Chapter 4

I thought that after giving Aria a piece of my mind, she'd at least keep a low profile for a few days.

But she turned out to be even more shameless than I expected.

That night, Bryan came home later than usual.

As soon as he walked in, I could tell he was in a foul mood.

"Did you go see Aria?" He didn't even bother to take off his shoes before he stood there in the entryway, grilling me.

I was trimming the flowers I'd brought back from my flower arranging class earlier that day and didn't even look up when he spoke. "Yeah."

"What did you say to her? She called me in tears, claiming you yelled at her and bullied her," Bryan said, his tone accusatory.

I put down the scissors and finally looked up at him.

"Did I really yell at her? All I said was, if she has an issue, she should call the property manager, not my husband in the middle of the night." I stated the facts calmly.

"Her lightbulb went out, and she's alone. Of course, she'd be scared. Can't you be a little more understanding?" Bryan fired back, his temper rising. "Abigail, I never knew you could be this mean."

I let out a smirk.

"Bryan, imagine if I called your so-called childhood friend in the middle of the night to come over and fix my lightbulb. Tell me, how would you feel?" I shot back.

He was left speechless. His lips moved, but nothing came out.

"You'd think I was shameless, maybe even promiscuous, right?" I said, voicing what he couldn't. "But when it's Aria, you defended her, saying she was timid and scared, and expected me to be understanding."

"That's different," Bryan hastily argued. "Aria and I grew up together. There's nothing between us."

"Nothing?" I got up and closed the distance between us. "Nothing? You remember every single thing about Aria, but you can't even be bothered to know what your own wife likes?

"Nothing? The second she calls, you come running and start accusing me without even asking what really happened? Nothing? Even in your sleep, you're calling out her name."

I was practically yelling by the end. All the resentment and anger I'd bottled up finally erupted in that moment.

"W-When did I ever call out her name in my sleep?" Bryan stood there, stunned, his face completely drained of color. He couldn't meet my gaze, clearly unsure and defensive.

"The night before last." I locked eyes with him. "You had a nightmare and were calling out, 'Aria, don't be scared.' Bryan, can you honestly say you didn't?"

He was completely speechless. The living room fell into a chilling silence.

After what felt like forever, Bryan finally found his voice, sounding more exhausted than I'd ever heard him. "Abigail, it was just a dream. Aria and I are nothing but friends."

"Friends?" I shook my head, thinking it was totally ridiculous. "Bryan, can you even tell where the line is between a friend and a lover? Or let me ask you this. Deep down, who's the friend and who's the lover? Me, or Aria?"

My question cut straight through the thin facade that barely hid the truth between them, like a blade.

Bryan looked deeply pale. He stared at me, his gaze a mix of shock, confusion, and the awkwardness of being exposed.

"What are you trying to say?" he asked, his voice hoarse.

I drew a deep breath, took out what I'd been preparing from the cabinet by the entryway, and set it down with finality on the coffee table in front of him.

There were two documents. One was the divorce agreement. The other was his detailed medical information about prosopagnosia, also face blindness.

"Bryan, let's divorce." I watched his face turn pale in an instant, then continued calmly, "I've talked to a doctor. Face blindness is something you're born with. It can't be cured.

"You can't recognize faces, so you rely on clothes, hairstyles, voices, and your gut feeling to tell people apart. I used to think that as long as I stayed by your side, your feelings would always be right.

"But now I get it. Even your gut can fool you. Or maybe, your focus was never really about me at all.

"When you look at me, your mind is always on Aria. In your dreams, it's Aria you protect. Even when it came to life and death, the one you'd risk everything for is still Aria."

By the end, I couldn't keep the tremor out of my words. That kind of fear and hopelessness was carved into the deepest part of my soul.

Bryan's eyes snapped to mine, startled and alarmed.

"What do you mean by when it came to life and death? Abigail, what nonsense are you spouting?" he shot back.

"It's not nonsense." I looked up, locking eyes with him, and spoke each word with absolute clarity. "Bryan, I dreamed I died, right there, in front of you.

"I was kidnapped with your darling friend, Aria. We both had bombs strapped to us. You didn't hesitate to save her, and I was blown to pieces."