Chapter 2

Half an hour later, as if intentionally trying to provoke me, Daniel sent me a photo. It was a picture of him and Madison soaking in a bubble bath, their fingers intertwined.

I could clearly see the faint tan line on his ring finger where his wedding band used to be.

Staring at the glowing screen, I was surprised to find that I felt absolutely nothing. In fact, I almost wanted to laugh.

After all, this was far from Daniel's first affair.

Two years ago, I caught him cheating for the very first time.

I was trembling uncontrollably, my teeth chattering as I managed to force out a single word. "Divorce."

Back then, my love for him was pure but completely unforgiving. I couldn't tolerate even a fraction of betrayal.

Even as he stood beside me crying until dawn, swearing over and over that it was just a stupid mistake, I cried the entire night but never once caved.

For the next month, Daniel tried every trick in the book to win me back.

He took me to the restaurant where we had our first date. He dug out our old college photos and endlessly recounted every detail of our relationship, from the day we met to our wedding.

He even stood outside my office building for an entire day waiting for me.

As I saw how haggard and desperate he looked, my heart finally softened.

He actually did really well for a while after that.

He wrote me apology letters, reported his daily schedule down to the minute, and canceled his business drinks just to come home for dinner.

But the good times didn't last. Less than six months later, I caught him screwing an intern from his company.

He tried to defend himself by claiming he was blackout drunk and mistook her for me.

I didn't say a word. I just stood there sneering at him until he got humiliated and stormed out.

Since then, his cheating had become completely shameless.

He stopped trying to hide it and didn't even bother making up excuses anymore.

He openly paraded his mistresses around town, and I lost count of how many times he brought them back to our house.

I spiraled into a long, agonizing period of self-doubt.

Every morning when I looked in the mirror, I found myself obsessively examining my fading looks.

The fine lines around my eyes, the slightly sagging skin.

Had I really lost all my charm?

Was I just too boring, driving him to constantly seek out new thrills?

Those thoughts gnawed at my sanity like venomous snakes.

I developed severe insomnia. I started finding clumps of my hair left behind on my pillow and clogging the bathroom sink.

Seeing the words "Severe Depression" on my therapist's diagnostic report made my eyes burn.

I felt like I was trapped in a suffocating maze. Every time I thought I had finally found a way out, I would turn the corner only to find another image of Daniel tangled up with some stranger.

Those fragmented memories constantly flashed through my mind, making me want to scream into the void of my bedroom at three in the morning.

The most terrifying part was that I knew exactly how toxic and terminal this marriage was, yet I was entirely unable to break free from this sickening cage.

It was like I was under some twisted spell.

Every time I finally made up my mind to leave, his casual text saying "Honey, I'll be home for dinner tonight" would give me a pathetic, fleeting glimmer of hope.

We had fought. We had screamed. The absolute worst time, things escalated until I grabbed a weapon.

I held a paring knife right against his throat, my voice completely hoarse. "Daniel, since you can't keep it in your pants and stay faithful, let's just get a divorce.

"You get your freedom, and I get my peace."

I knew I was sick. Daniel had pushed me so close to the edge that I didn't even recognize myself anymore.

But he just let out an exhausted sigh and gently pushed the blade away.

"Anna, stop this nonsense. What good does blowing this out of proportion do?" he murmured. "I promise you, you will always be Mrs. Walker.

"You are the only woman who gets to stand by my side."

The most pathetic part was our friends trying to talk me down.

"Daniel makes a killing, you should just be happy," they would say. "He brings home the money, and he still comes home to you. What more do you want?"

"He might mess around on the side, but you are still his priority. Be the bigger person. Why make such an ugly scene?"

"Those girls are just flings. No matter how many there are, they will never replace you. Aren't you just asking for misery by fighting him on this?

"We are all adults here. Stop chasing fairy-tale romances."

Those words felt like a dull blade sawing at my skin, slowly numbing me to my own humiliation.

It took me a long time to finally admit the truth. Daniel didn't love me anymore.

I finally understood that the boy from my memory, the one whose ears turned red when he held my hand, was gone.

The husband who gripped my fingers at the altar and choked out that he would only ever love me... that Daniel died the night he cheated on me for the very first time.

The man standing in front of me now was just a stranger wearing his face.

*****

Early the next morning, I called my old mentor, Professor Susan Davis. "Professor, does your field research team still need people? I want in."

There were a few seconds of silence on the line.

Back when I graduated, Susan had practically begged me to join her project.

It was a top-tier research team, but it required living at a remote and grueling field station year-round.

At the time, Daniel had held me tight and pouted like a kid.

"Anna, I can't bear to see you go so far away," he had said, shaking my arm. "Just stay home. I will take care of you."

"Anna," Susan's voice pulled me back to the present. "Have you really thought this through? The conditions are rough, and you might go months without cell service."

She paused. "Does Daniel know you want to go?"

"Professor," I cut her off, my voice steady. "I have decided to get a divorce."

"What happened? Did you two have a fight?"

I smiled and nodded, then thought about it and shook my head. "Daniel is having an affair."

"Ten years together, Anna. Can you really just walk away?"

"There is nothing left to hold onto." I wiped a hand down my face. "Professor, I need to get out of here. As far away as possible."

"Alright. Come on out, Anna. I have always kept a spot open for you."