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2024-10-29 19:42:56Damien grabbed his blazer from the bed and put it on. His eyes caught the file on the bedside table and for the twentieth time since he woke up, he had been ignoring it.
Again, he took his eyes away and turned around to face the mirror. He had on a black shirt under the blazer matched with black, bogus trousers.
He stared at himself in the mirror, frustration in his eyes as he sighed. Briefly, he shut his eyes to control himself. For a moment, he felt hurt but he forced a smile on his face to hide it.
Raising his hand, he read the time on the wristwatch. He was ten minutes late for work already. But despite that, there was not an ounce of giddiness to get to work.
The past week has been hell for the young Damien. Some work-related but most of it from his dear wife. He spun around and was about to pick up his bag when he instead picked up the file on the bedside drawer.
This was a week since this file was given to him to sign. It was heartbreaking when his wife of four years chose to hand him divorce papers to sign.
He had questioned her decision. They had no issue. They had been happily married for four years without issues. His parents had disowned him because he chose her.
Rebecca and Damien met at college. The love he had for her was uncontrollable. He wanted her and he did not want anyone apart from her. Not long into their brief relationship, they got married.
Even though Damien smiled and acted as though all was well, he knew what he lost to be with Rebecca. He was disowned and all his inheritance as the first son of Alfredo's family was ripped away from him.
The Alfredo family were the wealthiest in the city. They dealt in oil and gas in addition to automobiles. Not only did they deal with it but they had a very strong hold on it.
Their net worth could sustain them till the twentieth generation of the family but Damien was ready to let that go. All he had to do to sustain that was to get married to Joana Simpson the daughter of the president.
He had never met her but he disliked the idea of getting married to her. All Damien wanted was Rebecca. Her charms and soft manner of speech took him in and he was not ready to leave.
Without his family and their consent, he got married to the only woman in his heart. He did not tell her about his background because that did not matter anymore. He had lost it all so there was no point.
He ended up working as a designer at R****h Align, a fashion company. Damien was not one of the best in the company. In fact, the only thing that got him the job was the fact that he could draw. Outside that, he had no skills to be a designer.
Due to that, he was poor. It did not matter to Rebecca or her family so it was all good. Not until recently when out of the blue Rebecca's mother and brother began acting strange.
It was strange because not once had they done that to him before. They loved him just as much as they loved Rebecca. They were even the ones to request that they stay in the family home rather than scouting for a house.
Damien then thought in his heart that he indeed did not make a bad decision marrying Rebecca to the detriment of losing his inheritance.
Well, that thought changed when his in-laws began comparing him to the rich men out there. They would berate him and call him all manner of names.
One time they compared him to the CEO of R****h Align, Alex Lin. He was a young man in his late twenties. Handsome even and the owner of numerous businesses and landed properties. All this without a family name.
Alex after college got into the business and quickly rose to fame. Damian's in-laws knew how well to make him feel bad each time they got in contact with each other.
It went on for a month and he got wind that Rebecca was about to be promoted to the managerial position. What was surprising was she never told him about this. He refused to overthink and just spoke to her which she affirmed and handed him divorce papers to sign.
At first, he felt it was a dream. Maybe, it was right? But it was not. His loving wife handed him divorce papers and was not remorseful about it.
“Sign it and hand it to mum," she said and walked away that day
From that very moment, they no longer slept together. Rebecca was hardly ever home additionally.
Damien tossed the file back on the bedside table after cross-checking if the name on it was right for the hundredth time. He grabbed his bag and rushed out of the room and the house. His reason was mostly to avoid his in-laws who were always ready for a fight even at midnight.
He waved down a cab and got in. “Where to?" the driver asked
“Mall" he said and the car moved away from the apartment building
The drive to the mall took seven minutes. He got down paid the driver and went in. He went to the flower section and looked around.
The price tags for real flowers were over the roof and it was even fake ones were expensive. He could not afford a bouquet so he went for a single rose flower, a hard-written card he had written the previous and went to the office.
He was going to win her back. He thought.
With a smile, he got into the elevator to the top floor and walked down the hall. There were only a few offices at the place; the CEOs and admins of the company.
Rebecca was moved to one of the offices on the top floor, two weeks ago. Damien stopped in his tracks when strange noises caught his ears the moment he was about to walk past Alex's office.
It would have been better if he was not able to see what he saw next. The little hope he had left flew through the window with a bang.
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Damien's body shook with shock as he spotted his wife on their boss. She was not just fitted on him but they were having an intimate moment in the office with the door half open.The flower and the letter he had on him fell to the floor. Tears rolled down his eyes. It was weak of him to cry, he knew that. His ego kept telling him not to shed tears but his heart felt like it was being squeezed.That was his wife in their having sex with another man. Intimate actions like that were meant for husband and wife, for both of them.For six months, they had not gotten intimate and they had no children either. Did all this start six months ago before Damien found out?He held his chest as he bent over and picked up the flower and the letter. One last glance, he walked away from their wiping off the tears with his handkerchief.While walking out of there, not once did he look back. His focus was in front of him and nothing more. His in-laws had urged him for so long to divorce her and give her
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It was finally official that Damien had nothing. His wife was gone. She went to be with another man. Her family threw him out of the house.His uncle could not take him in be his father and his father did not also want him back. Damien left the mansion dejected. There was not a single idea of how to go about his life.He could not even start up something. Not a penny was with him, there was no roof over his head. It was slowly turning dark indicating the close of the day.This was the second day of him being homeless. Damien wandered around for a while until he decided to find refuge in a nearby church.He walked in with his hands in his pockets then took a seat at the last row of the bench. His eyes were glued to Mother Mary who was at the front, close to the altar.There was no one in the church except him. The plan was simple, he would stay in the church until he got something to do or at least a better place to stay.He did not even have friends he could call to help him at this p
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“Hey," the lady said and looked away from him, wiping her face with her handDamien stood awkwardly for some time before he sat beside her. “I could not help but notice you were in a bad mood," he saidHe kept his distance so as not to scare her away. One thing a crying lady would not want was to feel threatened at her lowest emotional point. It worked when he dealt with his sister, mother and Rebecca so he believed so to be true.“What? You want to mock me?" she snapped at himDamien shook his head. “No, no. Everyone can break down once in a while. It's normal. I just thought you needed someone to speak to. You know, listen to you" he saidShe studied his face for a while then looked away. “I'm Damien" he placed his hand on his chest“So what now? I should tell you my name so you could question my weakness"“I can never do that. You can choose not to tell me your name. It's your choice. I won't force you"They both turned silent as she began to sob, her chest rising and falling. “I…
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Damien frowned. Why would his mother so readily want to give Joanna her ring? It was hers. He still remembered how she was when it came to this ring of hers. She cherished it and rarely allowed anyone to touch it if that person was not his father.“But it's yours. Joanna would need to keep it after” Damien tried to reason with his mother, but she seemed not to mind. She smiled.“I do not mind if she takes it. I actually want her to. It's an Alfredo heirloom. Your father's mother gave it to me after our engagement ceremony, but I don't want that for Joanna. I want you to propose to her with this,” Mrs. Alfredo said. Damien nodded, understanding what his mother had planned. However, he shut the box, then handed the box back to his mother with a smile. Mrs. Alfredo looked shocked at this. “You don't want to use it?” she asked, sounding upset.“I really want you to,” Mrs Alfredo added “Mum, I know, but not right now. I cannot propose to Joanna right now. But I will. Once I am ready, I w
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Joanna and Damien snapped their heads to the door, with their eyes wide. Eliza's eyes matched with theirs before turning around. “I'm so sorry. Sorry,” she said as she walked out the door, shutting it behind her.Joanna turned to Damien, and Damien tried to kiss her again. “Damien” she called out to him with a tease“What?” he acted as though he did not know what she was talking about and still tried to kiss herJoanna tried to stand, but he held her down. “Just one more,” Damien pleaded. Joanna smiled before kissing him. They were about to sink in when Joanna quickly got up.“Eliza would be waiting outside,” Joanna said, unable to contain her smileJoanna adjusted her dress, and so did Damien for his suit. “You can come in now, Eliza,” Damien said once Joanna was seated across from the table with her legs crossedEliza opened the door slowly, poking her head into the office and darting her eyes around. She wanted to be sure that nothing was going on inside the office anymore. She had
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Mr. Blue knew he had made a big mistake. He needed this job. Unfortunately, he did not have much going on in his life, which was all the more reason he wanted to be the CEO of the company. It has been his dream.He glanced around the room. Hoping that someone would stand up for him. They could not really side with Damien, who they had only known for two weeks over him they had known for years, right? They could not just abandon him, right?He glanced at the only man on the board who had defended him moments ago, but the man quickly averted his gaze. Mr Blue just got fired, and he did not want to also get fired. He needed the job. Damien just proved to them he would work hard and far to get all of them to act right.He was not his father who would keep them because they were of value. Now there were people who would readily take their position and were more competent than them, even though they lack the experience. Mr Blue, seeing that no one was going to stand up for him, stood up.“Y
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Damien worked into the office with a stern expression on his face. Every staff knew not to mess with him at this very moment or else they stand a chance to get fired.Just by mere looking at him, they knew something was up. Those who feared and did not fear him before now did. He was in no mood to play with anyone. Even Joanna tried to cheer him up, but he was really upset. She only successfully cheered him up when she was around. But from the moment he stepped out of the house heading for the office, the frown he had kept aside reappeared. Most people thought Damien was soft, but he was not.Yes, for a while he has been away from the business, but that does not mean he does not know how to play his cards very well. Those men thought they could mess with him but failed to understand that he got some traits from his father and he was going to utilize it very well. The meeting was scheduled for one o'clock, so for now, he was in his office attending to other documentation. He took up