The Way Back | ✓

1.1

note: It's December and I've won November NaNoWriMo for the first time in my life which means frequent updates! 

I've got so many stock chapters and I'm absolutely excited to share it with you. Keep in mind that this is my first time writing this kind of story so if you have any constructive feedback I'd love to hear it so I can fix those mistakes. With that said, I'll be updating this once, twice or thrice a week, depending on how busy my schedule is for that week. I'll be very active this month (in terms of updating, not reading unfortunately since I've got semester finals this month yikes!) 

The next update will be within 2-3 days! 

Now... is everyone ready? 

ENJOY! ❤

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Once a routine is developed it's hard to break it. 

For the last ten years, Andrew Cai's routine had consisted of waking up to his beautiful wife in a quaint but cosy house and while that routine was quick to change eight years ago, when Talia Lancaster-Cai got pregnant, the routine was never broken. It had merely adapted. 

For Andrew to have gone ten years with his beautiful wife and seven years with his wonderful daughter to camping in his parents basement till his salary came at the end of the month so that he could rent out an apartment was a severe change — a change that drastically broke his routine. 

It didn't matter that once upon a time his life had been more than just the routine but after it had settled it became something he found comfort in rather than joy. He loved Talia and still did, perhaps not as much as he had in those early years, but she'd been a constant. They might have not always been happy with each other but at least his life had a routine to stick to, a meaning to follow. 

And yes, while Andrew had once — okay, several times — thought of divorce, he had never seriously considered it. But apparently Talia had given it a deep thought otherwise she wouldn't have been so sloppy with her secret lover. She'd know better than to leave a trail for Andrew to figure out and perhaps that's exactly what she wanted — for him to call a divorce because cheating was something he could never compromise on, no matter what. However, for the sake of his daughter it was something he was willing to work around but Talia had had enough.

She filed for a divorce.

It all raced through his head, his thoughts a jumbled mess, as he stated down at the divorce papers for the first time in two weeks. 

He knew he had to sign them but signing them was like he was accepting his fate and it was a fate he wasn't quite a fan of. It was a fate he hadn't ever predicted, a fate he had no control over.

He would lose his wife and since there was no prenuptial agreements he didn't know what other assets he'd lose. Most of all he was afraid to lose his daughter. 

Talia loved Aurora as much as he did and she'd do anything to keep her. But Andrew wanted custody over his daughter just as much and while Talia would never cut Andrew out of Aurora's life he'd slowly fall off the radar, another man taking his role of being her father. 

Perhaps he was being selfish but that's what humans were. Selfish. And he very well had every right to be. 

"You'll have to eventually sign them, you know," came a soft concerned voice and Andrew shook from his angry thoughts, momentarily shocked to reality before he turned on his bed and looked at his mother.

She approached him, a smile on her red painted lips but by her expression he could tell there was a lecture coming. 

"You didn't come for breakfast and I thought you might have overslept." 

"Mama," Andrew groaned, taking the papers and putting them face down on the table beside his bed. "I can take care of myself." 

"Zhen de ma?" she asked in Mandarin as her forehead furrowed with wrinkles of worry and he could see that she was trying her best to fight off a frown. "You've had someone take care of you all these years and I don't blame Talia but no one expects you to suddenly take care of yourself." 

Andrew stood there for a moment, contemplating whether it was worth it to stir up an argument right there in the basement of his parents house, which he was currently residing in. Deciding against it, he apologised. "Duibuqi," he muttered, swiping his blazer off the bed and shrugging it on. "Don't cook anything for dinner. I'm taking you and Ba out to that place you like so much."

She frowned. His mother never hid her disapproval if she ever felt it which was always constant with matters concerning Andrew. Falling in love with someone that didn't have some sort of link to his Taiwanese heritage was frowned highly upon by his parents and even though they loved their granddaughter, Aurora, to bits, the news of her expectancy was not something his mother took well.

"Andrew, that's an expensive restaurant. Why don't you keep that as savings to get an apartment for yourself?" Meiling Cai inquired, getting onto her own feet. Andrew opened his mouth to answer but before he could get any words across, his mother was already spitting out her thoughts. "You shouldn't have to get an apartment. None of this is your fault. It's hers. Why is she still living in your house? Show control, erzi. You let your wife do whatever she wants!"

He had planned to keep his mouth shut but when his mother attacked his values, that was when anger got the best of him. "Wouldn't you like if Ba let you do whatever you pleased?" he shot back. "And Talia and I have always had an understanding. We just don't fit in the same story anymore."

Meiling scoffed. "With how many girls are you going to share a story with before you settle down? You're not exactly getting younger, Andrew."

His features grew stony. "Don't mock me, Mama," he said calmly, though his nerves were frizzing with anger. She'd been on his case ever since he stepped foot into his parents house which had been only two weeks ago, when the divorce papers came through to him. "This month ends in a week and I'll get my salary then. I'll be out of your hair once and for all."

"Oh Andrew, I didn't—"

"Zaijian," he said in a rush and brushed past her.

"The flowers are on the dining table," she shouted after him, "Don't forget to visit the cemetery on your way to work—" The rest of her words got muffled out as he made his way up the stairs of the basement, grabbed the flowers and entered the hallway. He quickly put on his shoes, desperate to get out of the house and visit his aunt at the cemetery to pay his respects. He'd never been close with many of his relatives, this dead aunt included, but being in the presence of her silent company was much better than this household. And not to speak ill of the dead but his aunt was a bitch and she would have undoubtedly put her nosy self into the drama that had taken over Andrew's life — thank God she was dead.

May she rest in peace, Andrew thought as he slammed the front door, and he wasn't sure if that lone thought was directed at his aunt or his infuriating mother.