A/N: thank you lovetop101 for your support.

Happy reading!

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Claire finally breathed a sigh of relief when Drake came out of his shock and addressed her professionally. She again told the tale - in details, on how she came to know that she is married. At some point during the retelling, she brought out again the copy of the marriage registry together with her birth cerificate when Drake indicated with a hand that he needed to see the papers.

Drake scanned both the papers in utter silence. It took him several seconds before he tore his eyes away from the documents and turned his head to Lucas with a knowing look and brows both raised.

---

Lucas waited a moment for Drake to finish reading the papers. He droned out himself during the recounting of how Claire acquire the knowledge of being his wife of five years, by staring again at the lady in front of him.

It took him awhile to notice that Drake is looking at him with both brows raised, and a 'I told you so' look plastered on his face. He sighed a deep sigh and run his fingers through his hair before standing up, turned to Drake and motioned to follow him with a slight jerk of his head. He turned to Claire and said that he will talk with his lawyer privately in which Claire promptly told him that she can leave the room if they needed more privacy, adding as well that she needs to go to the ladies room anyway. With his nod and a simple thank you, Claire stood and walked towards the double door. He waited for the door to completely shut before he turned to his friend with a glare, wherein Drake only replied with a knowing smile.

"I know I'm already in deep shit, that is why I called you. No need to remind me that you doubted this whole plan before, that you even talked me out if it." He said while walking back and forth in front of his friend.

He returned his gaze when he heard no response, he thought maybe he froze again in shock. But he became annoyed with the look that Drake is wearing on his face.

"What?!" He spat, glaring even more which he only countered with a chuckle.

"Nothing man." Drake said instead of the real reason he is chuckling, which is, that Lucas was clearly captivated by the lady. "I just thought that, all the things I perceived may happen, are incomparable to this." Drake answered now with a serious face.

"I know..this did not came up in my mind as well even when I was only contemplating about that plan - which was way before I opened it up to you." He sat again clearly deflated. A comfortable silence settled over them, both men deep in their own thoughts.

After sometime, Lucas heard his friend asked. "So, what does she wants? Did she asked for anything already? Money perhaps or to be recognized as your wife even in papers only?" Drake asked him without a pause.

"We did not get to that part yet." At his reply, Drake asked him in bewilderment. "You did not ask her that first? What were you two talking about when I came in? It is seems you are both in a discussion. Ms. Sophie even told me when I came up that there was a shouting session as well."

Lucas was at first hesitant to answer his friend, he felt shy to tell him their topic he interrupted when he barge in his office, but dismissed the idea since this is his bestfriend. He knows everything about him, way more than his family. "Well," he started but at his friend's scrutinizing gaze, he began to squirm on his seat.

"Well, what?" Drake asked, impatience evident on his tone.

"Wewerediscussingabouthavingonetruelovethatisbroughtbydestinyandfate." He hurriedly said that each words mixed with each other making it difficult to comprehend.

"What was that?" Drake asked, brows furrowing, jumbling in his mind the words that he heard.

Lucas sighed deeply at his friend and repeated what he said, slowly now. "We were discussing about having one true love that is brought by destiny and fate." Drake guffawed at his reply, bringing tears in his eyes. Lucas waited patiently for his friend to finish laughing. A pissed look on his face.

Drake knows that his pissed off look is not because he is laughing at his expense but because of the reason why he is laughing.

"I cannot believe you were discussing that sort of thing especially with a woman, no less." Drake expressed his disbelief still with a chuckle.

"I know, and I cannot believe it myself. It's just that I was offended when she said that she doesn't want to be married to someone like me - her very words. It was like something snapped inside of me, so I asked why, and so from that point the topic of love, destiny and fate came up." Lucas explained lenghtly.

"Your ego was bruised man. Because for the first time, someone doesn't like your guts." Drake said with a teasing tone.

"Yeah, she said that as well. And so, the topic of why she is here was never discussed until you came in. But one thing is for sure, she's not happy about the situation. She doesn't want to be married without love, and she is not pleased knowing that she is now married to me without even her consent. I mean, I know that the circumstances are not pleasurable but she talked as if I look like an ogre with how displeased she were." Drake laughed out loud again at him; the only response that he got since he did not stop until later.

"I never knew there will be someone who will not want you - the great Lucas Gregory Harrison V." Drake said this still with a laugh. He never thought that there will be someone who will rattle his friend's confidence with women, and he is pleased to know that it is Claire who did that.

---

Lucas never minded that Drake is laughing his heart out at his expense, they were already so far out in their friendship that they can laugh wholeheartedly on anything about each other for him to be pissed. But he is pissed, alright, especially when he saw how Claire smiled at him a while ago. He wants that smile to be directed to him, only at him - 'He couldn't be jealous, could he?' He asked to himself, disbelieving his very own thought. He shook his head to clear it off from his head then turned his gaze to his friend who already stopped laughing and now deep in his own thought. He was about to say something when Drake beat him into it.

---

"What if, you will just pursue her like any normal female, maybe she will find you likeable at least, if not lovable after getting to know you." Drake said with all seriousness.

"I don't know if I can do that. She wants things that I cannot give her, even if she will come to like or love me in the end. I still respect the female population in general, although, with how the way I am with them relationshipwise is contrary." He said while elbows propped on his knees and face on his knuckles.

"Just give it a try man." Drake still urges him. He was about to say something back when the door opens and in came his wife - is he claiming her as his already? He shook his head to vanish the idea before he started exploring it in his mind then returned his gaze to Claire, following her every step until she sat on the sofa in front of them.

---

Claire went out the office to give some sort of privacy to the men, then asked Sophie for the direction of the washroom. She badly needed to relieve herself, with all the nerves she felt a while back and the amount of fluids she drank, her bladder is about to explode. She also needed a reprieve from everything that happened inside the office.

She finished her business and came back inside, offering a smile to Sophie as she passed by her desk. She knocked first and opened the door. She knew they were talking about a serious matter with how the men look. She felt she interrupted a very important topic. She made her way to the sofa and sat on the same spot, aware that Lucas is following her every move.

When she settled herself on the sofa, she urged herself to speak about her sole reason into making herself known. She cleared her throat before she looked at the men in front of her. "I know both of you were wondering why I came here." When both men only stared at her with brows furrowed, she continued. "I want my name to be removed from that contract permanently. I don't know what term to use, a divorce, annulment, a legal separation or whatever, as long as I can see that my name has been wiped out clean from that."

Claire already made up her mind a long time ago, she wants the blasted document to be gone forever and for her name not to be connected with some stranger that she only now met.

"Okay, Claire, we do understand your concern. Do you have any other demand besides that?" Drake asked slowly.

"No, I don't have other demand, only what I have already stated. Oh, one more thing, I want the process to be quiet as possible. I don't want to involve other people in this mess other than us, especially our family, my family to be specific." She wondered why there was a look of disbelief in their eyes after she answered the question when clearly they were waiting for another demand from her. When she saw that the men looked at each other, clearly communicating with their eyes rather than words, that everything became clear. Her eyes widened at the realization. "You both thought that I came here to extort money from him, don't you?!" She exclaimed, her voice slightly raised. She even pointed her slender finger to Lucas for emphasis.

She continued gaping at them, when they only answered with silence she added. "Unbelievable! I have never thought of doing that." Hurt evident on her voice.

Lucas only smoothen his hair while Drake cleared his throat.

"We're sorry about that." Drake said slowly to pacify her. "But you cannot blame us for thinking that way. There has been so many instances before where different women will come here claiming things and asking for money, that if not granted, they threathen to ruin my friend." He explained lenghtly to appease her even more.

Lucas stayed quiet all throughout, not because he doesn't care of Claire's feelings, but because he felt a protective streak in himself when he saw the look of hurt on her face that he wanted to bang his head at the wall for thinking the worst of her. He doesn't know where it came from but it is there and he is afraid of it.

He refocused his mind on the present when he heard Drake's voice. "Okay Claire and Lucas, if we will really go through with the divorce, we need a concrete reason for that to happen."

"We can use non-consummation of marriage, which is true in every sense of course." Claire answered excitedly, she already thought about it before. She even did some research on the net and asking a lawyer that she knows about the process of divorce and legal separation. Of course, she did it discreetly, she even lied to that person about the reason why she is interested in the topic, claiming she is following a series on television with that kind of plot. She was snapped out of her thoughts when Lucas spoke in a bewildered tone.

"How can we use non-consummation of marriage as a reason for our divorce with your looks?" he asked.

It took her awhile to respond. "I don't know. Maybe declare that you are gay?" She answered, a serious look on her face.

"What?!!" His booming voice erupted like a volcano.

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Lol!! Declare that he is gay she said..I am loving the last part of this chapter, hope you did too.

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Thank you for reading..until next time.

-blue