Cliché Love

#27 Tough love

"Derek, listen to me." My voice had never been so soft, the desperation oozing out of every word.

"No, Elizabeth, you listen to me." He paused, breathing heavily through his nose, "you have to leave now and sign those papers." He looked angry now, but I saw the pain behind those rage filled eyes, pain I had caused. I knew that I had no right to ask for forgiveness from the man before me, yet my selfish heart wouldn't let it go.

"I can't." His dirty blonde hair was falling over his forehead making my hand itch to brush it aside. With each word that left my mouth, I could see his frustration grow. Was I hurting him more? "I love you."

Those three words were enough to push him over the edge, he grabbed my forearm and dragged me out of our house and with cold grey eyes he looked at me. "Well, I wish I never met you." He spat out with such venom I felt my heart clench. I stood there in shock, those words should not have surprised me yet the million needles in my heart made it hard for me to breathe. The door slammed on my face, the sound reverberating through my head.

Could he ever forgive me? A girl that gave him only betrayal for his unconditional love.

What was I thinking? Derek and I were perfect together, somehow that wasn't enough for me. We married when I was nineteen and he twenty, and ten years went by happily. He gave me everything I asked for, hell, even more. But when you get married at a young age, a lot of things don't get discussed before hand.

We led completely different lives, he worked harder than anyone I knew but he always made time for me. Things started to get difficult when my acting career took off, the tabloids went about making stories. Which Derek handled pretty well till the stuff which they were saying started to became true.

I was working on a fictional romance when the team decided that the press was not enough, it needed more than what we were giving. So, I was asked to act a bit more flirty in a few interviews and I couldn't say anything as my job was on the line. The industry had a way of making things as such seem like child's play.

On the premier after party, I had one too many to drink and perhaps because I hadn't seen Derek in a year I felt lonely. It all seems like petty excuses now.

A couple of bad decisions and a few shots of tequila, I was in bed with my co-star. If the guilt wasn't enough the next morning, I was greeted with Derek's wedding ring sitting on the bedside table along with a bouquet of red roses in the trash near by.

Everything after that happened so fast, me begging and him pushing me away. What made it worse was that the papers and magazines never stopped rubbing it in his face. The film got more attention through wrecking my marriage and I suddenly realised that none of it mattered to me.

Either way, one month later he handed me the divorce papers with his neat signature marking its authenticity. I had come to our house in hopes of convincing him to try and forgive me, not now heck, I could wait years.

The frosted glass on the front door made it hard for me to see but I could figure that he no longer stood behind it.

One thing I knew was that ten years of my life with him were the best and I was not going to throw all that away because of some guy I met and fell in bed with.

With sure steps I went around the house, the back door unguarded and for a minute I felt like an intruder in a home that I had spent heart and soul building. It was way past midnight and I knew Derek would be in bed by now.

I walked through the familiar corridor to our bed room only to find it empty. I heard rustling in the guest room, walking towards it I held my breath. Even the slightest creak seemed so loud.