The Broken - Chaelisa

Apart

-A/N: we will time jump, people.

Lisa brushed her face roughly with her tired hands; she has been running the Manoban Group, the conglomerate her father built for two years. She no longer practices law for almost five years now, ever since her wife Chaeyoung left her. The woman vanished with no words at all, she has not heard anything  from her, after that night. Not that she deserves it, but still.. All the effort she made to look for her, are all in vain. She just disappeared out of her life with no trace but a broken heart she is still mending now. The first year was the most difficult, she felt guilty for what she did, it's clear that it's her entire fault and Chaeyoung has every right to punish her. But years of self loathing passed and she began to resent her wife for not giving her the chance to explain, denying her to fix what she had broken.

She committed a mistake.. A terrible one.. But she is still her wife and all she wants is a chance to get her life back. Her throat constricts as if she is being choked as she remembers her.

"What is this now?" She looked at Ashley Choi, former partner in the Law firm she built years back. The firm she gave up, a part of her that she also have to let go. The woman look at her with equally weary eyes.

"We both know what that is, Lisa." Ashley said as Lisa scoffed as she read the document that she handed earlier. It was another set of divorce paper. Every year since Chaeyoung left her cousin Ashley, became her official lawyer. The last thing she knew is that her wife went out of the country to only God knows where and wanted to have an off the court settlement to make their divorce as silent as possible. Every year Ashley gave her a friendly visit for it and every year she declines to put her signature on it.

Every year the same ground appears in the paper. 'Irreconcilable Differences' which is like a humorless joke to Lisa, too simple to be taken seriously. "You know my answer Ashley, Tell her it's a No." She said as she threw aside the useless paper.

"Aren't you getting tired of this game, Lisa? It's almost five years now." Ashley looks at her with a mixture of pity and annoyance. "This will never end if you will act like this all the time. Rosie was not even asking you for anything."

Lisa knew that Chaeyoung will not even bother to fight for any conjugal property that they have, even if they don't have any prenuptial agreement before their wedding. She could easily demand for anything if she wanted to. it's clear that her wife doesn't want anything that she has, or anything to with her and it stings her more than anything.

"I don't care about that; she can have all that I own if she wants! I have one simple condition. I want to talk to her face to face" Lisa looked at her with a straight face. "It's that simple."

Ashley shook her head in disapproval. "Lisa, don't you see? She doesn't want to cause you any trouble. That's why she keeps on pushing this off the court agreement with you, she doesn't want to get into a messy court battle with you. Even if it will be easier for her if she filed it through the court. Would you rather have her file it in court under the grounds of adultery? to damage your name?" she asked hoping she can knock a bit of sensibility to the other woman.

Lisa just stared at Ashley for a brief moment, she grits her teeth. Her wife refused to talk about what happened that night publicly to save the name of both families, but of course their parents know the truth and of course by extension their whole family and close friend knew it too. They knew that Chaeyoung saw her in their bed with another woman.

They never really forgot about it ever since and they made sure that she will not forget about it either. Especially that her father suffered from a heart attack when he heard that his only daughter was cheating. Mr.Park on the other hand was so furious at what happened and forbade her to see his daughter ever again, it didn't help the fact that Chaeyoung met with an accident shortly after running away from her.