While it was true that the paparazzi had been able to get photos of Marshall and Clara several times,
there wasn’t actually anything seedy going on. Their get-togethers had been strictly work-related, and
they had been flanked by their assistants all those times.
Marshall raised his eyebrows. “I’d hate to worry you with my news, you know.”
Katherine kept her gaze squarely on the road ahead. “Not worried. You are simply an inescapable
figure in the gossip section of any news site.”
Marshall made a clear sneering sound.
After that, Katherine got quiet. She didn’t want to talk because they could never actually peacefully talk
now. Marshall always sounded mean-spirited when he talked to her, and even Katherine herself
couldn’t help her insinuating tendencies when speaking to him.
The rest of the car ride was spent in silence. As they approached Katherine’s place, Marshall stopped
the car and grabbed tightly on the steering wheel. Keeping his eyes away from Katherine, Marshall
stared intently at the empty space before him.
As Katherine opened the door, she decided to say her thank-you to Marshall before she exited the car
and walked towards the front gate.
Marshall rolled down the window. “Katherine.”
Katherine stopped and turned around. “What else do you want?”
Marshall turned his gaze slowly towards her. “I’ve been trying to comprehend it for the past few days
but I haven’t been able to figure it out. What’s so good about Hector?”
Katherine frowned. Why did they have to talk about Hector, again?
Marshall looked genuinely curious. “What do you like about him? Is it his good looks? Or it is because
you like to hear him sing?”
Because these superficial features wouldn’t really be able to capture a woman’s heart, would they?
And Katherine didn’t seem like the kind of shallow women to him.
Katherine stood right in front of Marshall as she watched him closely. She decided she would take the
question as a representation of his genuine confusion.
Katherine looked dead serious. “Hector may not be perfect, but he treats me so much better than you
do, Marshall.”
As she recalled her old life, she couldn’t help but smile bitterly. “I don’t have to tell you how miserable I
was when I lived with your family since you know all about it. After the divorce, I actually tried very hard
to work on our relationship, and because nobody knew about the divorce yet, I thought that if you
wanted to give us a chance, I’d be all for it, too. But you never tried to truly understand me. You never
seemed to realize that my patience and my affection could one day wear thin. I won’t wait around for
you forever. I can get tired. Hector treats me very well – especially when compared to you. It was only
after I met him when I realized that I deserved to be cared for and treated nicely too.”
Shrugging, Katherine exhaled, as if sighing. “Therefore, I’m asking that we part ways here.”
For a long time, Marshall kept his eyes on her and didn’t look away for a second. “Did I, did I really treat
you so horribly?”
To say that Marshall was a completely bad husband to her would be a lie. Even when he failed
everything else, Marshall had been consistently willing to shower her with money.
But such was human nature to be greedy. When she was poor, she had thought that money was all she
needed. But after she was able to get financial support from someone, she expected from him love.
And when she failed to get love, she would panic, worry, and toss and turn. She would be sad.
Katherine broke into a faint smile. “Not really. I guess it’s just that compared to the times you’ve been
nice to me, you’ve been mean a lot more. Consequently, I’m still not happy overall.”
Marshall exhaled. He had been meaning to ask her about some more things, but looking at the woman
before him, he decided to bite down those questions, because he would only be asking to be hurt.
Marshall nodded before saying, “I hope that Hector…”
He meant to say “I hope that Hector treats you well,” but that would be an even harder thing to
vocalize.
Marshall pursed his lips for quite some time, but he didn’t do anything other than rolling up the window,
turning the steering wheel, and hit the accelerator to drive away.
Katherine stood where she was as she watched Marshall’s car disappear. Clutching at her chest, the
blunt pain came back to her.
When Katherine got home, she lay down on the yoga mat to meditate.
There were a lot to meditate about, but as she lay on her back, the only thing on her mind was the
image of Marshall sitting in his car.
Katherine covered her face with a hand. It was said that love killed, but she wasn’t she whom love was
supposed to kill.
The talent show that Rosalie Haverford invested in got off the ground very quickly.
Hector went to meet with her a couple more times before the agreement was made. Hector wouldn’t be
one of those competitors that would appear in the first rounds of audition; he would only show up after
the first rounds of competition were done.
When Kyle heard about the arrangement, he brought Hector to Katherine’s place so they could
celebrate. Rosalie had also predicted to Kyle that if Hector’s performances could remain steadily
competent, he should be able to secure his place as a Top 3 candidate.
Kyle was almost ecstatic after talking to Rosalie, and decided that the magnitude of the good news
deserved more than a dinner at home. Instead, he insisted on bringing some friends to “somewhere
fun” and get wild all night long.
Katherine, however, was feeling down for the past couple of days. She didn’t know exactly why it was,
but she just didn’t have the energy to deal with anything.
Kyle then sat down next to her and collected her shoulders in his arm. “Look at you, all gloomy and
lethargic. I will cheer you up, my lady, and you’re gonna have some serious fun tonight!”
But the “serious fun” he was referring to was nothing more than a night out at a bar or karaoke place.
Katherine looked in Hector’s direction to find him beaming happily, which meant that Hector was in a
good mood and down to have fun. Accordingly, Katherine decided not to put a damper on their
excitement. She nodded and forced out a smile. “Sure.”
Kyle took Katherine and Hector to a bar, which was the same bar Katherine had visited the night she
got divorced. She had come here looking for a one-night stand, but there she had run into Marshall.
Kyle didn’t sit them down in the common area. Although his own business wasn’t currently open, he
was still able to retain a private entertainment room all to himself.
Kyle led Hector and Marshall into the room before he made calls to invite half a dozen people over. And
Katherine invited Margaret after thinking about it for a while.
When everyone arrived and alcohol and food were served, the party officially began.
Initially, Katherine sat in the corner with Margaret, totally uninterested in the games. But Kyle happened
to be an expert in lightening up the mood. He yelled and played, giggled and grinned, which was in the
end able to engage Katherine’s interest. Dragging Margaret along with her, Katherine joined the crowd
to play the dice-rolling game.
She did feel much better after this.
The beers served in the car had relatively low ABV and tasted like water.
Because of Katherine’s initial admonition that she shouldn’t drink alcohol in order to protect herself,
Margaret didn’t drink. But Katherine, totally disregarding her own advice, downed bottle after bottle of
beers.
Though low in alcohol content, beers, when consumed in large quantities, could intoxicate people, too.
After a drinking binge, Katherine had to lean back on the sofa half-consciously.
Margaret leaned in. “Are you okay, Kathy?” she inquired.
Katherine waved a hand. “I just feel stuffed. I’m going to the bathroom,” she said as she propped
herself up with the help of the sofa.
There was actually a bathroom in the private room, but there was such a huge crowd that Katherine felt
supremely uncomfortable using the bathroom when everyone else was just a wall away.
Margaret helped Katherine stand and intended to escort she out of the room when Katherine shook her
head. “There’s no need for that. I’m completely fine.”
And from her appearance, Katherine looked indeed normal.
Therefore, Margaret let her go after asking her to take care.
Out of the private room, Katherine found the bathroom and went in.
The problem began when she finished her business and got out. As she leaned on the wall outside the
bathroom, for the life of her Katherine couldn’t remember where Kyle’s room was, since all those
private rooms looked the same from the outside, and Katherine couldn’t recall the room number.
Katherine took a deep breath and searched herself. She hadn’t brought her cellphone with her. It
looked like she couldn’t get back once she got out.
Katherine closed her eyes. She was getting sleepy. Moaning and groaning, she waited for what she
thought was eternity when someone called her name. “Katherine Jordan?”
Katherine couldn’t see clearly enough to tell who that was, but still she squinted and answered, “Hey,
it’s you!”
With a frown on his face, Carson Grant went over to help her stand. “What are you doing here?”
“Huh?” said Katherine, “what am I doing here? Yes, why am I here? Who knows?”
That, apparently, was the signal of a drunk lady.
Carson, out in the bar on a business mission himself, couldn’t stay with her long. So he sent for a
waiter to help Katherine to a safer place. Fishing out his phone, he dialed Marshall’s number, since
Marshall was the only person he could call in this situation.
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