” I unlock it, and
notice that there is no password to the phone. Weird. I always had the default lock and home screen so that remained the same,
but everything inside was different. There were no apps, no photos, and no contacts.
Is everything okay?” Alister asked.
“My phone... it isn’t mine. I reply in an unsure voice, “Did it format itself last night or...?”
D*mn me for having an impersonal phone and changing models every few months. The phone looked new just like every other
new phone did, but it didn’t seem mine.
But then again, Lily did call, and I did pick up.
“Hold on. My grandfather says, and unlocks his phone to dial me
We wait, but the call never goes through.
“This isn’t my phone.” I groan, “How the hell did I exchange my phone? And with who?”
Alister frowns. “Did you have anything important on it? Something that would be a nightmare to clean, work wise or personal?”
“Am I mad?” I roll my eyes. “Besides, it’s linked to my Mac. I can track it any where and if someone somehow disables the
tracking, I can wipe it clean with one click.”
“Ah, sweet technology.” He looks away, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “Since your phone is switched off, I don’t think you have
much to worry about.”
“No.. Lily called me. If this isn’t my phone, how did she call me? I recall, ‘Oh, God
“What?”
I wince. “I exchanged my phone with hers last night.”
He frowns at me. “You were with Lily last night?”

“No. II give him a stony glare. “I ran into her. Maybe we exchanged phones.
Chapter 75
His frown deepens. “So she called you in the morning and didn’t mention that you’ve exchanged phones?”
I sigh, dialling the number she had called from. The phone goes through, but she doesn’t pick up.
I groan. “I’m going to have to go to her house.”
When I look at him, his frown was still in place. “You sure you want to stay with Sophia?”
“Huh?”
My mouth flies open and I try not sounding as offended was I was. “Of course I’m sure.”
“Then why the hell are you working and chasing after Lily and your phone instead of spending time with your wife?”
“Maybe the alcohol got to your head.” I give him a sarcastically saccharine smile. “My wife is in her hometown.”
“No, she’s not.” His eyebrows furrow. “She and Leila came back in the morning. Leila is upstairs, sleeping.”
My heart skips a beat, and then continued thumping so loud in my chest that I could feel it everywhere in my body. “Soplua’s
home? But... why did she not call... Oh, f*ck.
I stand up. “F*ck. F*ck. F*ck.”
“Yes, f*ck.”
I leave the documents on the table. “Sign these when you get the chance?”
“I gave you the company, Gabriel. What else do you want? My house, my y car, my cards?”
I roll my eyes. “Take care, old man.’
I drive faster than I ever have, almost getting hit twice on the way home. I definitely didn’t care, because there was nothing short
of death stopping me from going home.
Freckles was home.

I didn’t even park my car, just left it by the entrance, tossing the keys to the driver. I think I may have jogged upstairs, risking
looking desperate.
But when I opened my room door, it was empty. “Freckles?” I knocked on the bathroom door with no answer.
“Luna?” I shout out in the hallway with no answer.
The room was almost empty except for a few papers flying under a tiny paper weight kept on the table. I don’t have to the entire
thing to know what it was.
Divorce papers.
Signed divorced papers.
What the fuck?