After Divorce, No Longer Waiting for Him

Chapter 11

I didn't expect Tom to still be holding on. When I learned he was at Astriad airport, he rushed back from abroad overnight. He knocked on my door.

At that moment, I was tidying up the room with Aiden. It had been two years, and the room was covered in cobwebs. When I opened the door and saw Tom, our eyes met. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but then closed it, looking at me with unspoken longing.

Honestly, during our six years of marriage, I never felt like he loved me that deeply. He was decent enough during my pregnancy, a competent husband, but that was all. Now, I felt nothing, no love, no hate.

"Is there something you need?" I asked, breaking the silence.

"Amber, I never proposed to you…" Tom said, pulling out a red diamond ring from his pocket, about to kneel.

"Amber, who's that?" Aiden's voice cut through the moment as he came out of the kitchen, wearing an apron, looking like a homemaker.

"You… are you two together?" Tom asked, frozen in his tracks.

"Yeah, we've been together for two years," I replied, choosing my words carefully, not wanting him to push any further.

"Don't come looking for me again," I added, my voice steady.

"Amber, I… I'm sorry for disturbing you. I wish you both happiness," Tom muttered, then left, despondent.

Aiden gave me a calm look before speaking. "Amber, I've been thinking about something for a while."

"What is it?" I asked.

"I want to make what you just said a reality, but I want it to be for a lifetime. Two years is too short."

Things fell into place naturally between Aiden and me after that. Our relationship wasn't passionate or dramatic, but it was steady and enduring. He understood my joys and sorrows, always there when I needed him. Ten years passed in the blink of an eye.

I heard that Tom had severed ties with River, including all business collaborations with the Patel family, refusing to do business with them anymore. River harassed him multiple times, even threatening to jump off a building. In the end, she accidentally gave herself a concussion and ended up with some mental health issues. After that, Tom never remarried.

But none of this mattered to me anymore.