Rise of Kings and Queens

Chapter 10

WORLD MILITARY LEADER CELESTE FLORES DIVORCES HER HUSBAND ARMEK.

By L.M.Taurus

10/8/0026 UWC

6 hours before headline

"Oh my God," said Celeste a little too loudly on her phone. She looked around at her surroundings, making sure no one was listening. She was in her lawyer's office, alone, and the door was shut. She checked the blinds to make sure no one was eavesdropping.

"Is Ji-hun alright?" she asked.

"Tell her I'm fine," said Ji-hun in the background of the call. "You didn't have to come all the way here to check on me."

"Ji says he's fine," said Esme over the phone.

"I can hear him," said Celeste. "He sounds lively."

"Tell Celeste I said hi," said Ji-hun in the background.

"I'll let her know," said Esme. "I'm just going to have a talk to her outside." After a couple moments, Esme returned to the phone. "Are you still there Celeste?"

"I'm here."

"Ji-hun says hi."

"Tell him I'm happy to hear he's alright. He sounded like he had a lot of energy."

"He's pissed that this happened in the first place," said Esme.

"What exactly happened?"

"These two sibling terrorists caught him by surprise. He was lucky he was wearing his armor. I'm not sure he would have survived that fall."

Celeste took a seat on the lawyer's desk. "I can't believe that happened to him. Ji-hun is usually careful about stuff like that."

"If I'm being honest with you, I think he is taking everything that is going on in Korea very personally."

"I'm surprised I didn't hear about his injuries on the news."

"That's because they don't know," said Esme. "His situation was all kept hush hush over here. It's some deal he has with the Korean government. If one of us ever gets injured, nobody from outside the medical field, police force, or world military are allowed to know. According to him, we can never seem weak to the public."

"I wish the rest of the world would do the same," said Celeste. "The media seems to want to report every detail of our lives in this part of the world. Have you seen what the United Global wrote about Luka?"

"Don't remind me. Look, there was something else I wanted to tell you," said Esme, her voice lowering.

Celeste went over to the window and peeked outside of the office. Still no one outside. "What is it?"

"It's about your next assignment. I want you to go undercover and find out who are the leaders of the terrorist group calling themselves Dependency."

"That's the anti-refugee group, right?"

"Exactly. I'm pretty sure these Kallstrom siblings in Korea are working for them. The group that attacked the medical airship at headquarters was also them. They need to be dealt with."

"Understood," said Celeste. "Any specific part of the world you would like me to start?"

"Not sure. They seem to be wherever the refugees are at. I guess you can't start in your home country because people will recognise you."

"I'm sure I can change my look up enough that not even my home country would recognise me, but I'd rather start somewhere else. Approaching the Kallstrom siblings might be a bad idea."

"I wouldn't start with them," said Esme. "Besides, I think Ji is going to prioritize taking them down. There were fourteen casualties in their recent attack. The sooner they're off the street, the better."

"I'll figure something out. I'll start tonight."

"Thanks Celeste. Be careful."

"I will be." Celeste saw her lawyer followed by her husband and his lawyer entered the waiting area. "I'll update you when I learn anything of importance. Goodbye." Celeste hung up the phone before Esme could reply.

She walked out of the office before her lawyer could reach it. "We're ready," he said. "To my conference room."

Celeste's husband walked past the lawyers and towards her. "Seriously Cele," he said as he approached her. "You had to involve lawyers?" Both lawyers got in his way.

"That's enough Armek," said his lawyer. "Let the lawyers handle this. All you have to do is sit and listen."

"No," said Armek. "I will talk to my wife right now. Without you two here."

"There's nothing left to talk about," said Celeste. "I'm done."

"You don't get to decide that."

"Yes I do."

"No," yelled Armek, causing the lawyers to stand in a defensive manner. Armek tried to calm himself down. "Us getting married was a decision we made together. Us splitting up should be a decision we make together as well."

"There's no point," said Celeste. "I no longer want to be with you. There's nothing you can say that's going to change that."

"Seriously Cele? That easy?" Armek's shoulders went slump.

"There was nothing easy about it," said Celeste. "This was a very difficult decision for me."

"Then we should talk about it. Us. Without the lawyers."

"I've tried talking to you before, but you didn't want to listen. You want a house wife and I'm not that. I've never been that."

Armek looked past the lawyers at Celeste. "That can change."

"No it won't," said Celeste. She walked towards the exit door. "Give him whatever he wants as long as our business stays behind closed doors. I don't want to read this on the news tomorrow."

"Ma'am," said her lawyer. "I don't recommend that."

"You have your orders," she said as she left.

Celeste got in her car and saw a flash of light coming from across the street. It was a paparazzi. Celeste wiped the tears off her face. "Great," she whispered. She drove off, but then did an one eighty. She stopped in front of the paparazzi and got out of her vehicle. She snatched his camera away and smashed it on the ground.

"Hey," yelled the paparazzi. "That camera was expensive."

Celeste punched the paparazzi in the face, knocking him down. "My grief is not for your entertainment! Asshole." She returned inside her car and drove off.

Her cellphone rang. It was her lawyer. "I have some good news and some bad news," he said.

"What is it?"

"He agreed to the divorce and isn't taking anything. Your house, your vehicle and your property are still all yours."

"What's the bad news?"

"He's going to make your divorce public." The lawyer waited to see if she would say something. When she didn't, he continued. "Apparently, he's making a deal with a talk show host to talk about his relationship with a world military leader."

"Of course he is," said Celeste. "Sell all of my assets and take your portion from there. I'm going to put this place behind me. Bye."