Chapter 5
However, these flower plants had been in the pots for too long and were already deeply rooted.
The ground was soft with grass covered by thick snow.
I threw so many pots on the ground with force, but only one was broken.
I stood in the snow, blankly watching the messy flower pots fall on the ground.
After watching for a long time, I suddenly started to feel sorry again.
I squatted down and helped them up one by one, then put them back.
But they were all the flowers I planted myself.
Even if they were really broken, I only broke my own things.
What Nora really wanted was not these flowers.
If they were broken, no one else would be sad, except me.
When I put the last pot of flowers in place, a cold wind blew in the snow.
The biting cold poured into my mouth and nose, and I couldn't stop coughing violently
A bloody color spilled out onto the dim snow, like petals of a rose falling on the ground
But my flowers were yellow, and the ones on the ground were red
I couldn't stop coughing.
My chest feels blocked and painful. I couldn't breathe, and I couldn't stop retching
As my vision gradually blurred, there were more and more petals on the ground, until everything went black, and I fell down
Just before I hit the ground, someone grabbed my shoulder
I struggled to look up, but before I could see who it was, I fell into a coma.
I thought I slept for a long time.
Sometimes, I thought it was really unlucky.
It was rare for me to get a good night's sleep and have a dream.
But it had to be a nightmare about Jonah.
I dreamed about the seven years I spent with him.
Seven years ago, I was going to marry Jonah.
Actually, it wasn't my request; Jonah pursued me relentlessly first.
At that time, the Wren family and my family intended to form a marriage alliance.
I hadn't even met Jonah a few times, so naturally, I didn't agree.
But Jonah approached me and said that he really liked me.
He mentioned that in college, he came to the Academy of Fine Arts to play ball with friends and saw me painting, and it was love at first sight.
I didn't take it to heart, thinking he was either joking or it was just a whim.
But he began to pursue me very seriously.
Rainy days, he'd bring me an umbrella; holidays, he'd bring me flowers; when the temperature dropped, he'd hand me a steaming drink.
When he looked at me, his eyes were always gentle and affectionate.
People's eyes were always the hardest to deceive.
So I gradually thought that he really seemed to like me.
Later, on New Year's Eve, I stayed at home alone.
Night fell, and the surroundings were silent and cold.
Late at night, he braved the heavy rain and traveled across most of the city just to bring me ravioli he had made.
The ravioli was a bit salty, and I frowned after taking a bite.
He apologized to me sincerely. "It's my first time making ravioli. I'll definitely put less salt next time."
Because of the ravioli on New Year's Eve, I agreed to marry him.
The reason was simple.
The last time I had ravioli on New Year's Eve was when I was eight years old, when my mother was still alive.
Maybe because it had been too many years, and finally, someone was willing to spend New Year's Eve with me.
Later, on our wedding night, I accidentally saw a photo of a girl in his desk drawer.
That was the first time I saw Nora's photo.
Jonah didn't lie to me.
He seemed so sincere, saying that Nora was his ex.
He hugged me tightly and promised. "Everyone has a past. But with me, there will only ever be Ella, never Nora."
I nodded.
I thought an ex didn't matter.
Almost a month after the wedding, we started trying to conceive.
I went to the obstetrics and gynecology department of the hospital for an examination and saw Nora for the first time.
She held a pregnancy test report in her hand; she was pregnant.
I didn't take it too seriously and left the hospital.
My days with Jonah continued as usual.
He was still the husband who loved me the most, still caring, and still full of deep affection.
Until one day, he suddenly rushed back to question me, almost hysterically.
That was the first time I saw him lose his temper.
He was full of hate and looked ferocious.
He said furiously, "Stop acting, Ella. That day, you saw Nora and knew she was pregnant. After that, she had an abortion. You deliberately hid it and didn't tell me."
Only then did I vaguely understand that the fetus was his.
Now he was questioning me instead.
I found it ridiculous. "What did I act? Did I say I didn't see her? And why should I tell you specifically?"
He once told me that from then on, for him, there was only Ella, not Nora.
The child Nora was pregnant with was conceived before Jonah married me.
The fetus was over three months old, and Nora risked a great deal to have an abortion, almost losing her life in the process
But what did that have to do with me?
Jonah clenched his fists, his forehead veins bulging
He was truly in pain. "If I had known, if I could have known earlier that she was pregnant—"
His voice stopped there
I asked him with a sneer, "If you had known earlier, then what?"
What a self-evident answer.
If he had known earlier, he wouldn't have broken up with Nora, and he wouldn't have married me.
But when exactly did I agree to be one of his option A and option B?
I had always wanted all of his love.
He had said that he would give me everything.
I finally slowly understood a lot of things.
Jonah had a bad relationship with his father.
His father had a mistress and an illegitimate child, and even wanted to bring them home to compete with Jonah for the company.
Jonah married me only to increase his bargaining chips.
He wanted to seize the company as soon as possible and take revenge on his father, and I was one of his tools.
When Jonah went to the Academy of Fine Arts in college, he didn't go to play ball with friends, but to see Nora from the Academy of Fine Arts.
That night on New Year's Eve, the ravioli Jonah gave me were not actually made by him.
But that was just a boxed, heated meal I randomly bought at the supermarket.
Those ravioli were too salty and not tasty.
So later, the supermarket stopped selling them.
I was so touched by a box of low-quality ravioli that cost 6 dollars that I married Jonah.
Once, after Jonah and I had a falling out, I overheard him talking to a friend when he was drunk. "No one is really nice to Ella. Don't mention ravioli, which costs 6 dollars, even 3 dollars or 1 dollar would move her to tears."
Later, he successfully seized control of his dad's company and started arguing with me for a divorce for Nora.
I just wouldn't agree and dragged it out for many years.
For the sake of his reputation, he would still look at me with deep affection in front of others.
I then realized that the deep affection in his eyes when we first met was all an act.
Everything was a lie.