When We Were In Love

"Christian, I want more..."

When the call was put through, she heard a woman's voice instead of her husband's.

Vivian pinched herself and said, "Honey, are you coming home today?"

After quite a while, there was Christian North's impatient voice on the other end of the phone, "Vivian Joseph, don't you know I am busy right now?"

"Christian, who is it?"

"The maid."

The phone was hung up abruptly.

In the empty dining room, the clock on the wall said eleven o'clock at night.

Today was Christian's birthday. She had gone to grocery shopping and cooked a nice dinner for him. Sitting by the table, she had waited since about six in the afternoon.

What on earth was she expecting?

After they got married, Christian had rarely come back home.

With a wry smile on her face, Vivian couldn't help thinking of how she had loved Christian, so much so that she hurried back home from abroad the minute she had recovered from the surgery, just to marry him.

She thought they would live together happily ever after. No one ever imagined it would be like this.

After a long time, there came the sound of heels clicking against the floor at the gate. Vivian, who had just been drowsy, woke up immediately - was it Christian coming home?

The next minute, a man of tall and slim figure opened the door and walked in. Along with him was residues of the cold winter night outside the door, and the light in his deep eyes was as cold as everlasting frost.

"Christian..." She jumped to her feet at the sight of him and put on a relaxed smile, "I'm glad you are back."

Christian Joseph handed his coat to the maid as if he hadn't heard her at all. But when he saw the plates on the dinner table, he paused, "why did you get these out?"

The maid cautiously replied, "Mrs. North says it's your birthday today, so we used them to specially serve the birthday dinner. Miss Jessica had really good taste. They are still in fashion after a couple of years.'

On hearing the name alone, Vivian's heartache was unbearable. Jessica Joseph was her younger sister, the woman Christian would rather have married.

Yet she quickly concealed her true feelings, picked up a dish, and gently said to him, "why don't you sit down for a minute? The dish got cold and I'll heat it."

Before she could leave her seat, Christian snatched the dish off her hand. Casting her disgusted look, he said in a cold voice, "You don't deserve to touch her things. Don't ever forget that!"

Those words hit her like a heavy hammer, destroying the wall she had worked so hard to build to fend off malevolence.

Seemingly oblivious to her emotional changes, he stared fixedly at the plate in front of him as if it had reminded him of someone from afar.

All Vivian could feel were the numbing brain, throbbing temples and a dull pain invading her nerves.

"All right..." Her forced smile was fading, "I see. I won't use them again."

But Christian wasn't satisfied. He asked the maid to clear the table, "Throw away the garbage. Without my permission, no one should use this set of tableware ever again, except Jessica."

"Christian, I am your wife!" Vivian couldn't stand it any longer. She stared up at him in anguish, "Since you have always hated me so much, why did you marry me in the first place?"

"Isn't it what you have wanted, Mrs. North?" He sneered, giving her a freezing look that stabbed her like a sharp sword, "This is just the start and you can't bear it? Have you ever thought of how scared and helpless Jessica was on the operating table because of what you had done! No, I must have been a fool to ever trust you!"

And with that Christian stormed out of the room. He wouldn't spend another moment with her under the same roof.

"Where are you going It's already very late..." Vivian followed him, trying to stop him, "It's not safe to drive at this hour, why don't you stay at home for the night?"

He looked back at her with a malicious smile, "It's not safe to stay with you, either. I'm afraid my obituary would be published in the newspaper if I stayed in the house with you. God knows who will be your next victim!"

She shut her eyes and clenched her fists so hard that her palms hurt.

She fought back the tears that were welling up. When she opened her eyes again, all that was left in her beautiful eyes was determination.

"I want a divorce."