Chapter 2 Selling the House

• Raiden had rushed home from work, an unusual move during business hours.
• The house was clean, its usual state unchanged except for the scattered divorce papers on the coffee table.
• Picking up the document, Raiden noted its simplicity; Isabelle had asked for nothing, seemingly desiring to return to her life pre-marriage.
• Her signature, elegant and fluid, sat at the bottom of the page.
• Raiden stared at the signature on the divorce agreement, lost in thought.
• As he contemplated the signature, the sound of the door startled him.
• His face, hopeful for a moment, fell when he saw it was Ellie entering, not Isabelle.
• Ellie entered the room, taken aback by his abrupt motion.
• "What's wrong?" Ellie asked, catching the swift change in his expression.
• "Nothing," he answered quietly, "Why are you here?"
• "What do you mean? Can't I come to your house?" Ellie approached with a casual smile. "Why did you come back so early today? Isabelle just left." Only then did she remember Isabelle's departure with her luggage, and she wondered aloud where she might have gone.
• Ellie's eyes then caught the document in Raiden's hand. "What's that?"
• As she reached for it, Raiden pressed it down, keeping it out of her reach.
• "It's nothing," he said, his gaze locking with hers. "If it's not urgent, you don't need to come here. Isabelle's busy with work. We'll visit when we find the time."
• "What work could she have?" Ellie started to question dismissively, but she altered her approach. "Fine."
• She could not help but adding, "You know, Isabelle has been recuperating for over a year now, and still, no news about a pregnancy. I hope it's not a lingering issue from before. You might want to suggest a hospital visit, just to ensure she can conceive later on."
• Raiden responded firmly, "I don't want the child."
• Ellie, taken aback by his bluntness, could only look on in surprise.
• Raiden then dismissed her curtly, "You should leave now. Don't come here unless it's urgent."
• Ellie hesitated, opening her mouth as if to object, but ultimately she remained silent under Raiden's stern gaze and exited the room.
• Watching the door shut behind her, Raiden surveyed the now-empty house, devoid of any trace of Isabelle. With a heavy sigh, he reached for his phone and dialed his assistant, "Stefan, set up a meeting with my lawyer for the divorce."
• "What?" Stefan Martinez's voice carried a tone of disbelief. "Is this decision really so abrupt?"
• ...
• Isabelle returned to her modest house in the suburbs, a place she had purchased before her marriage.
• It was small, just enough for her alone.
• It was here, in this very house, where she and Raiden had their fateful one-night stand, an event that unexpectedly led to her pregnancy and subsequently forced them into marriage.
• That evening had been an accident, spurred by her friend Andrea Mccoy's insistence that she attend their high school reunion.
• Surprisingly, Raiden, who typically shunned such social events, was also present.
• After high school, they had drifted apart completely. They did not stay in touch through the class group chat nor attend reunions. They were like ships that passed in the night, briefly crossing paths and then drifting into their respective lives.
• Raiden, however, had vanished more completely than most.
• Isabelle occasionally tried to gather information about him from old classmates, but no one seemed to know anything about his whereabouts or what he had been up to.
• Thus, when Isabelle unexpectedly encountered Raiden, who had been absent for many years, her reaction was a mix of surprise and nervousness. The feelings she had harbored quietly during her youth resurfaced, yet she could not muster the courage to reveal them. Her interactions became guarded and overly polite, particularly noticeable when Raiden sat close enough that their shoulders almost touched, heightening her sense of restraint.
• Her anxiety manifested as frequent nibbling and sipping, a facade to mask her discomfort. Unintentionally, she consumed more alcohol than intended.
• Out of what seemed like neighborly kindness, Raiden offered to escort her home as the evening wound down.
• Living alone and slightly tipsy, though not fully incapacitated, Isabelle struggled with her coordination due to the alcohol.
• In her tiny single-room house, Isabelle tripped over shoes left by the doorway just as she came in. She was about to tumble when Raiden, quick to react, caught her, pulling her into his arms from the momentum. The room was still dark, and Raiden had also been drinking. It was unclear whether it was the alcohol or the thrill of the night that caused it, but their eyes met in mid-air. Alone together on a deep, dark night, both slightly inebriated and he the man she had long harbored feelings for, their gazes locked and could not be broken. At this moment, their breaths gradually came closer ...
• Isabelle was not one for casual liaisons; she had not even dated before. Yet, under the compelling gaze of Raiden—the man she had long secretly admired—she found herself lost.
• It was the look and the man she had dreamed of time and again.
• That night, swept up in the moment, they gave in to a raw, passionate encounter, both novices in love and intimacy.
• It was unexpected for Isabelle to learn that Raiden, like her, lacked experience in relationships and intimacy.
• Given his social status and striking looks, it was a mystery why he had not been involved with anyone before.
• Over two years of knowing him, Isabelle came to understand why Raiden had always been single. His dedication to his career left little room for personal relationships.
• His strict upbringing ingrained a sense of discipline and cleanliness in him.
• That one night represented an anomaly in his otherwise predictable life.
• For Isabelle, too, it was an unexpected deviation.
• She had carefully planned her future.
• She studied architecture in college and showed promise in the field. Eager to further her education, she began applying to the architecture department at Zuriach Federal Institute of Technology. Yet, her life took an unexpected turn one night.
• Confused and adrift after discovering her pregnancy, she ran into Raiden at the hospital where he was visiting his grandfather and happened to see her test results.
• Raiden proposed they marry and raise the child together.
• He gave her two days to decide.
• Isabelle had harbored feelings for Raiden for years, yet she had never imagined he would one day propose marriage.
• Caught between shock and affection, Isabelle mulled it over for two days before accepting.
• On the third day, they were legally married.
• It was a decision that seemed impulsive yet felt right.
• However, Isabelle did not foresee that both the child and their marriage would last past three years.
• It began quickly and ended just as abruptly.
• These two years had seemed like a mere illusion.
• Surrounded by once-familiar objects in her home, Isabelle felt an unsettling emptiness.
• She could not shake the memory of that night, the way he had caught her as she stumbled over her shoe, the intensity of his gaze lingering in her mind.
• She remembered every detail—the depth and stir in his dark eyes that had once made her heart skip.
• She had believed it was love.
• She imagined that, like her, he had held her in his heart over the years, igniting that moment of connection.
• However, the truth was more sobering—he had simply been drunk.
• That realization left a quiet ache in her heart.
• Isabelle knew that unless she spoke up, Raiden would never initiate a divorce. He would continue to share a placid, unremarkable life with her.
• Yet this was not the marriage she envisioned.
• She did not need a rich husband, but she longed for one who was present, warm, and shared a simple, joyful life with her.
• Thus, she sought a divorce, and Raiden acquiesced more easily than she anticipated.
• Perhaps he, too, felt a sense of relief, Isabelle mused.
• As she surveyed the small space once brimming with her hopes, discomfort mingled with a newfound sense of liberation.
• Finally, she picked up her phone and dialed the real estate agent who had facilitated her home purchase. "Hello, I'd like to put my Hillview Bay house on the market. Could you assist me with that?"