The CEO’S Orphan Wife

“I’m sorry…” I turned away, but Ivan blocked my path. I could see the pain in his eyes, so I quickly avoided mine.

“We’re heading home. What are you doing, Ivan?!” I was irritated, but I forced myself to stay calm because I was carrying Heather.

Heather was crying loudly, and tears began to well up in my eyes. It’s okay if I get hurt, but if my daughter gets hurt, that’s a completely different situation.

My intuition was correct; it wasn’t a good idea for my daughter to meet Ivan because Heather was still too young.

It was frustrating! I felt disoriented, but I hesitated to inquire, avoided listening, and refrained from re-entering his life. However, we share a child.

“Ivan, let her go. She left you before. We’re doing fine, aren’t we?”

My teeth were clenched, but I disregarded Maureen.

I was boiling with anger, yet I kept my composure to spare Heather from any more suffering. Stepping forward, Ivan enveloped both of us in an incredibly tight embrace.

“Please, don’t go. Let’s talk,” he pleaded. “Myla, please… Don’t leave me again.”

I pushed him away, clenched my jaw, and stared at him coldly.

He attempted to hold and reach for my hand, but I sidestepped to avoid him.

“Ivan!” Maureen scolded her boyfriend.

“It appears Myla has moved on from you. Let her go. Focus on processing your annulment.”

I stood there in shock for a few seconds. What? What the hell?! My gaze intensified, and confusion set in. I closed my eyes, shaking my head.

“We’re still married,” Ivan weakly uttered, still trying to hold onto me. “You’re still my wife. I’m still your husband.” His throat tightened.

The revelation left me momentarily stunned, but after a few seconds of digesting his words, I was able to fix him with a cold glare.

Damn! Why haven’t we separated yet? I believe he initiated the annulment process when I left. We had no contact for many years. I left so he could be free, assuming he would legally pursue a relationship with Maureen, but now they’re informing me that we’re still married.

Why?

He can’t use the excuse that I wasn’t there. He could easily have arranged for the annulment without my presence, even if I didn’t attend the hearing. He loved this woman and used to say he would leave me, and now he’s claiming he didn’t annul our marriage?

“Did you hear me? We’re still married.”

“What do you want me to say, Ivan? That I’m content knowing that we’re still bound to each other?!” My voice was as cold as ice.

Heather cried even more, so I closed my eyes to calm myself. Ivan’s parents and siblings also approached, but I was unwilling to hand Heather over to them.

“Let’s discuss things properly. Or you can give us Heather for now,” my father-in-law calmly suggested.

“Come on, baby… Your mommy and daddy just need to talk,” his mom said.

However, Heather refused to go with them.

“I don’t like you! I’ll only go with mommy! You hurt my mommy!”

Lucinda approached, but I held my child even tighter.

“Come on, we can’t leave until you talk to him. And yelling like this, the child can hear. It might traumatize her.”

“Come over here for a moment, baby. Mommy and Daddy need to talk.” It took a while before Heather joined Lucinda.

“Mommy…”

I pressed my lips against hers and murmured just before Lucinda effortlessly scooped her up. They moved to the side of the gate and settled there as Heather adamantly resisted entering the mansion. The child was visibly upset, and though I wanted to take her home to soothe her, Ivan stood in the way.Content protected by Nôv/el(D)rama.Org.

Ivan cried, but I averted my gaze. It wasn’t out of pity. No, there was no sense of pity. The prevailing emotion within me was anger towards him.

He attempted to hold my hand again, but I just glared at him. I moved four feet away from him, and it hurt him even more. He sighed and tried to dry his tears with his palm.

“Why?” My voice was strained, attempting to suppress the tears, like a faucet on the brink of overflowing. I refused to shed tears in front of him once more. I am not the vulnerable woman who was once head over heels in love with him, and I am certainly no longer the understanding wife who endured so much pain.

“Why didn’t you pursue an annulment for our marriage?!” I was intensely frustrated, my thoughts in turmoil. I was on the verge of unleashing physical aggression, fueled by sheer anger, wanting to hit and punch him.

“Do you think I would be pleased to discover that we’re still married?! No! No, Ivan! We’re not legally separated, and yet your relationship with Maureen persists… All these years!”

My breathing hastened, accompanied by the rapid thudding of my heart due to the overwhelming emotions I was experiencing. I wanted to unleash my emotions, wanting to break things.

“N-none… We don’t have a relationship anymore. Myla, I chose you…”

I grinned bitterly at that statement. “You chose me? No, Ivan, you didn’t choose me. If you had chosen me, you wouldn’t have gone to Maureen the night we were leaving the country.”

He was shocked. So, the driver didn’t tell him what happened? Well, I know the Greco family’s driver. I grew up here, so the old man respected me enough not to inform the Grecos about what happened.

“Y-You… followed me that night?”

“Yes, and I witnessed it myself. My eyes bore witness to the truth that you would never choose me, even though we’re married.”

He shook his head. “I chose you, Myla. You’re my wife,” he insisted.

“Yes, that’s what you force yourself to believe to choose me. That we’re married. That I’m your wife.”

I held onto hope, though unspoken, as this conversation seemed pointless.

I nodded. “I understood you back then, even when we were newlyweds. You were compelled to obey your parents. I get it. I didn’t want to marry you even though I truly liked you. I understood you even though it hurt so much. And when you had amnesia, I understood you even more because your attitude toward me changed. You love Maureen, but you respect our marriage. And now that your memories are returning, when I saw you together, kissing…”

He let out a sigh and shook his head.

“I’ve decided not to wait for you to remember anymore. Because undoubtedly, waiting for that day would only shatter me even more.”

Shaking his head, tears continued to stream from his eyes.

I rubbed my temples. “Don’t play with my mind, Ivan. I’m leaving.”

“Myla…” he attempted to stop me.

I angrily shrugged off his hand.

“You probably don’t have amnesia anymore. I’m setting you free. Let’s proceed with our annulment.” He tightened his grip on my wrists.

“I thought you left because you had given up on me. But if you haven’t left… If you hadn’t left and waited for me to remember, we wouldn’t both be in this difficult situation.”

I averted my eyes, choosing not to make eye contact with him.

“Before we were planning to go to the US, my memories returned. I recalled everything-how much I hate you. But I see how much you care for me, how much you love me. So, I considered giving our relationship a chance. We’ll work it out. When I decided that we should leave the country, I had already chosen you…”

“I made the right choice, Ivan. And do you know what’s the best thing you could have done all these years?”

He sighed.

“To nullify our marriage and marry Maureen! To formalize your relationship. In the eyes of society and the legal system, she’s merely a mistress. I walked away. If she’s the one you love, why haven’t you sorted everything out?!”

“Why?!”

I took a deep breath before making the final decision to leave. However, he yanked me back, and he would have embraced me if I hadn’t pushed him away.

“Myla, I love you.”

I was stunned for a brief moment, blinked my eyes, and then burst out laughing.

“I thought you remembered everything? Or is this part of your drama to win my daughter’s approval?”

“No. I believed all my memories had returned by then. But a few weeks after you left me, one memory resurfaced-the day I had an accident, the day I lost my memory. I rushed home that day, eager to see you. It was on that day that I realized how much I love you.”

I found it hard to speak. Was he telling the truth? No. He’s lying, my mind responded.

I cleared my throat and raised my gaze to boldly meet his eyes.

“If you think I’ll be delighted and rush back to you just because of what you said, you’re mistaken… How many years have passed, Ivan, and you expect me to believe that you love me? That you still love me after all these years of being apart? You claim to love me, yet you never separated from Maureen?”

“That’s a fucking lie!”

“You taught me to be strong. You taught me to live without you, something I thought I couldn’t do. You led me to a place of numbness. You instructed me in the art of forgetting you.”

“Myla…”

“Go be with Maureen!”