I, a soon to be, twenty-nine year old am awaiting the fate of my failed relationship.
Instead of being a big boy and just signing the papers, he made a spectacle of our situation by taking things to the media. My favorite articles are the ones that describe me as a child groomer. As if I were the one who took advantage of my significant other. The audacity of him to say that he was young and naive when he met me and that I controlled everything he did.
I did to a certain extent. But that comes with being his PR...that he hired me to be. If he didn't like it, he should have fired me like anyone else would.
The judge was obviously loving the attention we brought because if we were normal people he would have made a ruling by now. All the evidence was there. I wasn't asking for anything, not even the last name. I just wanted to be divorced and free. Irreconcilable differences should have been enough for Sean to let it go. Honestly, it was in his best interest because I was actually entitled to half of his current and future earnings due to his infidelity.
But here we are in this damn court room, lawyers, judge, and side chick number three, looking at each other like no one knew what was going on. "I'm not understanding why we're still here, judge. Clearly they're both ready to move on with their lives. My client isn't even asking for anything and we've already put them through the six months of separation. Nothing has changed."
Silently applauding my lawyer, I smirked at how over it she seemed. We both knew something fishy was going on but neither one of us could really put our finger on it. Stalling for what?
"We still have a few orders of business to go over." The judge stated while reading the same piece of paper he walked in with. I shook my head, we had already went over a majority of that during our hearing. "Who wants the house?"
"He can keep it." I scoffed. I had moved all of my things out the day some nineteen year old tried me on some I'm your replacement shit. He promptly kicked her out with his kids in her hair and begged me not to leave. I had already had a place lined up because I knew something like this would happen.
"As far as your businesses," the judge started. My eyes darted to Sean and his side piece. She had a proud look on her face while Sean avoided all eye contact with me. "Where did the capital backing come from?"
"My bank account." I answered honestly.
"The one shared with Mr. Johnsen?" He looked at me over the rim of his glasses. I knew exactly where this was going.
"No, that account was used solely for family. If you would read the transactions, you will see that we both contributed to the account and only withdrew for things pertaining to the house." My lawyer spoke up. "This has been gone over hundreds of times, what does this have to do with anything?"
"It has been brought to my attention that Mrs. Johnsen's businesses might have backed by Mr. Johnsen. If that is the case, we have the right to split the profits between the pair."
"Your honor, her businesses were established during the marriage, so my client is entitled to half either way" His lawyer spoke. Sean looked at him with squinted eyes.
"They were created under her maiden name with her own money." My lawyer defended. "In fact, they were in the works before they met."
That was definitely the truth. I had been working on my modelling agency since I graduated high school. We were just a group of girls trying to make it in the fashion industry. I didn't even get paid my first two years of my business. I was going that hard for my girls. Now they are some of the top in the industry. As far as my beauty ventures, that came a little later. That came when I realized how trash professional makeup artists are at doing makeup past alabaster skin. So I started a network for actual makeup artists and models to connect and work. That gave models flawless looks and small time makeup artists a boost.
My jewelry line is my newest baby. MyLove came about from my outfit posts. I had most of my jewelry custom made and people wanted it. Why not make money off of my own ideas? In fact, the ring Sean has his side chick rocking is one of my designs. A design based off of my actual wedding ring that I also designed. All of my stuff was protected and legalized under my maiden name just for this purpose.
"That may be true, but we can't deny the fact that her business generated buzz solely because of who she married." His lawyer slyly looked to side chick number three. I chuckled to myself. I was divorcing the damn side bitch.
"Look, maybe we need to take a step back and ask what they truly want." My lawyer spoke up. The judge nodded, mulling it over. As if he weren't the one making things difficult.
"Okay, Mrs. Johnsen, what do you want out of this?" He asked looking directly at me.
"Nothing." I looked him in his eyes so he knew I was serious. "I just want to be free from all ties with him."
"And you, Mr. Johnsen?" The judge looked at a now somber Sean. I knew he didn't believe in divorce, neither did I, but I wasn't going to sacrifice my mental health for appearance. I didn't just want to look happy. I wanted to be happy. Being married to him no longer made me happy. I'm not sure if it ever did.
"I want her to be happy." He spoke looking over at me. "She deserves half, the house, whatever she wants."
"Are you sure?" The judge looked just as shocked as his entourage. This whole time he had been putting me through hell because I wanted to leave him. He went from parading random bitches, asking who I was when people asked about us, sleeping outside my door, and more to just giving up. And I was glad because I was tired of fighting.
"Yes. I'm the reason why this divorce is happening. I cheated throughout the marriage and disrespected her even after she asked to leave." Sean admitted. "I want all my claims dropped."
"Very well then." The judge spoke.
And that was that.
Hi, I'm Marlo and this is my new life.
