Trouble in Paradise (Arianna and Nicholas)

Nicholas was caught off guard when I pushed him. He did not expect such a strong reaction from me. As he got up, he smacked his head on the rearview mirror, bending it at an awkward angle.

The loud thud drowned out even my loud voice. Then came endless silence. Nicholas acted like he did not feel the pain, not making a sound. For some reason, I almost felt like he found some kind of release in that moment of impact. He slowly closed his eyes as he silently processed his emotions. After a long while, his eyelashes trembled. He held back as long as he could, but a single tear escaped from the corner of his closed eye.

He asked softly, "What happened? What's gone wrong between us?" His hand squeezed mine tightly, trembling if I looked closely.

Upon hearing him say that, I felt angry deep down. How dare he ask that? But my anger faded when I saw that tear. It left me feeling helpless and lost.

I took a deep breath as I steadied myself and tried to appear calm. "Nicholas, I want to know too. Do you think I've hurt you? Do you think it's all my fault that we've ended up here?"

When I took on divorce cases, couples always argued about who was right or wrong. But in the face of the outcome, those arguments seemed pointless.

Everyone knew that arguing over who was right or wrong would not change how much of the marital assets they could get. But sometimes, that question of right and wrong mattered more than the assets. Even after seeing so many cases, I was still just like everyone else when it came to emotions.

I sighed. "Even though I'm the one who wanted a divorce, after all these years together and everything we've been through, I wanted us to part ways peacefully.

"However, you disappeared spitefully to get back at me. Do you know how terrified I was when I found out I was pregnant?"

"I know... I know..."

"You don't know anything!" I shouted back at him. My voice was so loud it hurt my throat, leaving a metallic taste in my mouth.

What I was really afraid of was not getting pregnant again, but that I might lose this baby too. He had no idea what Claudia did to me!

Nicholas opened his eyes. In the night, his wet eyes looked even darker like a stray puppy's. He kept apologizing.

"I know I messed up, but I really had my reasons-"

"I don't want to hear your reasons!" I cut him off with a laugh. "Nobody knows my reasons either."

Nicholas clutched his chest in pain. "Ariana, what can I do to make you stop being angry with me?"

My voice turned ice cold. "So you think I want a divorce just because I'm angry?"

I laughed. People would really laugh when they were at a loss. I laughed so hard tears started flowing uncontrollably.

"Don't cry." Nicholas reached out to

wipe my tears, but I turned away. He quietly withdrew his hand before clenching his fist. "If you're upset, it must be my fault. I failed as a

husband and made you sadel

Seeing that I did not respond, he added quietly, "I really did have my reasons. Otherwise, I wouldn't want to be apart from you. I wish I could be with you every second of every day.

He asked, "Ariana, can you trust me one more time?"

Swr

My voice choked up. "Nicholas, I've trusted you before. But how did you repay that trust?

"I trusted you once, twice, many times. But Nicholas, put yourself in my shoes. How can you expect me to keep trusting you over and over?

"Nicholas," I called to him. "Do you remember saying that the one who leaves first has to kiss the other?"

He had been gone so long that he had forgotten his own words. When Nicholas first confessed to me, I was truly happy.

I felt like I had finally left a mark on his heart. Even if it felt unreal or fake, I wanted to remember that beautiful moment.

The second time Nicholas did it, I started to feel repulsed. By the third and fourth time, it felt ordinary, and I did not put much heart into it.

That was because no one would

believe that a confession could fix everything after making a mistake. Just like now, he was pouring out his love and trying to change something.

But what could he really change? I looked up and out the car window. By coincidence, we had stopped right in front of the court. "Look, it's fate."