Ex husband's Plea for Forgiveness

Melinda was cold to her husband the whole night, and it wore on his already fragile state. He wanted to vent his emotions somewhere; they were becoming too heavy for him to carry for much longer.

But every time he felt like he could no longer bear it, every time he moved to do something, the memory of the past afternoon reared its head like a glowering beast ready to devour him.

Then he would grow somber, and become dispirited, and would always end up retreating back into his own room.

The place had been his bedroom not so long ago.

But as he stood there, he had the vague sense that it didn’t belong to him anymore, didn’t welcome in the way it always did in the past. The walls were painted a light of slate gray, and gave off a cool, sort of emotionless atmosphere to the room.

He had few personal belongings left here; he had brought most of them with him to Melinda’s room. In fact, this room had been rather empty for a while now. Only servants would come up regularly to clean.

Jonas sat at the edge of the bed and ran his hands down his face. Then he flung his body back on the covers, arms out, and stared at the ceiling.

The room felt cold. Was it always this cold in here? He hadn’t felt this cold since he started sharing a room with his wife.

He missed the warm, cozy feeling he would always have once he stepped in there. A faint scent of her shampoo or her lotion would always linger in the air, in the pillows she slept on. The sight of her cluttered desk always brought him comfort, despite the disarray.

He closed his eyes and sighed heavily. Emily’s parting words echoed in his mind. Jonas hesitated for a moment, then took out his phone and dialed a sequence of numbers.

"Jonas." Emily answered his call almost immediately.

"Are you free right now?"

Although his tone was still cold and a little hostile, Emily took it as a good sign. She honestly doubted he would never call her at all, but there it was.

She would be stupid if she didn’t take advantage of that opportunity. Maybe she could worm her way into his heart again.

She knew all too well how badly her presence could strain Jonas's marriage; if she played her cards right, she could widen the rift between the couple, and Yulia could land the finishing blow.

"Yes of course," she answered hurriedly, afraid that he might change his mind. Realizing she might come off as desperate, she changed her tone and tried to sound coy. "Would you like to meet up?"

"Yes." Jonas's answer was curt, and his voice terse.

He couldn’t get anything done even if he wanted to anyway. The documents were sent over from his office, but he wasn’t in the right state of mind to be dealing with business at the moment.

He was consumed by yesterday’s events, and since he could not distract himself from those horrid thoughts, he decided he might as well dive into it.

And his muddled brain inferred that in order to understand the inner workings of a woman’s mind, perhaps he needed to speak with a woman.

It was just that the woman he needed to be communicating with had shut herself off from him.

"I’m guessing you’re in a bad mood," Emily said carefully. "What do you say we go to a bar? I know somewhere that's really cozy and private. You can unwind and relax there without worrying about a thing."

then gave him the name and address of the place, and he went to change his clothes after they hung

hall, his feet took him straight to Melinda’s door. He stood

doing anything and left the villa, the tires of

the bar was "private," it was packed with what looked to be a very fun-loving crowd

eyeing him up and down as he strode to the bar counter. Women in various groups of three or five huddled and twittered

he ordered as soon

sidled next to him. "Why don’t you try

Stay Out Tonight was, in fact, a rather strong

to make the

as he prepared the drink that was ordered and placed it gently on the counter. Jonas downed his glass in a

he was aiming at, so he motioned for the bartender

was known to burn the throat as it went down, but Jonas

bartender worried at some point that he may not be able

Emily, but the

starting to feel numb against all the angst he was holding inside.

bartender asked warily. 'Can he handle some more? Won't anything happen to him later on if he keeps

a common trope to drown one’s sorrows in alcohol—and the bartender had indeed seen many such scenes throughout his years—there

Jonas saw a hand shoot out and grab his yet untouched refill of whiskey. He imagined the woman must have chucked the drink herself in the silence

a choking sound, and then there was endless coughing. He finally opened his eyes wide to get a good look at the woman

was

right?" the bartender asked her as she kept on coughing, and then handed her a glass of water which she downed

"Hey, here you are!"

whiskey, and this time the latter was prompt with his refill, no longer worried. Company had come for the drunk customer, after all. Whatever happened

have any empty seats out there?" Emily leaned over the counter as she asked. "Please

and they were soon ushered into one of the VIP rooms. Emily gave out her order, and a platter of fruit and a bottle of wine

floor, where a performance of some sort went on, but he didn’t give a damn. To him, they just

said in a breathy voice.

fit. The truth was that she had been in the bar long before Jonas showed up, but didn’t approach him until

did you say?" Jonas asked, his senses impeded by all

didn’t stop him from downing more drinks, either, and would refill his glass when it was

get louder, until they had to lean closer

in his

feet. They moved into the crowded dance floor. Jonas's ears were ringing with all the noise. His head was aching, and the room was spinning. He struggled to get his bearings, and moved to leave the dance floor, but Emily quickly clutched at his sleeves and pulled him

came between them, and in

handsome, let’s dance!" One of the girls curled her arm around Jonas's and tugged,

scenes, with all the people and the loud

ear. "Jonas, there are too many people

said. He only looked around once, and reluctantly let Emily hold on to his arm. At that, her grin only grew

DJ began to play some fiery beat, and the