Divorced At Eighteen

Chapter 01

MINAH stared at the glass she had accidentally knocked over. It shattered as it hit the floor.

She swallowed hard.

Luckily, it had been empty. She quickly moved to clean up the shards scattered across the kitchen floor of her apartment.

Being independent wasn’t easy, to say the least. There was no one she could rely on but herself.

As a fresh college graduate, she had recently had an argument with her father, Frank Cowin. He wanted her to return to Townsville to manage the family business, but she had stubbornly refused.

If there was one place she didn’t want to go, Townsville was at the top of that list.

Even thinking about where she came from brought back a dull ache to her heart.

Five years had passed, but it felt like just yesterday. Time hadn’t been enough to fully heal the wounds in her heart. For now, she was firm in her decision to stay away from home.

She had seen her parents during her graduation, spending a week with them.

“At least come home for Christmas,” her father had pleaded. “Let’s be complete here in Townsville, my child…”

But Minah had declined.

She wasn’t ready to set foot in Townsville. Just the thought of it felt like someone was wringing her heart.

As she picked up one of the larger shards of glass, she accidentally nicked her finger. Blood immediately oozed from the cut, and she rinsed her injured hand under running water.

She made her way to the bathroom to grab the first aid kit from the medicine cabinet. After treating the wound, she returned to cleaning the kitchen.

She didn’t have plans for the day, so she stayed in her apartment, feeling an unusual laziness take over. Nothing seemed appealing.

Her eyes wandered to her passport, resting on her bedside table.

With the Christmas holiday approaching, she had decided to surprise her parents with a vacation trip to Europe. They would stay there until the New Year.

At least they would all be together.

The thought brought a smile to Minah’s lips.

Her smile grew even wider when she received a call from James, her father’s right-hand man.

“Hey, James,” she greeted cheerfully.

“Lady Minah,” James replied, his voice strained as if holding back something.

James, now in his fifties, had always been fiercely loyal to her parents, especially her father.

“Are you okay?” she asked, sensing something off.

“You need to come back to Townsville as soon as possible,” he said firmly.

Her brows furrowed. “James, I’ve already told Dad and Mom I’m not coming home to Townsville for Christmas. Is Dad with you? Can I talk to him? Instead of me going there, I’ve already bought plane tickets for them to join me in Europe. We’ll meet in Germany next weekend and spend plenty of time together until January. Sound good, right?” she said excitedly. “Or I can just send you the tickets via email, and you can give them the printed copies as a surprise gift from me. We’ll do a video call.”

James didn’t respond immediately.

“James?” she prompted, feeling uneasy.

She heard him take a deep breath, and her unease deepened.

Something wasn’t right.

“Lady Minah, I’ll say it again—you need to come back to Townsville as soon as possible.”

“You don’t sound happy about my plans for the holiday, James,” she said, puzzled. “James, let me talk to Dad. Hand him the phone, please.”

“You… you can’t speak to him anymore, Lady Minah,” James said, his voice cracking.

Minah froze, her mind racing to dismiss the implications of his words.

“W-What do you mean, James?” she asked, her voice trembling.

“Lady Minah, please brace yourself,” James began, his usually steady voice breaking.

Minah’s grip on her phone tightened.

“Did something happen?” she asked, tears already forming in her eyes, though she hadn’t yet heard the worst.

“Your parents were in an accident… They were pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. Please, Lady Minah, be strong. You need to come back as soon as you can. I’m begging you—”

But Minah didn’t hear the rest. The phone slipped from her trembling hands, landing on the floor.

James wouldn’t lie about something like this. And if it was a joke, it was a cruel one.

She felt herself collapse onto the floor beside her bed, her legs no longer able to hold her.

“D-Dad,” she whispered shakily. “M-Mom…”

Her chest tightened painfully as if it was caving in on itself.

A sudden dizziness overtook her, and she shook her head, trying to dispel it.

This can’t be happening.

It wasn’t possible for her parents to be gone just like that.

“No!” she screamed suddenly, tears streaming down her face. “It can’t be true!”

And with that, she broke into heart-wrenching sobs, the weight of her grief crushing her entirely.

NO MATTER how much Minah wanted to deny the truth that her parents were gone, she had to accept it eventually.

Especially after James sent her a photo.

She was now on a plane back to Australia, leaving California, where she currently lived.

Returning to Townsville had never been part of her plans. But why did this have to happen now, at the worst possible time?

Her parents were gone.

Her heart couldn’t accept the fact that when she saw them again, they would be lifeless.

Tears welled up in her eyes again.

Her parents were still in the morgue, waiting for her to return so they could be given a proper funeral.

When she had finally calmed down after hearing the shocking news that had nearly shattered her all over again, she quickly packed her belongings for her trip to Townsville. Instead of sending James a copy of a plane ticket for her parents, he was the one who sent her a ticket back to Australia.

The roles had been reversed.

Her parents had been involved in a multi-car collision. Her dad, Frank, had been driving at the time. He had insisted on driving that day instead of having their personal driver take them. It was supposed to be a simple day out for just the two of them.

Now, she couldn’t help but regret that her last conversation with her father had been an argument—because she stubbornly refused to return to Townsville.

Minah closed her eyes and let the tears flow freely down her cheeks.

It’s too soon for you to leave me, Dad, Mom, she thought. What am I supposed to do now?

She felt completely lost, her loneliness more profound than ever.

At eighteen, she’d been divorced by the man she had thought would be her partner for life.

Now, at twenty-three, her parents had left her, permanently and without warning.

She couldn’t stop herself from revisiting the memories of everything that had happened before…

She had gone to her father’s office to speak to him directly, having carefully thought out her plan.

She wanted to leave. She wanted to go somewhere far away, hoping that the pain in her chest might eventually fade.

Asher’s betrayal had devastated her.

Her heart had been mourning, as though she’d experienced a death.

“Dad,” Minah greeted her father with a smile when she reached him. But behind that smile was a deep sadness. She hugged him tightly as she approached.

Her father was busy at his desk.

“We need to talk,” her father said.

“I actually wanted to tell you something, too, Dad,” Minah replied.

Frank Cowin looked at her intently, as though trying to read her mind. But Minah did her best to conceal her true feelings at that moment.

“You go first, Dad,” she said with a smile before sitting in the chair opposite his desk.

Her father sighed, his gaze steady on her.

“You’re going to study college in California,” he finally said.

Minah froze at her father’s words. He had always been against her studying abroad, preferring to keep the family close. As an only child, her parents wanted her nearby.

“Dad—”

“My decision is final, Minah.”

She pressed her lips together.

If only her father knew how much she wanted this—to leave Townsville and put as much distance as possible between herself and Asher.

She smiled at her father, regaining her composure. “Okay, Dad. Can I leave as soon as possible?” she asked. Her father quickly approved.

If only she could go back and change the past. If only she hadn’t been so devastated by Asher divorcing her, maybe she would have stayed in Townsville. Maybe she could have spent more time with her parents.

Minah felt like she had wasted five years.

And regret, as always, came too late.