Leonard walked forcefully into Norman's house, with his friend trying to keep up with him. He headed straight to the bar and was about to pick out a drink when he realized it was empty.

"It's empty. Why is your bar empty?" Turning to face the puzzled but collected Norman, he inquired.

"Because I don't drink." Norman pointed out with a blank expression on his face and his eyes searching Leonard's for answers.

Leonard looked away at the perfectly arranged house. Spotless white walls, sparkling cream tiles. "She left." He walked forward and took a seat nervously and his friend reluctantly accompanied him. "How could she just leave?" He turned to face Norman.

"How's Sara?" Norman asked.

His friend was dumbfounded and ran his hand through his raven black hair. "The hell I'm not talking about Sara! Elaine just got up one morning and decided to go away after everything without even bothering to tell me. That is not okay!"

Norman kept a stern look on his face. "How is Sara and the baby?" He reiterated.

"I don't know!" Leonard got up almost getting angry. "Norman, I'm so confused right now, I feel like the world is spinning." He complained. "I just need to talk to her. Just once. I can't move on if I don't." He collapsed into the sofa again.

His friend sighed, never taking his eyes off him. "Get your ass off my chair, go home and talk to your wife," He commanded.

"Norman, you don't understand-"

"There's nothing to understand here. Elaine has nothing to offer you. She has told you time without number that you can't have anything more than whatever stupid friendship you share. She doesn't love you. She doesn't care about your feelings! For once, she's doing the respectable thing by walking away so, get hold of yourself, Richard. Go home, apologize to Sara and move on with your life like she's done," he said energetically, emphasising every word so his dumb friend could actually get a point or two.

Leonard got up and walked forward. "I can't. I know you think I'm stupid but... You can't understand because you don't know what love is," he said walking towards the door.

"If love is ever going to make me a fool, I'd rather remain ignorant," he said causing his friend to pause slightly before walking out of his house. "You're such a fool," he muttered.

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Leonard walked into his living room. It had its very recent deafening silent aura. Everything was in its place and perfectly organised. The only thing missing was his beautiful wife and the alluring smile on her face.

Normally, she'd be sitting here, knitting or dramatically watching a movie or having too much to eat or... Sara didn't deserve this. He was making her suffer and she didn't deserve it one bit.

He walked towards his bedroom and his hand lingered on the doorknob. He pressed his ear on the door but couldn't hear a thing. Maybe she got tired of crying.

He couldn't take the silence anymore as he opened the door and his eyes came in contact with his distressed wife. She was staring into space and playing with the stray strand of hair that fell on her face. That was enough to tell him that he was being ignored.

Leonard sighed before attempting to walk out. "You're just going to leave?" Her voice caused him to freeze on the spot. "You've not come in here for days, you finally do and you're just going to leave."

He turned to face the woman who had struggled to get up. "Sara..." He knew they couldn't continue like this.

"Don't you have an explanation?" She inquired walking towards him. "I'm pregnant and hormonal and unstable and..." She sniffed as tears had blurred her vision. "Tell me I heard wrong, my love. Tell me I heard wrong." Leonard's heart broke as he watched her wallow in self-pity.

He shook his head and tried to hold her but she moved away from his grip.

"Don't touch me!" She wiped the tears roughly off her face. "Do you love that woman?" She asked.

"Sara..."

"Just answer me truthfully!" Her voice caused him to shiver. This was neither healthy for her nor their baby. How could he get her to stop this? "Are you in love with her?"

"Yes." That was an undeniable truth.

Contrary to his expectation, Sara laughed as tears uncontrollably strolled down her cheek. "Are you sleeping with her or am I supposed to even ask that?"

"No." He shook his head. "She doesn't love me in that way." He sounded more disappointed than sorry.

"Liar!" She hit him on the chest. "You know what hurts me the most?" She turned away to face the covered window. "I can't even do anything. I can't concentrate on my knitting, I can't do my book reviews, I can't even drown my sorrows on alcohol because I'm supposed to be worrying about my baby." She turned to face him again. "Your baby!"

Leonard ran his hand through his black hair nervously. He'd never imagined coming to this with Sara. Even though he didn't love her, they were comfortable and happy. All of this was because of the overwhelming feelings he had for Elaine that he just couldn't get rid of even though it only caused him pain.

"What am I supposed to do? Tell me!"

"I don't know! I never meant to hurt you. If I can take everything back, trust me, I would!" He said. "I know you want to leave me and... Sara, please. I just need you to forgive me," He said.

"Argh." She shifted as she had a slight contraction.

"Are you okay?" Leonard was worried and tried to get hold of her hand.

She pulled back. "Don't touch me!" She yelled as she walked to the bed and sat there to support herself. This was really coming at a bad time. She felt so vulnerable and defenseless. "I always knew something was wrong with this illusion I chose to call a marriage. Norman said you were adjusting to your new life and running the company, but now I think about it... I'm such a fool."

He sighed before walking towards her, falling on his knees and taking her hands in his. "How can I make this right?"

She hesitated to stare longingly at him and then spoke, "Let's leave this place." Sara got up and walked ahead. He turned to face her, still on his knees before slowly getting up.

"A vacation?" He asked.

She shook her head. "No. I want my child to be born and raised in a new environment. Away from all these troubles. Far away." For the first time since she'd found out about Elaine, he'd seen light in her eyes but all the life in his was slowly departing.

"No." Leonard shook his head. "We can't just leave. What about the company and..." He trailed off, knowing it'd be weird to say he couldn't leave Norman.

"Norman can handle it. He does that already. We need this, Leo," she said persuasively as she walked towards him. "Family comes first. We have to go. I know I'm probably being selfish but, that's for the best."

Her husband just couldn't agree. "No. I'm not going anywhere," he argued and without waiting to see her reaction, he walked out and then leaned against the door. *What the hell, Sara?*

His phone rang in his pocket, startling him out of his thoughts. He reached for it and picked it up.

"Hello?" He could recognize the voice from the other end even in his dream.

"Elaine!" He exclaimed enthusiastically before realizing that Sara could be listening. He prayed not as he walked away from the door. "How're you?" His voice came out as an audible whisper.

"I'm fine." She wasn't. Her voice told the whole story.

"Elle..."

"Leo, I know I shouldn't have called but I just had to." She inhaled and exhaled deeply.

He could hardly breathe as he listened to her, holding the phone to his ears like his life depended on it. "Elaine-"

"I only called to thank you." She interrupted him. "Even though people do not like me and truly I'm rude and uncouth and I... I don't deserve you. All these years, you have been there for me."

Leonard swallowed hard as he imagined tears streaming down her cheek. He knew Elaine was a very fragile and emotional person no matter how desperately she tried to hide it. He longed to hold her and protect her just as much as he had eight years ago when she confessed to him that she'd been brutally and severally molested by her stepfather. She was only a teenage girl left at his mercy after the demise of her mother.

She'd carried the burden on her shoulders, hating the world and making everyone hate her for her rude and derogatory remarks. It was all a facade to bury the hurt and broken girl.

However, being the only one with whom she'd shared her secret came with a price. She'd warned him countless times that they couldn't be anything more than friends.

Elaine was an enemy of love who only used men for her personal benefit and tossed their heart like trash however she pleased. She felt the need to constantly hurt people as though it was a remedy to her pain.

For the fact that she cared about Leonard too much, she'd asked him to never develop feelings for her.  He'd failed and now, he'd lost her again.

"I'm leaving. I'm glad we both agree it's for the best. Take care of yourself. Goodbye, Leo." She hung up before he could reply. He was devastated. How and why would he agree to that? He felt his world crumbling at his feet.

Elaine had said her final goodbye, Norman was unwilling to help, his wife was threatening to leave him, his mind was filled with so many heartbreaking thoughts. At that moment, he knew there was only one way out.

Leonard hurried back to his bedroom and swung the door open. "Where should we go?" He asked as Sara's expectant eyes met his and immediately, a smile had crept to her cheek.

Hey guys, I sincerely appreciate everyone reading this. It means a lot to me 💕

I decided to give some back story about Elaine and Leonard's relationship because it felt necessary.

Comment your thoughts on it and kindly vote if you liked the chapter. ❤