Chapter 219
Teresa sipped her milk and shook her head, "I've got a nine o'clock class and an open lecture in the afternoon. Need to head to campus after breakfast."
In fact, Teresa had rescheduled her morning class to the afternoon. The only thing on her agenda this morning was finalizing her divorce with Gabriel at the courthouse.
But she kept this to herself.
"When will you be back tonight? I'll prepare your favorite dishes," her mother continued.
"Hmm," Teresa fought to hide her emotions and the faint unease she felt, biting her lip as she thought, "I should be home by seven. I'll try to come back earlier."
"Alright, then eat up," Sophia replied, placing a fried egg onto her plate before attending to the little one's breakfast.
Sophia had just agreed with Katherine that they would bring Gabriel over to the Bennett home in the evening, with both families seeking to resolve any misunderstanding and mend the pair's relationship.
"Okay," Teresa nodded, finishing her breakfast calmly. After giving her munchkin a kiss, she said "goodbye" to everyone with composure, and left without portraying any hint of sorrow or discontent.
Once in the car and beyond the Bennett's estate, Teresa instructed the driver to head to the courthouse.
Leaning against the seat, she gazed through the window at the retreating scenery, lost in thought. The moments she had spent with Gabriel over the past months replayed in her mind like a movie in reverse.
Was she going to regret divorcing Gabriel?
But what good was regret? She and he had come this far, after all. Was she supposed to tell Gabriel, “Sorry, I was wrong; I shouldn’t have blamed you? From now on, I'll do whatever you say, no questions asked”?
If she really did that, even if Gabriel was willing to stick with her for now, he would soon grow tired of her.
And let's face it, she couldn’t bring herself to be at Gabriel's beck and call for everything.
So, rather than wait to be discarded later, perhaps it was best to part ways now while Gabriel still held some fondness for her.
Lost in thought, she hadn't realized the car had pulled up outside the courthouse. As the vehicle came to a stop, Teresa snapped back to reality, and her gaze immediately caught the sight of a black Rolls-Royce parked not far ahead of her car.
It was Gabriel’s car, unmistakable.
Her breathing hitched, and her hand froze halfway to unbuckling the seatbelt.
Just as she was petrified in that moment, the back door of the Rolls-Royce swung open, and a man’s long leg stepped out onto the pavement.
It was Gabriel!
Clad in a sharp navy-blue suit, topped with a sleek black overcoat, he stood tall and distinguished, every inch of him radiating refinement and elegance.
Such a man made it hard for any woman not to fall head over heels in love, even to the point of losing all sense of reason.
Fortunately, she managed to hold on to a sliver of sanity.
As she watched him approach her, Teresa hastily unbuckled her seatbelt and exited the vehicle, which the driver had already unlocked for her.
Gabriel walked up to Teresa’s vehicle, eyeing the woman dressed smartly, her delicate makeup perfectly applied but unable to hide the weariness in her eyes. His brows knitted slightly, his eyes suddenly brimming with concern.
In truth, he hadn’t come to the courthouse early to finalize a divorce with Teresa. He was there just to ensure he could see her the moment she showed up.
At the same time, he wanted to know if she would really go through with it.
The scandal with Kay Baxter, even though he hadn’t explained it to Teresa, would have been resolved in a single day. Kay Baxter had plummeted from grace, the media clarifications revealing it was nothing more than her one-sided seduction.
If Teresa had seen those reports, she should have understood he'd only used Kay Baxter's interest to provoke her.
Knowing it was a ruse to upset her, would she still go through with the divorce?
“Teresa,” Gabriel called. His voice was deep and soft, gazing at Teresa.
Teresa locked eyes with him, struggling to tame the storm of emotions raging within, managing only a slight upturn of her lips—a hint of a smile—before pulling out the tri-fold divorce papers from her bag and laying them before him with forced calm, "Have a look. If everything’s alright, just sign it. Except for the custody of the child, I don't want anything else,” she said.
Gabriel cast his gaze downward, and as the words "Divorce Agreement" came sharply into focus, his face suddenly tightened. His heart seemed to grasp the same constriction, making even breathing a laborious task.
He truly hadn't anticipated Teresa’s cold-blooded decisiveness.
Had all of this—months of sharing a bed, many private moments, every action he'd taken, every piece of himself he'd given—been condensed into this one document?
Pathetic, Gabriel, absolutely pathetic. She's long since lost any trace of desire for you, and yet there you are, clinging to the past, pondering how to make it up to her, how to treat her better.
If Teresa could be this cold and ruthless, what was the point of his longing? To kneel before her, begging her to stay?
With difficulty mirroring hers, Gabriel reigned in his emotions and slowly reached out to take the papers from Teresa's hands.
