Chapter 2

I sighed, "David, let's get a divorce."

He froze for a moment, then grabbed my hand. His eyes turned red almost instantly. "Sophie, I know I've hurt you.

"You don't like me seeing Grace. I'll stop. I promise. Just don't do this, okay?"

"I know words don't mean much right now," he went on, "but I'll prove it to you. I'm not giving up on us. I'm not divorcing you."

He still didn't understand. Our marriage was already in ruins, just like my heart.

There was nothing left to fix.

I pulled my hand away, my voice failing me, and the dull pain in my lower belly flared up again.

Every month, just before my period, it was the same—ten years, and nothing had ever changed.

David frowned in concern. "Sophie, I'll go get you some painkillers."

How long had it been since he looked at me like that—like he cared?

I hadn't expected that one day, his concern would come from guilt instead of love.

As he stepped out the door, I heard his phone ring.

"Don't do anything stupid," he said urgently. "I'm on my way."

I spent most of the night curled up in bed, wracked with pain, while David still hadn't come home.

I knew exactly who had called him earlier, and the moment he left, I realized he probably wouldn't be coming back. I let go of the last flicker of hope I had for him.

I called Megan, asking her to send over some painkillers.

But she didn't trust me to be alone. She said she'd bring them herself.

By the time Megan arrived, I was half-unconscious from the pain.

"Where's that bastard David?" she snapped, furious. "After all these years, he still doesn't remember how bad your cramps get every month?"

Of course he remembered. The first couple of years after we got married, he used to stay up with me through every painful night, running for medicine and water.

Then, he just stopped. Every month, it was the same empty reminder—take your pills if it hurts.

Once, I even overheard him on the phone, whispering to another woman to make sure she took the medicine he'd bought.

At first, I told myself I was imagining things.

But then came Grace.

When someone fell out of love, you could feel it in everything they did. He wasn't mine anymore. I just didn't want to admit it.

Megan stayed with me that night. After I took the medicine, the pain finally eased, and I drifted off to sleep.

When I woke up, it was already noon.

The first thing I heard was Megan's voice, sharp with anger. "Sophie, tell me this isn't that asshole David!"

Megan pointed to a newly posted short video on social media. When I looked, it was David—holding Grace in his arms.

Seeing them cling together for the camera hit me like a punch in the chest.

The video was tagged at Lover's Cove in Sunlark Bay.

The caption read: [A real prince always shows up when you need him the most. This must be love.]

The comments were full of people shipping them like it was some kind of fairy tale.

I scrolled through the rest of Grace's account and realized they'd been running a couple's page together for months—posting cute photos, videos, even matching outfits.

"God, what a performance," Megan said bitterly. "What kind of man goes out to buy painkillers and ends up at Lover's Cove?"

Yeah. What kind, indeed. Even Megan couldn't stand to watch anymore. David had left without a word, while I lay there waiting for him to come home.

There was no saving this broken marriage anymore.

I asked Megan to help me prepare the divorce papers. I thought this time, it would finally go smoothly.

But before David even came back, I ended up in trouble first.

That morning, I was on my way to work—just an ordinary day—when a car hit me.

I barely made it through the surgery.

After the operation, Megan stayed by my side, barely sleeping for days.

Her eyes were red and swollen.

I told her not to exhaust herself over me.

She hesitated for a long time before finally blurting it out. "Sophie, it's not just because I've been taking care of you. I'm—" She sighed, thrusting her phone into my hands. "You'd better see it yourself."

On her screen, I saw David kissing Grace under the glowing lights of Moonstone Tower. That was the day I almost died on the operating table.

"Sophie, you can't keep putting this off," Megan said quietly. "Once he's back, just end it."

I nodded. "Yeah."

I had thought letting someone go completely would be impossible, but after heartbreak after heartbreak, my heart had grown numb, and finally, letting him go felt almost easy.

With David, love had already faded long ago. Ending things didn't feel like losing anything. It felt like being free.

I waited for him for more than two weeks, but he didn't even bother to come home.

So I sent him an email: [Come back, and we'll get divorced.]

To my surprise, I received a reply shortly after sending the email.

His response was just one word: [Okay.]

I thought I had gotten used to his indifference, but that single word still burned through me.

It was strange how love and apathy could be separated by just one word.

That was when I knew there was no future left for David and me.

A few days passed, and there was still no sign of him. Meanwhile, the joint account he shared with Grace had been updated again.

They were having a candlelit dinner.

And soon after, Grace sent me a message herself: [Some people just don't know when to step aside. Getting old and still clinging on. If I were you, I'd have jumped off a bridge already. Oh, and by the way—I'm pregnant with David's baby. Ten years of marriage, and you couldn't even give him a child.]

I frowned instantly.

When we got married, David told me he couldn't have children. We agreed to stay childfree forever.

So what now? Did he lie to me from the beginning? Or was it just that he never wanted to have a child with me?