Chapter 2

Every time I couldn't help but let the anger out, the sadness would come rushing in right after, swallowing me whole.

Just like now. All I could do was hold onto my mom's old phone, the one she used before she passed, and try to comfort myself, like holding it might somehow save me.

"Mom," I murmured. I pressed my forehead against the cold screen and recorded a message instead of calling.

"I miss you and Dad," I whispered. "Ethan's hurting me again. He brought that woman, and now they're both ganging up on me."

Ethan was right. I really didn't have a place to call home anymore.

I was ten when my parents died in a car accident. His family took me in.

Lana said that was probably when my depression started taking root.

It stayed buried so deep inside me that I never even noticed it was there.

It wasn't until Ethan kept pushing my buttons over and over, and then, over something that seemed so small to everyone else, I finally snapped.

But it wasn't always like this.

Ever since I was little, Ethan, three years older than me, was my everything.

He was always kind of distant, but on rainy days, he'd carry me on his back through the flooded streets. Whenever I failed a test, he'd help me with it again and again until I finally got it.

I did everything I could just to keep up with him.

He got into med school, so did I. He picked clinical medicine, and I did too. He went into heart surgery, and I followed right behind.

I was terrified of flying, but with Ethan by my side, I could do anything, even get on a plane.

The year his mother, Eileen Bell, passed away, Ethan proposed to me.

I thought that was it for us. A quiet, ordinary life. Safe and steady.

But then, a year ago, Lucy showed up.

Ethan let her cover his desk with those childish cartoon stickers. He even stooped to making those cheesy outfit change videos with her.

I only asked about it, and his face instantly went dark. "It's just for the department's promotion. Don't overthink it. It just makes you look cheap," he said.

I kept swallowing it down, over and over. Until the night Ethan got wasted at the department party, and Lucy was the one who dragged him home.

While he was in the bathroom, she leaned against the doorframe and shot me a challenging look.

"Lila, Ethan was calling out my name all night while he was drunk. Did you hear it?" she said.

I was so furious that I lost it. I slapped her hard across the face.

Three days later, the clinical data I'd stayed up three nights in a row to organize ended up in Lucy's paper.

When I confronted Ethan, he didn't even look up. "Lucy just graduated. She needs this paper to get a permanent position. She's young and gets embarrassed easily. That slap was way out of line. So just think of this as me apologizing to her for you."

*****

I spent the whole afternoon at Lana's place. I drifted in and out of sleep, but kept having nightmares.

When I finally woke up, it was pitch black outside.

My phone was blowing up with over a dozen missed calls, all from Ethan.

I texted him: [Let's get a divorce.]

Lucy messaged me almost right away.

In the photo, she was wearing a gold locket. The surface was worn smooth, polished by years of being held close.

Then a message: [Ethan said this didn't really suit you, so he gave it to me to play with. Hope you don't mind, Lila?]

That locket was my mom's, her only keepsake.

The clasp on the chain had broken, so I left it in my room at Ethan's parents' home.

He really just gave it to Lucy like it meant nothing?

I spammed Ethan with video calls, desperate and out of control.

This time, he picked up almost immediately. His face looked drawn and exhausted.

"Are you done throwing your little tantrum? Just come home. How many times are you going to pull this runaway act?" he said.

I cut him off. "Why did you give her my mom's gold locket?"

Ethan paused for a moment, then shrugged it off.

"She just wanted to try it on for some photos. Don't be so petty. It's just an object. It's not like it matters. It was just sitting there gathering dust," he said.

At that moment, I felt like my blood had frozen in my veins. "Ethan! That's..."

"Lila, it's this petty attitude that's making you act crazy. Lucy's just a young girl, you..." He had that tone again, like he was above it all, preaching down at me.

"That's my mom's keepsake!" I screamed hysterically.

Ethan froze. After a few seconds of silence, he pinched the bridge of his nose and muttered, "I thought it was just one of those necklaces I bought you."

After a few seconds of silence, he pinched the bridge of his nose and muttered, "I thought it was just one of those necklaces I bought you."

He had even forgotten something this important.

Just then, Lucy's voice broke in. She sounded wronged. "I'm so sorry, Ethan. I didn't know this necklace belonged to Lila's mom. I'll take it off right away."

But then I heard a startled gasp, followed by a sharp clink, like something hitting the floor.

My heart froze in that instant.

"Ethan, what happened to the necklace?" I shouted.

The video jolted, and Ethan turned off the camera without a word.

No explanation. No comfort. Once again, he shut me out.

"If you want to know what happened, come back and see for yourself. And stop using divorce as a threat," he said.

Then he hung up.

I fell into despair.