Chapter 2
The next morning.
Alexander left early.
The gift box still sat untouched on the dining table, quiet and out of place.
I walked over, pulled out a chair, and slowly untied the ribbon.
Inside was a folder.
The divorce papers. Already signed.
Truth be told, I hadn’t decided until last night what kind of gift I wanted to give him,
The divorce papers…
Or the pregnancy test results.
But as I sat through the endless wait, listening to the wind outside and watching the sky light up with fireworks he set off for someone else, the answer became clear.
The man I once loved with everything I had…
Was already lost, somewhere on the road he’d come from, and he wasn’t looking back.
Seven years ago. Christmas Eve. Snow falling.
I was studying abroad. I’d gone out alone to buy cold medicine but passed out in my car from a fever.
Alexander happened to be passing by. He pulled me out, took me to the hospital.
That night changed everything.
After that, I fell, completely and helplessly.
My friends warned me.
“Everyone in the international student scene knows Alexander. Rich, handsome, from an elite family.”
“He’s not the kind of guy you get serious with. Just have fun, keep it casual.”
But I couldn’t help it.
I had seen a side of him others hadn’t.
How he was cold and distant in public, yet fiercely possessive in private.
How he’d get quietly jealous when someone got too close to me.
How he would reach out in the middle of a snowstorm, warm my frozen fingers with his breath, and tuck them into his coat pocket like they were something precious.
I thought that was love.
I thought I was special.
But it turns out, my friends were right all along.
After we got married, everything started to change.
The turning point came when he accidentally found out that my mother and his stepmother, whom he despised, were old friends.
After that, something in his eyes shifted.
He went from warm and passionate, to guarded.
From guarded, to distant.
From distant… to nothing at all.
I don’t know if he truly hated me because of that connection, or if he just fell out of love.
He stopped hiding his affairs.
Started flaunting them.
Showed up in tabloid headlines with actresses and influencers. Kept a mistress like it was no big deal.
And me?
I went from defending myself desperately, to crying alone, to quietly giving up.
A knock at the door pulled me out of my thoughts.
It was his assistant.
She smiled politely, holding out a sleek box.
“Mr. Morgan asked me to deliver this. Your anniversary gift.”
Inside was a diamond ring. Sparkling, flawless.
But it wasn’t my size.
Of course it wasn’t.
I stared at it for a moment, then closed the lid.
No more memories. No more regrets.
I picked up the folder with the divorce papers, and walked out the door,
finally ready to let go.
