One More Chance by Jaycelle Rodriguez

Chapter 126: Back to being single

~~~There's goes my hands shaking and you are the reason. My heart keeps bleeding, | need you now. And if |

could turn back the clock I'd make sure the light defeated the dark. I'd spend every hour of every day keeping

you safe. And I'd climb every mountain and swim every ocean just to be with you and fix what I've broken. Oh,

‘cause | need you to see that you are the reason~~~

-Calum Scott and Leona Lewis-

LUKE's POV:

"Whoa! Drinking at ten o'clock in the morning!"

| closed my eyes tightly when | heard Patrick's voice behind me. | went straight to my favourite bar right after

the court granted our divorce. I'm back to being single again, but | feel so empty. It's as if the weight of the world

has suddenly fallen on my shoulders and | couldn't move.

When she looked atearlier, it was then that | realized how much I loved her and if I had only cto my

senses a few years ago and apologized to her, maybe we wouldn't have reached this point. | wish | had known

before how to lose someone important to you, maybe I could have been responsible and beca loving

husband to her. A husband that she deserved.

"Hey," He sat down next toand pattedon the shoulder.

"What are you doing here?" | asked bringing the glass of whiskey into my mouth.

"I should be the one asking you that question. What are you doing here and why are you drinking this early

morning?"

| snorted. "Tss! It's as if you have no idea about what happened."

"Of course, | know what happened, you just got divorced, but dude, even if you drink all day and all kinds of

alcohol in the world, you could no longer change the judge's decision---and your ex-wife's decision."

| threw him a death glare but he just shook his head.

"Besides, it's not the end of the world. You have to stay strong because you also have to move on. There are still

a lot of things waiting for you and needing your attention. Your job, the company, your employees, your friends,

your parents and your daughter... remember, your sweet and innocent little girl still needs her parents, her

father."

| just took a deep breath, closing my eyes tightly.

"And anyway, our newest project in Canada including the expansion has been approved by the---"

"Take my position, Patrick," | said interrupting him.

"What?" His eyes narrowed at me.

"I don't feel like going to the office today and even the next day, next week, the whole month. Honestly, | no

longer want to go to work." | drank the remaining content in my glass.

"Oh, con, Luke, don't be ridiculous! I told you it's not the end of the world-—-"

"Yes, for you it's not the end of the fucking world, but forit is!" My voice rose a bit and since there was loud

music playing around the bar, no one noticed it except Patrick. | poured another shot of whiskey and drank it in

one gulp.

He turned silent after that but didn't leave his gaze on me.

"I don't know how would I start my life now, Patrick. | don't know how to move forward. | waited for more than

four years to apologize to her and tell her my feelings, but suddenly it all turned out like this." | said staring at

the glass in my hands. "I thought when she comes back, everything will turn back to its place again."

"And what do you mean by everything will turn back to its place? Are you expecting that she will easily forgive

you when you apologize to her? That she will easily accept you after all the things you have done to her?" He

askedsarcastically, but | chose to ignore his tone.

"No, that's not what | mean. | just thought she would givea chance. Another chance." | sighed heavily and

drank my shot.

"You know what, dude, to tell you honestly, if | were her, | wouldn't give you a chance either."

"What?" My head snapped at him.

"Well, first of all, what you did to her during your marriage---cheating with your ex-girlfriend is unforgivable.

Hmm... yes, let's say it can be forgiven when thas already healed the wounds, but it's unforgettable. You

made her life miserable as if she lived her life in hell. You never appreciated her nor looked at her as your wife. |

know what she did was wrong, asking a bartender to put sleeping pills into someone else's drink was wrong, but

you made it even worse when you cheated on her!"

| didn't say anything. | just continued staring at the glass in my hand as | listened to him.

"How old was she again when she fell in love with you?" | frowned at his question but answered him anyway.

"I think she was 16 then. | remember she mentioned it to me."

"Oh, my God! Can you imagine it?

She was only 16 when she fell in love with you and yet she sacrificed her youth days because to love you. Four

years, dude---four years of being your wife wasn't easy,

especially on how the way you of net

treated her, but did you hear her complain about the situation she was in? She didn't, did she? That's what you

told me. So it just means she loved you with all her heart, but what you just did was shatter it. You shattered her

dreams!"

| suddenly lost my words.

"She fell in love with you when she was 16 and even until now that she's already 26, she's still in love with you!

What a surprise! She has loved you for 10 years. She cared about you for 10 long years that even when she

already had a boyfriend, she didn't deny the truth that she's in love with you."

"Yes, she's still in love withand you don't know how much it madehappy hearing those words from her,

but when she mentioned the word divorce, | suddenly felt like the world was crashing down my feet. She told me

the love she has forwasn't enough to forget the past."

"Maybe because she hasn't really

forgotten them at all. Her mind does,

but her heart never. And in the last

10 years of thinking about you and only alone, maybe she realized that it's now tto drop the baggage of her

past and start thinking about herself. She was just asking you for space, for enough tto be herself again. The

very important thing she lost and completely forgot when she fell in love with you, herself."

"So what will | do now?" | asked with a deeper frown on my forehead.

"Let go!"

"No, | can't!" | shook my head hard.

"I didn't say you let her go forever, what | mean is that let her go for a while. Because that's what she wants and

that's what she needs to forget what happened. To find herself and to find your arms again."

My mouth dropped at his last words.

"W-What if she falls in love with the first guy she meets on the way or to someone who just gave her flowers or

chocolates---"

But | was interrupted when he suddenly burst out laughing next to me.

"What the hell, dude? Seriously, you're thinking of those crazy ideas about your wife---oh, | mean ex-wife?" And

he laughed again.

"Why? She's beautiful and | can't help but think that many men will fall in love with her beauty."

"Haist! You know what, you're becoming paranoid, Luke. Do you think she'll easily fall in love with the first man

she'll meet or for the one who will show her kindness?"

"No, but she fell in love with David."

"She loved David, yes, but not as the love she has for you or not as the way she loved you."

| just took a deep breath but didn't say anything.

"Con, don't be too hard on yourself now, dude. She has already forgiven you and all you have to do is to

move forward and give her space."

He pattedon the shoulder before taking the glass from my hand and drinking my shot.

"Whew! This fucking alcohol is burning my throat."

"Tss!" | couldn't help but chuckle when his face turned sour after drinking all the contents in my glass.