Married with the Broken Hearted CEO novel Chapter 53

Chadwick’s POV
That night after I told my wife that I wanted a divorce, I went to a bar with my friend, Edward.
“I was so damned mad! Sh*t! F*ck!” I complained to Edward while we sat in front of the bar counter with glasses of whiskey in our hands. 
Edward, who came to accompany me and listen to my tattle, stared at me with eyes which saw a pathetic puppy in the middle of the rain. 
“Hey, explain it to me in words. How can I understand you if you just keep on cursing like that in front of my face?” he responded. “Also, please lower your voice. People around keeps looking at us.” 
Ignoring his words, I raised my glass and drank one shot. 
“Tell me what happened. Is this about Isa again?” 
Isa? 
Right. Since I became Edward’s friend, he only heard me complaining about Isa or Geoffrey. So, he might be thinking that I got into trouble again with those two. 
“If this is about Isa, you should stop it, bro. You’re already married.”
“Lower your voice,” I said. “Don’t utter her name that recklessly.” 
Edward looked around and gasped. “Ahh, right! You became a little famous nowadays,” he said, chuckling and clapping his hands. 
Famous? 
Yeah. Famous for being a cheater of the year. 
“So, are you mad because people talk about your private life?” Edward asked. “Well, when I looked at the comments, only a few believes that you are cheating. Majority says they don’t believe the rumor and that they will keep supporting you and your wife.” 
And that’s the problem. 
We are deceiving everyone and keep acting as if we are a lovely couple. All of these started in the wrong way. 
“Edward.” 
“Yes?” 
“I love my wife.” 
I found him staring at me; he placed his glass on the table, dim lights above us, and silence reigned, except when the sounds of the jazz music around the bar. 
His small eyes turned bigger, and his mouth formed an excessive oval shape. When he shut his lips and took a deep breath, Edward blinked swiftly. He had a hard time looking for words to say. 
“Is this… April’s fool’s day?” he murmured. 
“It’s already September. You idiot.” 
“What?! You mean…! For real?!” 
I did not reply and poured another drink on my glass instead. This is enough to answer his question, I guess. 
“W-Why? H-How? W-When?! Why did you just…! OH MY F*CKING SH*T!” 
I sensed a piercing gaze behind our backs from the other customer who finds us noisy. 
“You told me before that you won’t…” he added. 
I looked at him and guessed what he intended to say. 
‘Ahhh. Right. I remember telling him that there will be no way I will fall in love with Adira.’ 
“Did the two of you already do that?” he asked then looked at my pants. 
‘This b*stard.’ 
“We haven’t,” I answered quickly. 
“Oh? Then why? Suddenly why?” 
“Hey, we lived under the same roof for almost 8 months.” 
“I know that. But according to your story, Adira doesn’t seem to be the woman you might like.” 
“That is that and this is this. I also don’t know what makes her so attractive all of a sudden but… yeah. I do love her now.” 
“I see,” he said nodding his head. “Congratulations. Then, why are you in a bad mood? Shouldn’t we celebrate instead?” 
I stared at the ice on my glass then took another sip. 
“I told her that we should get a divorce.” 
“Ahhh. You told her that… wait a minute. What did you say again?” 
“Divorce.” 
“Exactly. What’s that?!” 
“Hey. Stop shouting. People are looking at us.”
“How can I stop shouting when my friend is an idiot?!” 
“Did you call me an idiot?!” 
“Yes! You are an idiot assh*le!” 
“You…!” 
The bartender approached us which made us stop. 
“Ahmmm, sir, excuse me,” he said. “But other customers are complaining that you two are loud.” 
I stared at him and said, “I will rent the whole bar then. Push them out and I will pay you one million dollars.” 
“Yes?” the bartender uttered with rounded eyes. 
Edward waved his hands mid-air and butted, “No, no, no, no. We will keep quiet from now on. We apologize for being so loud.” Then he looked at me and said, “And you, just give me the one million dollars instead. I will use that to build another building for my hospital.” 
“Why would I give money to someone who called me an idiot?” I answered then signaled the bartender to go away. 
The bartender gave me an awkward smile before he stepped out of the counter and left the two of us alone. 
“Because you are a real idiot,” Edward murmured. He leaned closer and spoke in a low tone. “If you really love your wife, why would you like to divorce her?” 
“Because it is tiring.” 
“What tiring?” 
“Pretending.” 
“Pretending what? Tell me in complete sentence, dude. I really hate how you always love to answer small words instead of saying it in a whole paragraph.” 
“To make it short,” I said with a sigh. “Adira doesn’t like me.” 
Edward blinked as if absorbing the words inside his brain. A few seconds later, he responded, “So? So what if she doesn’t like you? A wife is a wife.” 
“I wanted her to know that I am sincere.” 
“Then confess,” he rebuked. 
“It’s not that easy.” 
He scratched his nape and murmured. “This is why I hate reading romantic novels or watching romance drama. Main characters are dumb people who had hard time expressing their emotions to one another when they can just confess.” 
I really hope that my problem will be solved once I confess everything. But it won’t. When the start is wrong, the process will also be the same. Things will be chaotic and there will be no end to our misunderstanding. 
So, after thinking all night, the solution that came into my mind is to end our relationship and start over again. 
If we do that, we don’t need to lie in front of everyone anymore. Adira won’t force to have a sex with her just because I am her husband, and she might open her heart for me. 
I just wanted to start from Zero and pursue her sincerely. 
Without Isa and without this damn arranged marriage.
But what did she say after I proposed the divorce? 
She wanted me to make her pregnant?! 
That hurts me so much. 
Until the end, she only wanted my body and this f*cking sp*rm cell inside my d*ck. 
But what’s painful more is that I still love her despite that. 
‘I’m going insane.’ 
“So, after the divorce, what is your plan?” Edward asked. It seemed he gave up on trying to understand my mind. 
“Will it be too late if I pursue her?” I asked, staring at the blank space while thinking of my wife’s face. 
“The word ‘late’ is only for people who gave up. ‘Chances’ are for those who knows how to stand after failing.” 
I stared at my friend and burst out laughing. 
‘At least for once in my life, he said something that makes sense.’ 
I was so drunk when my secretary took me back home. After sleeping a bit inside my car, I walked inside the silent house where no sign of life was around. 
‘Adira isn’t here yet.’ 
Is it because I told her about the divorce this morning? 
Tossing my eyes towards the clock, I figured out how late it was and guessed that she might be in her office. 
“Look at me waiting or my wife after I told her that we should get a divorce,” I said to myself. “I am such a pathetic bastard.” 
I laughed at myself and dragged my feet on the couch. Shutting my eyes as I wait for sleep to knock me out, a thin ringing of the doorbell has woken up my senses. I tilted my head towards the entrance. 
‘Who it might be?’ 
Adira won’t press the doorbell of our house unless she’s drunk. But I rarely see her drunk. 
Then, Isa?
Why would Isa come here?
Speaking of her, she sent a message to me, asking if it is possible for us to meet. But I declined. 
Ding dong~ Ding dong~ 
If it is Isa, I should not open the door. But if it is Adira? 
‘Sh*t. I don’t care anymore. Let’s just open the f*cking door and see who’s who.’ 
I hopped down from the sofa and approached the door while I felt so dizzy. I did not bother checking the security screen and just opened the door instead. 
As soon as I opened the door, I saw a tall man with blonde hair, sharp round eyes, arched brows, pointed nose and heart-shape lips. 
Even if it’s been years since I last saw him, there’s no way I will forget his face. 
As I look at Geoffrey, I doubt if this is just a part of my lucid dream or the end scene of my nightmare. 
Did the sun rise from the West today? 
I don’t know.
And I have no time to know. 
I just stared at him with wide open eyes that cannot shut, like the whole world stopped spinning around. Just here, I was in total paralysis without realizing what might happen next after this sudden encounter. 
Then bit by bit, my reasoning came into pieces in the puzzle. 
Questions started to pile inside my head. 
Why is he here? 
How did he know the address of my house? 
And who is the unconscious woman with red hair, leaning on his shoulder? 
When the familiar scent reached up to my nose, madness welled up in my chest like a fresh wound. My heart vibrated through my whole being and inwardly I was seething cursing thousands of ill words. 
Irritation pricked me, as if my body laid down on the bed of needles. It was a thorn in my eyes and  fire in my heart. 
Among all men that Adira can be with, why does it have to be Geoffrey? 
“Why are you with my wife?” I asked while gritting my teeth. 
The jealousy I feel right now is far from the jealousy I had before. 
I got hurt when Isa loves Geoffrey and my only role is to stand by the side and wait for the time when I had to comfort her. However, this time is different. 
Adira is mine. 
She is my wife!
So why?!
Why did he appear again together with my wife?! 
“Good eve, Sir,” Geoffrey greeted. “I am a bartender in a bar and your wife got so drunk. That’s why I brought her back home.” 
“Bartender?” I asked. 
Don’t give me a sh*t. 
What kind of bartender will send his drunk customer home? Unless they knew each other. 
Wait. What if Geoffrey doesn’t know that she’s a married woman? 
But although Adira isn’t wearing her ring, she would never pretend to be single. 
Does it mean that even if Geoffrey knows she’s married, he still dared to come here and meet me? 
“Do you know that Adira is my wife?” I asked. 
Geoffrey answered, “I know that she’s married. But I don’t know it is you.” 
That doesn’t make sense. 
If that’s true, what would he send a married woman back home without thinking if her husband might get angry or what? 
I am sure he came here to meet me. 
‘How did he know? From Isa?’ 
But Adira and I became famous because of the magazine and the rumor. 
Did he come here after seeing the articles? 
“I don’t know what you are planning, Geoffrey,” I said before I pulled my wife away from him. 
“Hmmm,” here in my arms, Adira groaned but remained unconscious. 
“But if you are bored flirting with other girls that your next target is married women like my wife, you better get lost before I kill you with my own hands.” 
“Sir, your wife and I aren’t in that kind of relationship,” he answered, head up high. 
“Really? I heard from Isa that you are dating with multiple women behind her back. What a freak.” 
“I don’t need my stepsister’s approval to date,” he rebuked. “Talking about being a freak, I think you should go and check the mirror. At least, I am not someone who kissed another woman in front of my wife.” 
My whole system paused. The information made my brain clogged and my senses thickened. 
“W-What did you say? Who kissed who?” 
Geoffrey stared at my wife, before his murderous eyes went back to me. 
“At the event when I was working as waiter, I saw you and Isa inside the car. You two were kissing.” 
‘No. Isa pulled me for a kiss, and I pushed her away after that!’ I wanted to shout this thought, but I couldn’t. My fear stole my ability to talk. Because I know, the next words I might hear will hurt me so bad. 
“And it is not only me who saw the two of you. Your wife, Adira, saw it too. You freaking b*stard.”