| Fan Fiction |
by Shweta
His eyes went to the judge, she looked like she was in her thirties. He wondered how she must have got to this position so fast. Probably a very bright one, he thought and looked down to his lap. He carried nothing with him today, not even his cell phone. He wanted to be left alone. As soon as this trial was over he had made a plan to go get drunk in some bar, and go back to his house and sleep it off. He’d worry about other things later.
He almost laughed thinking of the past few weeks. Joe tried reasoning with Ariel. He tried to get her back in his life, but how could he? She wasn’t interested in even speaking to him. She was hiding out somewhere and didn’t tell him the location. She changed the number to her cell phone, and within one week she had sent him the annulment papers, with stick notes telling him where to sign and a letter with the details of the meeting with the judge.
He couldn’t help but think that life was just tragic for him. First he loses his mother and doesn’t even know about it, then he loses Selina and Gillian, then he loses Ariel only to get her back and lose her again, and then the icing on the cake, he finds out his mother is a darn fraud! Life just couldn’t get better. Maybe he should just live a life free of women?
He looked around him to the three women in the room. How could he avoid half the population? How could he avoid Rainie? After Ariel’s return she had become very wise.
“So, your wife wants a divorce?” She had asked after Joe’s futile attempt at talking to Ariel. Ariel had just said those horrid words and ran out of the room, and into the car with Dean following close behind. Dean had blocked Joe’s way and driven off with Ariel in the front seat.
“Sure looks like it.”
“You know, I’m just too good for you, that’s the problem. I could get a much, much, much better guy. I just have to snap my fingers and there would be ten guys in front of me.”
“I bet.” Joe replied smiling in spite of himself.
“But you...you definitely can’t get a better girl than Ariel. Out of all that you’ve told me, she’s just perfect for you. She can mend your wild ways.”
“My wild ways?” Joe asked trying to control his laugh.
“You know...your way of breaking a young girl’s heart.” Rainie grinned at him.
“Rainie...” Joe searched for words. All the humour drained out of him.
“Oh shut up! Don’t pity me. I’d get a much better guy.”
“I...”
“Shut up! But one thing’s for sure, if it doesn’t work out with Ariel, the way to my house is the one with red carpets and bright neon lights.”
“Ah! I probably won’t get lost now that you mentioned the neon lights.”
“I’m just really considerate.”
Joe smirked at the recollection of their conversation. Rainie was such a silly girl. He wished she would get someone, and he wished he could love her the way she ought to be loved, the way Joe could never love her. It didn’t matter if he and Ariel got a divorce or not, he would never love another woman. His quota was full. No more.
“Reason for annulment?”
“Incompatibility.” Ariel replied. Joe sighed, the two of them were anything but incompatible.
“Then why did you marry in the first place?” The judge asked condescendingly.
“Excuse me?” Ariel asked taken aback. By her facial expression it was clear she thought it was none of the judge’s business why they got married, and it certainly wasn’t in her right to ask.
“Have you consummated the marriage?” She asked ignoring Ariel’s reaction. Ariel went bright pink, and Joe coughed once or twice. The judge was definitely not into playing around.
“Yes.” Joe replied when he realised no one had spoken for two minutes.
“Then I’m sorry, you can’t apply for an annulment.” The judge said pushing the papers laid on her table towards them. “Annulment is for those who haven’t consummated the marriage or shared something personal. Divorce is for those who are looking for separation after all the good deeds of a marriage are done. Annulment makes a marriage null and void, which means it never happened. Divorce is the only path for you two.”
“Fine then, we want a divorce. We’ll apply for...” Ariel began and was halfway from standing up when the judge stopped her.
“Sit down Mrs.Cheng.” Ariel didn’t argue. Neither would Joe, he thought, after hearing the edge to her voice. “I haven’t finished saying what I want to say.” Ariel sat back down and looked at her with curious eyes. Joe’s attention was caught too, his thoughts stopped wandering.
“As a new judge, I thought I’d be helping people. When it came to divorce I thought I’d be doing people a favour. But now I have cases everyday of people breaking up for the littlest things. Did your husband hit you?” She asked.
“No.” Ariel replied immediately.
“Did he insult you?”
“No.” Ariel replied again, this time quicker.
“Was this marriage a drunken mistake?”
“No.”
“Was this an arranged marriage.”
“No.” Louder this time.
“Did he cheat on you?”
“No.” Ariel replied again, her irritation loud and clear.
“Then why the divorce?” Joe wanted to know the same thing. He and Ariel had spent a magical night together. They had come together and gotten rid of an ugly evil. Given the chance they could fall in love with each other, then why the divorce? Just because she saw him with Rainie? She could have spoken to him about it. He would have cleared everything for her. All she had to do was talk to him. She herself said he didn’t cheat on her.
“I think you both need to sit down and talk.” The judge said after a long pause, and Joe turned to her surprised. Could this woman read minds? “Incompatibility is the stupidest reason to give. If you were incompatible you would never get married, especially when it wasn’t a drunken mistake or an arranged marriage.”
“There’s no need for that, we both just want a divorce.” Ariel replied sternly.
“Sorry no.”
“No?” Ariel asked surprised. This was proving tougher than she thought. She knew divorcing Joe would cause her a lot of pain, and she knew it wasn’t going to be easy letting him go, but she expected the process to be painless.
Watching Joe with that girl, it had almost killed her a second time. Watching them kiss was more painful than the gunshot. Ariel would have readily faced the gunshot again than watching the couple last week. She had expected Joe to take her in his arms, kiss her madly, and vow to never lose her again, just like in the movies. But instead, Joe just stood there saying her name all over again. His wife had come back from the dead, no more frolicking now. She wondered if that girl was one of the many more to come.
She didn’t blame Joe though. She was surprised at this. It wasn’t Joe’s fault she caught him kissing. He wasn’t cheating, he thought his wife was dead and he moved on. But only two months? That’s what hurt.
“N-O. No. I even spelt it out for you.”
“I cannot live with this man anymore.”
“You don’t have to.”
“Then why cant we have a divorce?”
“Because, I want you two to sort out your marriage. I will give you nine more months to sort out your problems. After that if you still want a divorce, I will gladly give it to you.”
“What kind of stupid judgement is this?”
“One that has been passed many times before too. Three months is too short a time to decide if the marriage can make it or not. A year, might be sufficient. I give you nine months. Sort out your problems. Goodbye now, I hope I don’t see you again.”
“But...”Ariel tried to protest.”
“I’m a very busy lady, I have a lot more work to do. Please leave.”
“I don’t think...”
“Exactly, that’s why you have ended up here. If you start thinking, I think you would be able to make this marriage work. Your husband is cute and looks smart enough to provide for you. Nine months, goodbye.” There was finality to her tone, and Ariel had no choice but to leave the room.
Joe followed her out of the room and gave her a smile, and true to his prediction she ignored him and walked off.
***
Drama! Drama! Drama! I'm so glad you people are liking this story. It was my dream to write a drama...I think I'm a sadist...hahaz!
I am replying to comments from now on, and promise to be more friendly, hope I haven't put anyone off by not replying.
I officially announce I have thought of an end to this story and it is coming in a few chapters. Whatever the end, please be happy. I hope you guys would like it =)
It was my dream to write a long story and now it's fulfilled. I initially wanted this to be fifty chapters but...um...I cant write that long =( I would try other times tho =)
But I have surpassed 160 pages and I'm happy...the rest of my stories were less than fifty pages 0.0
I also updated my other stories (shweta10, shwetastories.webs.com)
please check em out nd comment!