Birthday Night

CHAPTER ONE: 

It was a rainy day in Oak Lawn and Lucas grasped onto what was left of his umbrella firmly. 

Today was his wife's birthday and Lucas had worked many hours on three different jobs, his lips widened into a smile with a hint of exhaustion grasping onto his face. 

He took a bus and stopped right at a flower shop, there was so much excitement beaming on his face, despite how tough things had been between the both of them, he was glad that he finally got some money to buy her a gift for her birthday. 

Striding inside the flower shop, he came to a halt right in front of a white velvet flower and he knew that this was the one for her, it was snow white with a glistering of gold, there was no way Lydia was going to reject such a gift. 

“How much is it?” He asked the shop owner who stood there watching him trying to make a choice. 

“A hundred bucks”. The old man replied, Lucas dipped his hand into his pocket and brought out the last money he had on him, although he was able to make more than a hundred bucks today. Fabian, his friend at work, advised him to play some lottery game with a ninety-five per cent success rate. 

Lucas was reluctant to play such a game considering that this was all his earnings for the day, but after consistent persuasion by Fabian, he complied and managed to scrape together a hundred bucks so that he could buy a gift for his wife. 

The old man accepted the payment and wrapped up the package in a flower bag but as he strode out of the shop, his phone immediately rang, it was his manager at his delivery work. 

“Hello Sir”

“Lucas! Come over to the office and have a package delivered”

“I am sorry Sir, but I have got off work, but I promise to deliver it as early as I can tomorrow”

“No, this can't wait till tomorrow, this order is from a VIP customer and I assure you that you will be tipped properly for the stress inflicted on you”.

Lucas stood perplexed not certain what to do, although his boss had been polite, he knew that he could say no or else he would be fired, but on the other hand was Lydia whom he badly wanted to celebrate her special day and couldn't afford to be late. 

“Alright sir, I will be at the office” He sighed before ending the call and took the next available bus back to the office. 

Lucas picked up the parcel which he was cautious of the content inside, they were elastic fantasy for men to be delivered at a five-star hotel. 

After receiving the parcel, address, and room number. He sped off on the company's delivery bike to the hotel because he could not wait to be done with this and go home to meet his lovely wife. 

Thumping through the stairs because the elevators seemed to be unavailable, his eyes consistently scanned the room number he held to know which of the numbers on the luxurious doors matched with

He came to a halt in front of a red door with a golden tag ‘room 309’ and gently knocked but there was no reply except for the sound of loud moaning. 

*Bang bang* 

He knocked again and this time, a male voice spoke through. 

“Yes, who is that?”

“Delivery” He replied calmly, his eyes still beaming with excitement as he could not stop staring at the gift he bought for his wife which he held with utmost care. 

There was a sound of the door clicking before it swung open and a man wrapped in a towel appeared. 

“Good day Sir, this is a delivery for Mr Jared Hugo, I have been standing here for the past 30 minutes, can you sign here please?” He requested politely. 

"Oh, that means I have wasted lots of your time, I was having a nice time with my mistress over there and I will greatly compensate you for that. You are such a good boy." Jared explained with a smirk on his face. 

Lucas's gaze suddenly fell on the lady sitting on the bed while engrossed in her phone. 

“Lydia?” He called out and wiped his eyes hoping that this was some sort of illusion that was a result of the excessive stress. 

Lydia lifted her head while wrapped in a towel above her head and as her jaws dropped, she did not realize that the phone had fallen off her hand. 

“Lucas! What are you doing here?” She managed to let the word slide with a frightened expression before bouncing out of the bed. 

“Lydia, you know him?” Jared asked, but Lucas pushed past him and scurried inside still holding onto the velvet flower. 

“Lydia, what the hell is going on, are you cheating on me?”

“You won't call this cheating because I have never considered you a husband before. I told you to sign divorce papers but you refused” Lydia exclaimed. 

“What!! ” He exclaimed and everything he had been holding onto fell off as his hands slowly clutched to his chest, his heart engulfed in an unyielding pain. 

“Lydia why would you say such a thing, I am your husband and have been married for three years, I worked my ass out to get you to where you are today. I was nobody because of you”. Lucas shouted. 

“Well, that ends now, because I am a top actress and can't be married to a low-life like you. I married you to save you from sleeping on the street because you have no one, you are an outcast. Thanks to me I could stand you for a while. So, go and become somebody and look back no more”. Lydia spat out. 

“Is this the ex-husband you talked about, I must say that you gave him more credit than he deserves because he is more worthless than you described” Jared expressed with a hint of disdain in his eyes. 

Lucas felt his heart shattered into pieces, although he has not been the best husband, he has been trying his best to provide for some of her needs and Lydia never failed to strip him of all his earnings each time he came back home from work. 

“I am sorry Lucas, but Jared here has been the one helping my career and has promised to feature me as the lead role in his upcoming movie as long as I agreed to marry him, I was going to tell you at home tonight, but since you found out, I should at least tell you the truth”.

The words slid out of her mouth like they meant nothing but there were so many emotions attached to them, she was destroying a man who was there for her when she was nothing through thick and thin and saw her through acting school, he worked different jobs a day and did not bother to eat or save any money for himself all because he wanted to help her achieve her dream as an actress. 

“No… Lydia what are you saying” said Lucas. 

“I mean everything I said, I can't continue living with someone as wretched as you with no future, I need a man like Jared who is capable of taking good care of me”. Lydia smirked as he looked at Jared. 

"I will forget everything I saw here tonight. Just let's go home, I'm ready to forgive you if this mistake never repeats itself. You know I love you and I can sacrifice anything for you. This man has nothing for you; he just wanted to play, use you, and dump you, your future is safe with me." Lucas explained.