His Beautiful Addiction

\'\'I want to divorce my husband Charles; \'\'

All eyes turned to Elizabeth in surprise as the room became pin-drop silent.

 \'\'Well, Charles has been having an affair with Michelle for years now; I think almost everyone here knows. \'\' Only grandma was shocked.

Diana turned to look at her father with pain in her eyes; her gaze shifted to Michelle who was just staring at her hands, not saying a word.

Her parents told her about their divorce the day before. She didn\'t even know they were having issues in their marriage. Even though her father was not lovey-dovey, he tried his best to provide for the family and be the best husband to his wife. She was shocked when she heard that he was cheating on her mom with Michelle of all people.

\'\'And although I loved him at the onset of the marriage, I don\'t love him anymore, not because he cheated, but because I like someone else. \'\'

Elizabeth had a small and youthful figure, so even when she was in her early forties she looked very young.

\'\'And I don\'t want everyone to live in pain, so I\'m letting him go so I can be with the one I love. The feeling is mutual, so there\'s no bad blood. \'\'

She smiled but the look on everyone\'s faces was the opposite. Grandma was beyond shocked. Her eyes searched through everyone\'s faces and it seemed she was the only one oblivious of everything going on in her family.

\'\'You all won\'t kill me before my time; \'\' after the longest time, she shook her head as tears clouded her eyes. Elizabeth stood up and walked to her, hugging her tight.

\'\'I\'m so sorry mom, I didn\'t plan for this to happen; things just happen and we have to live with it. \'\'

She patted grandma on her back.

Michelle, who was quiet, finally found her voice.

\'\'I did the unthinkable and I\'m sorry, I wish I didn\'t hurt everyone this way, I regret my actions and I know I don\'t deserve forgiveness. I\'m most sorry to Elizabeth, I cheated on her brother with her husband, this act is unthinkable, and that is why I\'ve decided to disappear from your lives. I know this is not enough to pay for my crimes, but I\'ll try to make it up to you in any way I can. I\'m very sorry, everyone. \'\'

She didn\'t even look up as shame clouded her. Charles was a very quiet person, so no-one expected him to do something like that;

\'\'I don\'t even have the right to sit here in front of all of you or ask for your forgiveness. \'\' he paused;

\'\'I made mistakes, irreversible ones at that and I regret it, every one of it. I regret putting my wife in so much pain, I regret making my daughter so sad, I regret bringing shame to this family; I wish I can right my wrongs but the deed has already been done. I\'m so sorry, for everything. For every pain I\'ve caused everyone sitting here, I\'m very sorry. \'\'

The room became quiet after he finished talking as everyone sank into their own thoughts.

\'\'Michelle, it\'s not going to give me any joy if you disappear and abandon your son. As I said, there\'s someone I love so much and he loves me the same way, I wish I had found him earlier, so maybe I wouldn\'t have married Charles but it is fine, everything happens for a reason. I\'m going to get married to him once all this is behind us and I want you both to be happy, you can get married if you want. \'\'

Michelle\'s eyes lit up and she stared at Elizabeth in shock, did she mean what she just said now?

She didn\'t want to believe her but the bright smile on her face was telling her that she meant every word she said.

\'\'Like Grandma just said, let\'s all stop fighting and be happy, so I\'ve put every hate behind me, if it\'s not for you, it\'s stressful carry hate about for me, I\'m happy and I want everyone to be happy too. \'\'

Grandma could not even believe what she was hearing. She had watched movies with family drama but never in her life did she imagine that her own family would have the worst drama ever imagined.

Elizabeth laughed when she saw the look on her mother\'s face.

\'\'Is everyone happy now? \'\'

Elizabeth laughed alone as they all stared at her in surprise. 

The meeting ended on a good note with everyone sharing hugs. Diana was not happy but there was nothing she could do.

She was still yet to recover from the fact that her cousin was about to become her stepbrother.

They agreed that they\'ll have the funeral in a few days so they\'ll close that chapter and carry on with their lives.

…

\'\'We came in person to be sure that we weren\'t hearing things; \'\' Claire said as they sat down on the sofa in the living room.

Tiana laughed as she sat down in front of them.

\'\'Nicklaus will be here in a minute, \'\' she said and she picked the glass of orange juice and sipped from it.

Her eyes shifted from Leo to Claire and then back to Leo, they were sitting strangely close, and it was impossible to ignore.

\'\'Say, do you have something to tell me? \'\' she asked with a grin and Claire laughed;

\'\'What do you want to hear? \'\'

When Tiana swathe blush forming on her cheeks she knew they were together, so she laughed;

\'\'Interesting, so when did it happen? \'\'

\'\'The thing is, she asked me out, and I had no choice, I couldn\'t turn down my best friend; \'\' Leo said, making Claire\'s face turn bright red;

\'\'What? That\'s a lie! \'\' she hit him lightly on the arm making him laugh.

\'\'you don\'t believe him right? \'\' she asked Tiana when she saw her laughing.

Tiana cleared her throat,

\'\'Well, I would have not, but I know you are so much in love with him; so my answer is shaky. \'\'

Claire\'s lips fell open;

\'\'Tiana, what about women supporting women? \'\'

Tiana and Leo burst out laughing;

\'\'Oh don\'t mind me, I know it\'s not true. \'\' Claire wanted to say something but that minute, she saw Nicklaus walking towards them.