"Congratulations! We are all set and free from each other now."
After a long time, Melinda murmured to herself. Looking at the divorce agreement in his hand, Jonas had a complex expression on his face. He had always hoped that this could happen, but now that it had finally happened, he had a strange feeling at the pit of his stomach, as if he had just made the biggest mistake of his life.
Melinda stood up from the floor, carefully hiding the divorce agreement away in her bag, and then turned away. There was nothing left for her to do at the Gu's mansion anymore.
Melinda gingerly got her phone from her bag and found a private space to talk, "Kent, could you please come to the Gu's mansion and pick me up? Jonas and I are finally getting divorced. He signed the papers."
When she said the word "divorce", she was somewhat absent-minded, and a trace of a smile appeared. Kent was a little surprised that she had managed to get the papers signed, but he was very happy for her. Moreover, he could not refuse her request.
Soon, Kent arrived to pick up Melinda. The servants gave her strange looks as she was leaving so late in the night, escorting her with judgmental looks until she left. Standing by the front door, Jonas couldn't ignore the sound of the car that came in and left as soon as it had arrived. Irritated by the intrusion, he changed his clothes and went back to his company.
"It's late. Where are you going at this time of night?" Queena who had applied a facial mask ready for bed opened her room's door when she heard a commotion. Jonas paused mid-step on his way out and then said in a low voice, "We are now divorced."
"What? Divorce? I will not allow that to happen in our family!" said Nelson, getting agitated.
When he heard the noise around the house, he had ignored it, thinking it wasn't anything important. As a result, the butler quickly informed him that Melinda had left the premise.
"Grandpa, we have already signed the divorce agreement," Jonas said, sounding exhausted.
Just then, Nelson's face turned ghastly pale as he felt a cluster of spark plugs emanating from his abdomen. Tension built in his face and limbs; he felt a vice-like grip on his heart as his breathing became more labored and shallow; he found it difficult to breathe.
"Master, are you okay?" the butler yelled as he rushed to Nelson's side. Nelson fell stiffly on the ground not even fighting to breathe anymore. The butler held Nelson as he yelled trying to frantically pump his heart to form a rhythm and keep his heart beating.
"Grandpa are you okay!"
"Get the car, we need to take him to hospital fast."
The Gu family was shocked by Nelson's sudden attack. Jonas's lips were pursed in a thin line, a pale line forming at the top of his lips, indicating how hard he was biting on his lips. He silently contemplated the actions that had led to his grandfather's dire situation. He didn't expect that their divorce would make him so angry.
Kent took Melinda back to the place where she had rented, but they were informed that their rental contract had been canceled. The landlord asked her to evacuate from their premise, so she had to pack up her things in a hurry.
"I thought I had signed a one-year contract with you and I didn't cancel my lease. What changed?" Melinda was confused. She had used up almost all her savings in order to rent the house and was now being asked to leave without any explanation.
"It's your husband who came to cancel your contract. If you and your husband are having problems, you need to solve your issues on your own. But the house has already been rented out to another tenant. You should move out as soon as possible, hopefully within the next two days, or I will throw your stuff out," stated the property manager.
They had awakened the property manager in the middle of the night, who was now annoyed with their constant questions instead of communicating among themselves. Melinda knew without a doubt that it was only Jonas who could be this petty. She felt uncontrollable rage building up right from her belly because Jonas managed to make trouble for her even after they had divorced.
"I know. I will move out as soon as possible. But I need a place to rest for tonight," Melinda said. The property manager yawned, seeming sleepy, tired and totally disinterested in her explanations, her mind probably focused on sleeping. Covering her mouth as she yawned again, she said, "Whatever. Just do whatever you need to do to get out of here, I'll get the key from you the day after tomorrow."
After sending Kent away, Melinda thought of her remaining money and sighed, "I shouldn't have settled for nothing because I was trying to seem dignified. I should have asked for something as part of the divorce settlement if I had known this was going to happen."
Some of the jewelry that she had been gifted would be enough to cover a half year's rent if she had been brilliant enough to keep them.
The next morning, Melinda woke up early and began to pack up trying to cover as much ground as possible. When Kent brought breakfast for her, he found that she had almost packed everything up.
"You have packed everything, are you going to find another house today?" Kent asked while putting breakfast on the table. Melinda washed her hands and started eating without waiting for Kent to settle down.
"Well, it's impossible for me to sleep on the street, right?" In fact, she had stayed up late at night checking out several houses on the Internet. She planned to visit them one by one today to see if she could find one that she liked.
"I'll go with you later. I don't have much work today," Kent offered.
Since he had begun his own business, he was always busy, but his schedule was flexible. In addition, Kent was still not comfortable with letting Melinda find a house alone.
"Okay, thank you, a second pair of eyes would be very helpful. I checked several places last night which are quite a distance. I am lucky I will have a free driver today," Melinda stated happily.
Melinda's impish smile grew of its own accord making her look younger than her early twenties. When she smiled, her bright eyes would shine, emphasizing her innocence which was like a fresh breath of air. Melinda loved literature and was very conscious of how she behaved including her table manners.
After finishing her breakfast, she took her bag and started to visit the places that she had marked as having houses of interest for her. There were five spots in total, which were a little far from each other. It was not until three o'clock in the afternoon that they finished checking all of them. Finally exhausted, Kent took Melinda to a coffeehouse for a drink to regroup.
"There is another place that I think you would like. Let me show you," Kent said. Kent noticed Melinda's hesitation, though he had no idea what she was worried about.
Melinda nodded, and then followed Kent to have a look. The house looked good from outside and once they got inside it was just as good. After looking around, she asked for the price of rent. It was affordable.
"Well, to tell you the truth, I own this place and it's been empty for a while hoping to get a tenant but no one has lived here for some time now. Just do me the favor of moving in so that you don't put any more pressure on yourself."
Melinda was a smart woman. Kent knew that even if he hid this kind of information from her, she would sooner or later find out that he was the owner. The revelation put Melinda in a complicated situation. It was a good place to live, but she didn't want to be indebted to Kent more than she already was.
"Thank you, Kent, for your generosity."
When Kent heard Melinda's response, he mistook her gratitude for consent, so he happily took her around to see the house. However, after Melinda said goodbye to Kent, she moved further from the city and went downtown to look for cheaper accommodation.
It was not an affluent area but bustling with activity, since there were a lot of students. She figured that life would be cheap, so her daily consumption wouldn't be too expensive and the rent would be cheap.
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