My Ex-Husband Wants a Second Chance

Vivienne nervously nibbled on her lower lip as she paced the large expanse of the living room. Sighing, she glanced at the wall clock and exhaled heavily when she saw the time. It was ten minutes past eleven in the evening, and Magnus was yet to come home.

"Excuse me, ma'am," someone spoke from behind her, and she turned to face them.

The head maid of their household, Evelyn, grimaced as she fiddled with her fingers.

"Yes, any problem?"

"Should I place the food in the refrigerator?" Evelyn asked, and Vivienne's heart sank as a bitter realization struck her. Just like in the past, Magnus was really going to be absent on their wedding anniversary.

It wasn't just an ordinary anniversary; it was their fifth marriage anniversary, and according to what she read on a website some years back, five was a lucky number that signified prosperity. Thus, she had gone over the top by preparing a variety of dishes that she was sure he liked.

Since he rarely ate at home nowadays, she had secretly called his grandmother because he usually ate there, and she had made a list of his current favorite foods for Vivienne. Madam Selena, the heavens bless her heart, was one in a million.

While her mother-in-law loathed her existence to the core, Madam Selena loved her like her own and would often rebuke Magnus on her behalf. Although Vivienne appreciated her effort, her reproaches never yielded results. If anything, they worsened the sour relationship between her and Magnus.

She could vividly remember how he had packed most of his belongings to where she presumed was Celeste's place after Madam Selena gave him an earful when she found out that his first love was back in town and that they had been seeing each other for a while.

As foolish as she was, Vivienne had decided to stay, instead of leaving him after finding out about his extramarital affairs. She was truly the most idiotic woman on earth. Her desperate self had been too determined to remain married and had decided to keep suffering, instead of filing for divorce.

Something in her, that gradually diminished as the years passed, still believed that her husband would change his ways and become the doting husband that he used to be.

"Ma'am Vivienne," Evelyn's voice yanked her back to the brutal reality of her life.

"Y-Yeah, you were saying?" she asked, frazzled.

"I asked if I should place the dishes in the refrigerator to prevent them from going bad," Evelyn said. "The time is almost midnight and he's still not back."

Suppressing the urge to burst into tears, Vivienne inhaled sharply. "Just go to bed. I will take care of it."

"I can wait here with you," Evelyn offered, and Vivienne shook her head.

"No. You should sleep because you worked really hard today. I wouldn't have been able to prepare a platter of dishes if you weren't there with me." She forced out a smile, which Evelyn returned, albeit hers was sympathetic.

"You also worked hard, ma'am. I only prepared the ingredients, but you made the food," Evelyn countered.

"Just go to bed, Evelyn," Vivienne gently pushed her out of the sitting room toward the stairs. "I can take care of the rest. I'm serious."

"Alright then, if you say so," Evelyn still seemed reluctant to leave. "Goodnight, ma'am."

"Goodnight, Evelyn."

And with that, Evelyn climbed the stairs and was gone. The maids probably thought Vivienne was the dumbest person alive. They had witnessed almost every one of her and her husband's fights. Even their recent fight, which was the most embarrassing one ever.

Like a weak woman, she had clung onto her husband's leg while weeping for him to stay and never leave her for his first love, Celeste, when he wanted to storm out of the house. She was truly a loser who relied on her husband too much. But she just couldn't help it because he was the first man to ever ask her out on a date.

Throughout the nineteen years that she had spent in an orphanage, no guy had ever found her attractive. Yes, she was an orphan. According to what the governesses at the orphanage told her, they had found her in a box without clothes when she was barely a week old, crying her little lungs out. She had been in her third year of medical school while Magnus was training to be the CEO of his family's company.

A mutual friend had introduced them during a volunteer outreach. He asked her out on a coffee date some days later and subsequently, after three weeks, they started dating. The most foolish thing she ever did, and would continue to regret until the day she died, was dropping out of medical school to follow him from London to America.

He had told her that a new branch of his company had been established in America and he needed to be there to manage it. It was highly unlikely that he would ever move back to London, he had divulged. And like the asinine idiot she was, she had dropped out of medical school in a heartbeat, with the assurance that she could easily transfer to another medical school with her high grades.

However, she was met with a more hostile reality than she had expected when she discovered that she couldn't transfer to any medical school in America, as their curriculum was completely different from that of her former medical school. A year later, on her twenty-first birthday, he asked her to be his wife, and she happily agreed, thinking they would live happily ever after. If only she knew that their marriage would be the start of her misery, she would have never agreed to marry him and become his housewife.

The sound of footsteps approaching drifted into her ears and yanked her out of her trance. Before she could take a step, Magnus stormed into the house, looking livid, which made her heart sink.

"Welcome home, Magnus," she croaked, and he scoffed before flinging a brown envelope at her. Inhaling shakily, she picked up the envelope and gave him a confused look.

"What is this?"

"Divorce papers," he snarled. "Sign it before tomorrow ends and leave my house."

"It's because of Celeste, isn't it?" She kept her gaze rooted to the floor, as tears rolled down her cheeks.

"I don't have time for your useless questions. Just sign the papers and leave!" he barked before marching upstairs.

Tears blurred Vivienne's vision as she stared at the envelope in her hands. Her heart fractured into tiny shards. She placed the envelope on the dining table, packed all the dishes she had prepared, and placed them in the refrigerator before cleaning the dining table. Then, she headed upstairs to her bedroom with a myriad of thoughts assailing her mind.

Where would she go? Begging him not to leave her would probably worsen his temper and cause him to throw her out of the house that night. And she couldn't have that because she had nowhere else to go. She had zero dollars in her bank account and less than $50 at hand, with a rickety phone.

After peeling off her clothes, she stepped into the bathroom to take a shower. However, she was extremely shocked to see Magnus sitting on the bed with an eerie grin plastered on his lips when she came out of the bathroom.

"Y-You are here," she stammered, fidgeting with the straps of her bathrobe.

"Why do you look so shocked to see me?" he scoffed. "Have you forgotten that we are married?"

Her pulse quickened as her stomach churned. What was happening?

Wasn't he the same person who hurled an envelope containing divorce papers at her, or was she hallucinating?

"I-I don't understand," she stuttered out, and he huffed.

"You don't have to," he spat. "Come and sit on my lap."

She couldn't believe her ears. "W-What?"

Has something happened? Why was Adrian acting so strange?

"Forget it," he said, his voice softer but still firm.

Before she could make out what he meant by that, he flung her on the bed.