We Are Officially Divorced novel Chapter 2

Chapter 2

It was the middle of the night and I still couldn’t sleep.

I buried my face in the pillow, mind racing, when suddenly Julian’s arm slid around my waist. His breath was hot against my neck. I felt him lean in to kiss me.

Before his lips could reach mine, I pulled him away

He froze. Because in three years of marriage I was always the one reaching for him. He was rarely in the mood, so the fact that he was trying tonight-and I turned him down-threw him off.

“Not in the mood?” he asked quietly.

“I’m on my period.”

It was a lie. He didn’t question it, just gave a soft hum and pulled the blanket up around me like he always did.

He lay there quietly, probably running through his day like he does before falling asleep. Then he remembered.

“That property transfer agreement from earlier-where is it? Let me take a look, make sure everything’s right.”

My heart started hammering. I stared at him in the dark.

“You really want to see it?”

He noticed how tense I was.

His brows furrowed a little, but he nodded anyway.

I paused for a second, then got up to study and came back with the divorce papers.

Right as I was about to hand them over, his phone rang.

He answered immediately.

“Jules! Martin’s drunk again and he’s starting a fight. Please, he’s scaring me!”

That was Elizabeth. And Martin Gibbs-her crazy, violent ex.

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Julian’s Whole face changed and he was already grabbing his coat, rushing toward the door.

Watching his hurried figure, I called out to him. “Is it that girl who’s getting divorced?”

He paused for half a second. I think he didn’t want me overthinking since it was the middle of the night, so he played it up.

“Yeah. Her drunk ex is outside her door waving a knife. I have to go-something bad could really happen.”

I didn’t try to stop him. Just told him to be careful.

The door shut behind him.

After he left, I didn’t sleep at all. Not even for a minute.

When the sky finally started to lighten, I grabbed my phone to check the time.

That’s when I saw it-Elizabeth had posted a new story. I’d secretly followed her on Instagram two days earlier.

The video showed the sun rising between mountains, golden light spilling everywhere. Excited voices in the background. The camera panned, and for a split second Julian’s profile flashed across the screen.

Caption: “Yesterday’s darkness has ended. Time for a new life ahead.”

My chest tightened so much I could barely breathe.

She’d actually done it. Her divorce was final.

Of course it was. With Julian-one of the best divorce lawyers in the city-helping her, pulling every string and moving heaven and earth because he’d been in love with her for years.

Now that she was single again, it was only a matter of time before Julian would ask for a divorce to be with her.

Even before he brought it up, I could already picture it in my head-him sitting me down, gentle but firm, saying the words I’d been dreading.

I let out a small, bitter laugh at myself. It hurt so badly.

Divorce was something that would happen sooner or later, so I chose to get over it now.

Better to walk away with whatever dignity I had left than wait around to be left behind.

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I set the phone down, stood up, and started packing.

Everything couple-I ever bought-the matching mugs, the little throw pillows I’d picked out together, the framed quotes I used to think were romantic-I put it all in a cardboard box and dragged the box downstairs.

Right then Julian walked in. He saw me struggling and hurried over.

“Why are you throwing out so much stuff?”

I kept my eyes down. “We barely use any of it. Better to get rid of it than let it pile up.”

He nodded like that made perfect sense, then took the box from me without another word.

Watching him walk away, I remained calm.

If he just opened it-if he looked inside even for a second-he would see every single thing in there was something I used to treasure. Things I bought because they reminded me of us.

He was smart. Sharp. He would’ve realized something was seriously off. He would ask why I was suddenly clearing out our life like this. We could talked. Maybe even fixed things.

But he didn’t.

He just walked straight to the building trash bin, dropped the whole box in, and turned back around like nothing happened.

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