“I want to file for a divorce.”

Karlo Rodriguez had always warned me to never go inside his study when he is working. But now, I am standing in front of him, his table only barricading between us. He was filled with paperwork and was currently manipulating his laptop.

Despite the words that spewed out of my mouth, he remained unfazed and continued clicking on his keyboard. I inhaled sharply and crossed my arms, anger seething inside my system because I was pissed he was not even listening to me.

“Did you not hear me? I want a divorce!” I repeated, raising my voice this time.

He paused and raised his gaze at me. I arched my eyebrow with a small smile on my lips, grateful that he was now paying attention to me. But then again, he lowered his eyes and was now getting papers from the other side of the table. My jaw tightened at how casually he just ignored me. I groaned in frustration and slammed the table.

“Karlo!” I exclaimed.

“I don’t see any reason for you to divorce me, Minerva,” he said while still reading his stupid papers and signing them.

“Well, I have! First, you don’t have time for me because you are always working; second, I want to travel but you would not let me; and third, I am tired of shopping with your bodyguards surrounding me all the time.”

I saw how his lips formed a teasing smirk before he chuckled and lifted his eyes again at me. His back leaned against the swivel chair and stared into my eyes. I hated how he looked at me. It is not like he is not a handsome man, but I just do not like him.

“Okay,” he said, which made me feel joy and would have made me jump, but he added, “but no divorce.”

My face became disgruntled. No divorce, but okay? He must have noticed how confused I am, so he tilted his head and started to explain what he meant.

“I will start having time with you and less working. If you want to travel, I will come with you because I can’t let you travel alone. I will also remove all of my bodyguards when you go shopping, as long as it is me you are with.”

Shit!

I closed my eyes and zipped my mouth, just so I could not cuss him. But when I opened my eyes again, he was already walking towards me. The breadth of his shoulders was now conspicuous by how his body blocked the view of his wall. He leveled my height by sitting on the table while crossing his arms. Now that he is near, I can appreciate the bulk of his body that seems so tight in his dress shirt. He was also wearing slacks, and his necktie was not properly tied. His men's perfume filled my nostrils, and he smelled so good, too.

Before I get dazed about how beautiful a man he was, I felt the back of his hand grazing at the side of my face. My expected reaction would have been to move away, but the electricity tickling my skin just by the brush of his fingertips was comforting, so I stayed and stopped breathing for a while because of it.

Damn it. Why do I feel this way towards him?

“Just because your parents are dead does not mean you are already free,” he said slowly. “I know you don’t love me, and you don’t have to. You just have to stay with me.”

“What the hell? How could I stay with you when I don’t even love you?” I retorted.

I saw how he was taken aback by the way his reaction changed from soft to sad until it was neutral. He cleared his throat and avoided my gaze, especially his hand away from my face.

“We should eat dinner,” he said with his husky voice, and turned his back on me.

I watched him go back to his swivel chair and sit, now continuing what he was doing. I only sighed heavily before exiting his study, hopeless about my plans.

What was wrong with what I said? Indeed, he is not the one that I love. We both know that we were just arranged by both our families to marry each other after I graduated from college.

And yes, he may have a point that I wanted to get divorced now that my parents are both dead because of a car accident. I am sad that they are gone, but for some reason, after being controlled by them my whole life, I get to decide now what I want to do for myself.

“When am I going to see you again?”

“You have to wait, babe,” I said to Ian, my boyfriend, and sighed while looking outside the mansion through the window of my room. “This stupid Karlos Rodriguez won’t let me go.”

I heard him grunt in irritation. “If you don’t get divorced, how am I going to marry you, right?” he asked. “Minerva, we can’t stay like this forever. You have to do something to get rid of him.”

“Do you think I am not doing anything?”

“Then you are not doing enough!”

Ian and I argued about Karlos dismissing me to get divorced. He has been my boyfriend ever since I was a freshman in college. My parents were not in favor of him because I would admit that he did not come from a wealthy family. They are rich, but his side was not as powerful and influential as Karlos’.

“Ian, please!” I exclaimed, raising my voice, but when I realized that it was too strong, I looked at the door of my room, checking if it was heard from outside before saying something through my phone again. “You are the one that I love, who I will marry after I sort everything out again. You just have to trust me.”

“Minerva?”

And there he is!

I heard a knock on my door. It was Karlo.

“Honey, it’s time for dinner!” he even said.

“Honey?” Ian reacted from the other line. “That ass-“

“Ian, let it go,” I whispered and ended the call just so I could answer Karlo. “Coming!”