Chapter 2
Emily silently opened the car's dashcam footage on her phone.
Inside the car, Andrew's face was shadowed as he stared at the name flashing on his phone screen.
The next moment, he slammed his phone against the car window.
It hit with a loud thud, bouncing off and landing on the passenger side floor.
The ringtone kept blaring, each note like a countdown to doom.
Andrew fought silently, his fingers tightening around the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white.
Finally, as if surrendering, he bent down, picked up the phone, and answered. "Hello?"
On the other end, there was only a woman's quiet sobs, echoing in the stillness of the car.
After what felt like forever, he finally heard the woman let out a choked sound, as if she couldn't hold back her feelings any longer. "I miss you so much."
Andrew's breathing instantly grew ragged.
Emily leaned against the window, watching the car below shoot off into the night like a bullet.
It carried Andrew away, leaving Emily behind, racing toward a future without her.
In a daze, Emily saw her tear-streaked face staring back at her from the glass.
The car soon pulled up to Olivia's apartment complex.
What should have been a 45-minute drive was over in 26 minutes.
Inside the car, the sounds of their desperate kisses and ragged breathing filled the air.
Again and again, they couldn't get enough of each other, so urgent, so wild.
Emily stood by the window, staring up at the lonely moon hanging in the sky.
All night long, she listened to her lover making love to another woman.
Emily and Andrew were childhood friends who grew up side by side.
He was five years older than her, and ever since she could remember, he'd always been by her side.
He was the one who helped her take her first steps, bought her candy, and carried her home.
Whenever she was bullied, he was always the first to rush in and protect her.
When she was struggling, he'd stay up all night with her, helping her sort things out.
And when danger came, he was the one who threw himself in front of her, got hit by a car, and almost ended up paralyzed.
He was her brother, her husband, her flesh and blood, someone she could never let go of. He was her whole world.
'But how could someone like Andrew, who meant everything to me, end up falling for someone else?' Emily wondered.
It wasn't until dawn broke that Emily finally moved, her body numb from the cold wind. She pulled the divorce papers out from the bottom of the safe.
She'd made him sign them the day he swore he'd come home for good.
If he ever cheated again, he'd walk away with nothing. But no matter how harsh the punishment, it couldn't stop someone whose heart had already turned away.
Emily signed her name on the papers with painstaking care, every stroke heavy with resolve. Then, clutching the divorce agreement, she marched straight to the law firm.
After Emily handed the agreement to the lawyer, he carefully reviewed it before turning to her. "Ms. Harper, after the 20-day cooling-off period, you can get your divorce decree."
Emily nodded slightly. "Thanks for your help."
As she stepped out of the law firm, her phone suddenly rang.
She glanced at the screen and saw it was Andrew calling.
Emily hit the end call button, and then her eyes fell on the lock screen, a photo of her and Andrew together.
It was a photo taken when she was twenty.