Chapter 2
If he could pretend to care about me for a lifetime, I would've kept up the act with him.
At that time, I didn't know that time was never the antidote. Reunion was.
At the end of that operation, the healthcare workers suddenly hurried.
As things started to blur for me, I remembered that incident once again.
After Lucas and I got engaged, Chloe went on a hunger strike and eventually fainted from low blood sugar.
That rainy night, Lucas carried her into the ER.
His white shirt was soaked through, but Lucas didn't seem to care. He gripped Chloe's hand tightly, calling out her name again and again, "Chloe, Chloe..."
I followed behind with the payment slip, watching as Lucas's hands trembled while he dug out a piece of candy from his pocket, carefully unwrapped it, and gently pressed it to her pale lips.
I stood next to the IV pole, watching as Lucas bent over, the back of his neck exposed, sweat and rainwater mingling as they slid down his skin.
That day, he was sweating bullets from the pain in his stomach.
But because Chloe couldn't be left alone, he toughed it out and refused to leave her side in the ER, staying up the whole night for her.
Meanwhile, I was on the brink of death from an amniotic fluid embolism, and he couldn't even reach me on the phone.
Sure, I liked him, but if it meant losing myself, I'd rather walk away.
Maybe it was fate's mercy, but somehow, I managed to survive by the skin of my teeth.
It was five days later when I finally got out of the ICU.
Before I even got a glimpse of Lucas, the nurse assigned to my room told me about him.
Turns out, while I was clinging to life on the operating table, he was out celebrating Chloe's return.
He even put together a whole fireworks show, all for her.
Beneath the brilliant sky, the two of them locked eyes and smiled: love in their gaze, but holding back.
In this marriage, I forgave so many things I never should have, thinking that maybe, if I kept letting things go, happiness would finally find me.
But eventually, I realized he'd already decided how things would end between us.
No matter what I did, there was never a chance for me to be happy.
So the first thing I did after getting out of the hospital was tell him I wanted a divorce.
He was quiet for a long time before finally saying, "Don't overthink it. Focus on getting better."
He thought I was influenced by postpartum hormones and made such a decision.
Three months later, at my birthday party, I brought up divorce again.
He was carrying Chloe, drenched from head to toe, back into the room.
After listening to my words, he looked back at me and smiled like a jerk, "You think about it, there is no turning back here."
I nodded calmly. "Alright."
"Lucas, Lila." Chloe's voice snapped me out of my thoughts.
Her makeup was flawless, and the click of her heels echoed as she stopped right beside Lucas. "What does the doctor say?"
"The surgery's scheduled for next month."
Chloe let out a sigh of relief and smiled. "You have no idea how hard it is to get an appointment with Dr. Quinn. Now that we've finally got it, Lila will be..."
She suddenly paused, as if she'd noticed me, and blurted out in surprise, "Evelyn?"
Before I could say anything, she added, "So you come back because Lila's sick? Well, you are her real mother."
As soon as she finished, Lucas cut in coldly, "Her real mother? She doesn't even deserve to be called that."
I froze, instinctively glancing at the child in his arms.
But in Lila's eyes, I saw a disappointment and sorrow I couldn't bring myself to face.
In that instant, it felt as if my chest had been stuffed with broken glass, the sharp pain spreading through my whole body.
At first, Lucas had agreed to let me take Lila with me.
But then he changed his mind and took it all back.
I confronted him, asking straight up why he suddenly flipped.
He sat lazily on the sofa, his long legs stretched casually, "Chloe is afraid of getting out of shape and does not want to have children."
I was furious, "That's my child!"
"It's also my child. Don't worry, Chloe will treat her as her own."
When I refused, he started pulling every trick in the book to force me to give in.
No matter what he said, I wouldn't budge.
Finally, he fixed me with a cold stare. "Evelyn, don't forget how your adoptive parents get their jobs."
At that moment, I suddenly realized that I had no ability to compete with him.
As the tension hung in the air, Chloe tugged at Lucas's sleeve, trying to smooth things over. "Why don't we all grab something to eat? Just to catch up a little, right, Lucas?"
Lucas shot me a cold look. "I don't really do reunions with my ex-wife." Then he turned and strode away.
Chloe took a couple of steps after him, then turned back, "You're not here to fight me for Lila, are you? "
"No. I'm here to get married," I replied.
She let out a short gasp. "You're getting married?"
No wonder she was so shocked.
It had been two years since Lucas and I divorced, and they still hadn't made it official or had a wedding.
And once again, I beat her to it.
But instead of being upset, she let out a long sigh of relief. "Congratulations. Have you set a date yet?"
"The eighth of next month," I replied.
She paused for a second, then asked, "You haven't told your parents yet, have you? Maybe you should see what your parents think?"
"I'll think about it."
But that very night, my parents called and told me to come home.
As soon as I walked in, Linda's expression was cold as she interrogated me. "Why are you even back? Don't you storm out last time, saying you'd never come back?
"And who are you marrying? What's his family's background? Does he know you've been married and have a child?"