Goodbye Toxic Ex

Chapter 7

Sophia woke up the next morning to a silent house. Usually, as early as 5 am, Riley’s voice would have already been heard over the counter, cleaning and prepping food for them.

She turned, and her face met with Harry's.

Last night, he could not sleep because of the trauma of the earthquake. Because he kept twisting and turning with his face filled with so much fright, she had asked him to come over.

"Is he throwing another tantrum now, and he won't even clean the house?" Sophia grumbled when she climbed down the stairs.

When she looked around, there was no sign or trace of Riley anywhere, and her face squeezed into a deep frown, reaching almost to both sides of her ears.

"He's really throwing a tantrum, isn't he? What does he expect me to eat before leaving?" She glared, and stomped off towards the couch with a fierce look.

"Riley! Riley!" she called out, expecting him to be there. Then it dawned on her that he really had left.

The frown and the fierce look on her face softened.

*Did he really make good on his threats?* she thought.

Sophia wanted to pick up her phone and give Riley a call when she heard a groan right over her head.

It was Harry, and it seemed like the groan rippled right from his chest, and it didn't sound good.

*I almost forgot, he needs coffee!* she thought, and quickly scrambled off to the kitchen to make some.

All the while, she frowned through the process. For her, it was supposed to be Riley doing this and not her, but he had just disappeared into thin air.

"That petty bastard. I will make sure that I teach him a lesson when he's back!" she said to herself before finally walking towards the dining room to get the glassware.

Sophia's gaze caught hold of a sleek, printed paper on the table.

She recognized it instantly.

It was the paper that Riley had made her sign the previous day, the one she hadn't cared to look at.

The sleekness of the document drew her attention closer, and for the first time, she read it.

*Divorce agreement!* it read.

Sophia's breath hitched in her lungs, and she fell back a step.

For the first time since she got married to Riley, something throbbed violently underneath her chest.

It was there, and it was finalized. Her signature was on it, and so was his.

Riley had deceived her into signing the documents.

Her heart raced with fear and anger as her fingers clutched tightly to the papers that stood firmly in her hands.

"What's that?" a voice called at her from behind.

However, Sophia was so lost in thought that she could barely utter a word.

"Is that bothering you?" Harry said with a soft tone before he drew the document from her hands and read it.

There was no fret in his eyes or even the tiniest bit of remorse; rather, a smile carved over Harry's lips as he stared at Sophia, whose eyes were popping out of her sockets.

Then his face dampened before she could turn around to look at him.

His chin fell, and his shoulders slumped.

"I... I can't believe he did this just because you took care of me, Sophia."

He instantly crashed to his knees, and tears flooded from Harry's eyes so freely, like he had a factory making those tears inside him.

"I didn't mean for this to happen, Sophia. I didn't really expect Riley to go this far. I thought he was going to understand. Hell, you should slap me, Sophia, I caused all of this to happen!" Word after word quickly shot out from his mouth, and Sophia quickly helped him up from the floor, wiping his face.

"You had nothing to do with this!" she affirmed, her lower lip slowly crawling into a frown with Riley’s image fixed in her mind.

A smirk formed on Harry's face, but as quickly as it came, it was gone.

"Do you think that I should leave? Maybe I should find somewhere to stay for now!"

"No!" Sophia didn’t even let him finish before her words sliced through his like butter.

"You aren't going anywhere. Right now, Riley is being childish and selfish.

He has always been this way, but I never realized he would go this far just because he wanted my attention, and he's freaking jealous.

You will go inside your room, and I will call Riley to order, and he wouldn't dare not return.

I bet he's already regretting this wherever he is. Riley cannot do without me, just watch. He will soon be on his knees, crawling and begging for me to take him in.

And I am going to make sure that he regrets every single bit of this decision!"

She glared.

Meanwhile, Riley's eyes snapped right open.

His gaze met with the ceiling as memories of how he had almost died returned—the pain that had crashed and encased every single layer of his body.

Even just thinking about it, his body hurt. Yet, he had survived it.

And he had not just survived it; Riley strained just to confirm it himself.

His body seemed totally fine. It didn't feel like he had even experienced a close brush with death. Rather, it seemed like he had been given a spa treatment.

And the hospital that he was in... It seemed like a private resort. Just outside the windows was the clear sea, and the whole place was layered with food and floral scents, compared to the toxic antiseptic smell that every other hospital had.

And worse still, as a medic, he knew that people who were involved in such accidents were usually rushed to public hospitals, not resorts like this.

And yet, he could not put his finger on what exactly was happening.

Even as his mind spun with thought after thought.

Even the throbbing and the ringing pain of the tumor that he already seemed to be accustomed to was gone.

Then the door swung open, and a grey-haired man in a crisp shirt with a cane walked right in, his cane leading the way.

At first glance, there was nothing special about him. But from his piercing aura and his designer clothes, it was easy for Riley to pick up that he was someone powerful.

"I see that you are awake already!" the old man said with a half smile.