Hey guys, thanks for the abundant reviews for the previous chapter! ^^

For TheNinjaKitty13, your question would be answered (hopefully) in this chapter.

Reine was still speechless. "Promise me," his voice was almost like a plea. "Promise me you will sign it."

"I…"

The door creaked open. Neil and Reine got up at the same time and found little Kate behind the door, holding her doll. "Daddy? Mommy?"

Reine, her side nearer to the door, was the first to stepped down from the bed and approached Kate, "Yes, little Kate? Is there anything wrong?"

"I had a nightmare…" she replied faintly, "and I can't sleep anymore. Can I sleep here tonight?"

Reine scooped her daughter up and brought her to the bed, "Of course, dear."

As soon as Kate touched the mattress, she reached for her father, wrapping her arms around his body, reaching as far as she could. "So, wanna tell me about your nightmare?" Neil asked. "They said if you tell your nightmare to other people, they won't come true."

Her face lightened up. "Really?"

"Yes, really." Neil assured her.

Kate held onto Neil even tighter, "My nightmare was Daddy leaving the house and never coming back." She replied innocently.

"Daddy didn't even say goodbye to Mommy, Keith, and me. I tried to run to Daddy, but Daddy ignored me. Then Daddy disappeared."

No one spoke after that. Kate then took a deep breath, seemingly relieved from a heavy burden. She then looked up to her father with her large, violet eyes. Despite having his eyes, every time he looked at little Kate, Neil always thought that he was looking at Reine's much younger and calmer version.

"Daddy?"

"Yes, little Kate?"

"I told you my nightmare," she mused as she began dozing off, feeling safe since she could feel her father's warmth on her skin, "so it won't come true, right?"

Mikhail Calleigh had agreed to meet Reine Forrester outside of his office; a small café just down the road from his law firm. As compared to his spacious office, the café, despite its relative crowdedness was warmer in atmosphere. Mikhail had chosen this place because he hoped that this meeting would be less formal and friendlier in nature.

"Mr Calleigh," Reine greeted as she approached him. Mikhail sombrely noted that she called him 'Mr Calleigh' again. Today she was wearing a light pink dress, black cardigan with black handbag. Her hair was arranged neatly into a bun with some strands of her hair was let down naturally on the side of her face.

He stood up and greeted her. "Mrs Forrester,"

Reine sat across him, straightening her skirt as she did. "You called me Mr Calleigh again."

She seemed to get what he was driving at. "The last time we met, you weren't in the capacity of being my lawyer, so I called you 'Calleigh'."

Mikhail smiled, "I see."

His mind went to that particular day again. It went without saying that Reine Forrester still had feelings for her husband. Just like many of his cases, usually the wife would be the one who had a harder time letting go, even when the grounds of divorce was adultery on the husband part. However, in the case of the Forresters, Mikhail had become unsure of whether Neil Forrester did commit adultery like his initial suspicion; their latest encounter was enough indicator for Mikhail that Neil was jealous when he saw his wife together with another man. Then again, even unfaithful husbands could feel that way towards their wives even when they had an affair themselves.

Men were prideful creatures, after all.

On the same note, Mikhail felt a certain sense of pride when he realised Neil's jealousy. That meant Neil saw him as a worthy rival for Reine's affection. However, in the honour of professionalism, he swatted away those thoughts quickly and got back to the current matters.

Their agenda for today was to finalise the division of marital property as well as the custody. Neil had sent him an email beforehand telling him that only Reine would go to the meeting since he had something else to do and that they had talked over about it.

"How about the children?" Mikhail asked, out of curiosity.

"I'm sorry?" Reine replied; she was obviously spacing out a moment ago, which was what prompted Mikhail to pose the question besides his personal curiosity.

"You have two children, right? A son, and a daughter."

"Yes."

"Do they know about this?"

"No," Reine replied. "Well, I do have a feeling that Keith suspects, though. He is always sharp."

"Do you really plan to keep this from them until the end?"

"If we need to, yes." Reine said, "Little Kate adores her father so much, this would hurt her."

"So the two of you are going to pretend that you are still married for the sake of the children?"

"No. I won't live a lie."

"Then?" Mikhail taunted, the thought of Reine being in a sham marriage with Neil infuriated him. "You can't keep this from them forever."

That was it for Reine. She banged the table in front of her, "Do you think this is what I want?" she asked, her voice raised, "But tell me, how do you tell a six-year old, who adores her father to the end of the earth, who just had a nightmare last night of her father leaving and never coming back, that he was going to disappear from her life for real, forever?!" Her green eyes flared in fury, "Tell me!"

Mikhail wondered for a moment what Reine meant by 'forever' since he was unaware of the truth of Neil's condition. However, he could understand that telling the children about their parents' separation could be a difficult task, especially to the younger ones, and especially if, in the children's eyes, their parents were doing fine together.

"I think this is it, Mr Calleigh. I can't go on." Reine said, adjusting her breath.

"What do you mean?" Mikhail asked, fearing for the worst. For a moment he didn't see himself as a lawyer who should have just followed what his client wanted, but as a man who vied for her affection. "Are you dropping the suit?"

Reine stared at him for a moment, seriously considering the option. She then remembered Neil's request last night.

"When the time comes, sign those papers."

What if the time never comes? She found herself asking, What if…

His voice interrupted her train of thoughts.

"For the kids. For us."

For the kids. Reine had understood the power of that phrase; as a mother, she would do anything in her power to keep her children safe, shielding them from any unnecessary danger and harm.

Which one would bring more harm to them: their parents separating, or their father dying before their eyes?

For us. In actuality, Neil had given her what she had wanted: a divorce. But things had changed since then, and now she understood that Neil himself had wanted the divorce because he would rather die alone, not hurting those he held dear. However, was this how she wanted them to end? Was this the point in time when they hoped they'd be?

Eventually, she was his wife. Respecting what Neil had wanted of her, she replied, "No."

Mikhail put all the papers to their files accordingly. "If there is anymore changes in the terms of agreement, please contact me by the end of this week," he said.

"If not?"

Mikhail stared into her eyes. "The divorce papers will be ready by late mid June."

Late mid June. That would be somewhere near her birthday.

With little Kate having a nightmare of her father leaving the family, and Reine goes through the proceeding only for the sake of respecting her husband's wishes instead of her own, everything goes down to Neil Forrester.

Stay tuned for the next chapter!

The request box is still open: please tell me what you want to know between Neil and Reine during the gap year between the two stories.

You guys can also 'vote up' suggesstions others had already made if you guys want it to be included, too.

Example of voting up:

Mew-Star-Mew mentioned that she wanted to know 'how he brought up the children'.

Akikaze Ryo wanted to know the same thing.

I will count it as a vote up. So, yeah, just mention the scene you want ^^

tell me what you want through the reviews! I will take five top scenes that you guys have picked out. Thank you so ever much!