Three Hearts Left Intact

Chapter 36: Divorce

The devilish smile Zander had on concerned Alex. After telling Mallix and James about their endeavors at dinner he had been holding onto that smile. While Alex was left to help the brothers clean, he didn't want Zander getting into trouble. If there was one thing Alex remembered about Zander, it was that his carefree spirit got himself into trouble, a lot.

"Hey N, think you can just, uh, watch him for me while I finish this up?" Alex asked ashamed of already needing to ask for help.

But Nina never denied a chance to care for somebody. "Not a problem, I've got him." She walked away, the clinks of her crutches drifting off into the distance as she went to find Zander.

Alex thanked her as he shook his head while grabbing the dirty dishes from off the table and walked over to the sink where Mallix was washing them and James was drying.

"So, you and Z?" James looked up at Alex standing abnormally confident putting the dishes into the sink for Mallix to wash.

His smile said it all, "yeah, we're just working on things right now. I'm going to talk with him later on tonight to see how he feels about everything."

"I'm surprised. You've never said anything about wanting to care for someone. Or at the very least you had a crush on Z." Mallix said as he scrubbed the dishes before handing them one at a time over to James to dry.

"I never really felt it was necessary. Besides I wasn't even completely sure of it back then. I was still doing my own research and looking things up. But then, just this whole situation came up and given everything that's happened, I was finally ready to do it."

"What about your wife? Aren't you guys still married?" James asked peaking his head out from behind Mallix's back.

Alex's smile was fading quickly, "oh sorry." James said disappearing behind his brother.

"Don't be it's alright..." he trailed off before walking over to the table to clean the crumbs off the table and chairs. "...I signed the papers a month ago. I just didn't give them back to her yet, it's hard to say goodbye."

Putting the final dish away in the cabinet, James and Mallix moved over to the table and sat down as Alex followed suit. The brothers kept a close eye on him as they began talking.

"She wanted the papers a month ago." He grabbed his briefcase from near the front door and settled it on the table. Reaching into it he pulled out the file showing the papers. "I was suppose to drop these off to her before I left to come out here and help you guys...but I just didn't have the gut to give them back to her."

Slouching back in his seat, Alex put the papers away and dropped his bag to the floor. "I'm sorry to hear that Alex." Mallix said sympathetically.

"Well what's holding you back from it?" James asked nonchalantly. Which Mallix leaned over the table punching him in his arm for it.

"James!" Mallix scolded looking at his brother in disbelief.

"What?! He said he couldn't do it. I'm just asking why." He rubbed his arm trying to push off the pain subsiding in his upper bicep.

"Now isn't the time!"

"What?! Why not?! We're talking about this now aren't we?! I don't see any better time to be talking about this."

"Because he has other people to focus on now! He doesn't need to be reminded about the past!"

"The past is important! Plus he said something was holding him back!"

"Yeah and he also said it's hard to say goodbye! So leave it at that! He just needs time to think through things and not be bothered by your intrusion!"

"Intrusion! It was just a question?! Besides I don't see the point in why your getting so defensive about this. Alex doesn't mind, do you?" James shot his head towards him.

Between the brothers bickering they were blind sighted that Alex was sitting looking down at a something small in his hands. Upon further inspection they could see it was a picture of his wife and him. Mallix and James didn't take long to forget about their argument.

"This was on our last trip, we went to the beach and had a picnic while we watched the sunset. I thought she'd enjoy the gesture. Man, I'll never forget her smile. It was everything." He sighed out longing the sight she had forbidden him. "But then she refused to look at me, refused to talk to me, refused to even acknowledge my existence. You want to know what I found a few days after she told me she's never wanted to see me again?" He looked up with red eyes at the brothers.

Neither of them said a word but just stared knowing it was coming regardless. "I came home from work one day...and..." he chuckled to get the pain out of the situation, "a-and she was in bed with another guy. Said he was normal and what she was looking for. Two days. Two days was all it took for her to move in with him and get the divorce papers." He threw the picture down on the table standing up in anger.

"I spent over five years with her and she goes and spends less than a week to find someone else." He ran his hand behind his neck breathing heavily while Mallix and James were statues with open jaws.

"That's cold." James said flatly.

"I didn't want to turn those papers into her before she'd have an excuse to run off with some other guy!" His fists clenched hard making his hands white.

"You picked a sour one for sure. But why should you care about her anymore. Look you've got Zander now and he seemed really happy during dinner to be sitting besides you. Forget about her, you've found someone way better and who actually cares about you." Mallix added in.

"He's got a point Alex. I remember Zander being way too shy to show any emotion that wasn't happy, and now seeing how much care and joy filled his eyes he's showing something completely different now." James said while Alex blanket looked at him. "Come on Alex. Really? Is he serious?" James looked towards Mallix who was shaking his head with a smile.

"What?" Alex asked needing to know what was going around.

"How can you be so blind for someone whose job is to know so much about everyone. Dude, Zander's had the biggest crush on you since we were kids." James pointed out and Mallix laughed seeing how flushed Alex appeared.

"What?!" He asked out of shock.

"Come on it was so clear everyone in school knew about it." Mallix chuckled.

"B-but...I never," before his words could properly come out all three men could hear clinking of metal and a loud laugh coming down the hall. It wasn't long before Nina and Zander appeared in the room.
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Let me know what you think. Thanks Lexx signing off