Chapter 2

At nine that morning, William and I went to the courthouse together.

The initial divorce paperwork didn't take long. The only thing that slowed us down was sorting through the considerable savings and assets we had accumulated over the years and making sure everything was divided properly.

Half an hour later, we had officially filed for divorce. We were given paperwork confirming that our case had been filed.

We had to wait another 30 days before the divorce could be finalized. During that time, either of us could change our mind and withdraw the filing.

If neither of us changed our mind during those 30 days, we would have to return to court to finalize the divorce and receive the final divorce decree.

Once we stepped outside, William asked, "Where are you going? Let me give you a ride."

I shook my head. "No, thanks. I'll take a cab."

After all, we were getting divorced. Sooner or later, I had to learn how to live on my own.

I flagged down a cab and got in. "See you in a month."

I said goodbye to William calmly, without the slightest trace of someone whose marriage had ended because her husband had betrayed her.

Then, without looking back at him, I told the driver, "Take me to Blue Bay Villa."

Blue Bay Villa was something I bought for myself back when my career was at its peak. It was surrounded by beautiful scenery, with forests and water nearby, and I had set aside a piece of land in front of the villa for myself.

I used to joke with William, "When we're old, let's move out to Blue Bay. We can have a farm there, grow our own vegetables, and live off the land. What do you think?"

However, William would always say, "What's so great about Blue Bay? It's out in the sticks. Living downtown is much better. Everything is close and convenient.

"If you want something to eat, have the maid buy it. Why bother doing it yourself?"

I had never understood him, and he had never understood me. Now I realized we were never on the same path.

A beautiful song was playing in the taxi. It was Freddie Mercury's "Love of My Life". "Love of my life, you've hurt me."

I found myself humming along softly. "Love of my life, you've hurt me."

This was the song William sang when he confessed to me.

A light rain began to fall outside the window. Before I realized it, tears were streaming down my face, reflected faintly in the window.

*****

Traffic was a nightmare, and it took over an hour to finally reach Blue Bay.

It was far from the city, but it was much quieter than the area around Riverton.

I grew up in a small town with my grandma, so I never liked the fast-paced city life.

When I walked into the villa, the place felt enormous and strangely quiet. Standing alone in the middle of the living room, I suddenly seemed much smaller than I had ever been.

I found myself wishing my grandmother were still alive. If she were, we could grow vegetables together and cook good food for each other.

The sudden ring of my phone shattered the quiet.

I grabbed my phone, feeling a bit numb. It was Helen calling. "Claire, what happened? Did you and Mr. Carter get divorced?"

We'd only filed for divorce, and Helen already knew. How?

"Yes. How did you know?" I asked.

Helen sounded uneasy. "The Carter Group released an official statement. It's already made the news."

When William and I got married, nobody congratulated us. We had simply paid a few dollars in registration fees, signed the papers, and quietly became husband and wife for life.

I never expected that when we divorced, everyone would know about it.

"Oh, it's no big deal. It's true. We're getting divorced. In a month, we'll be officially done," I replied.

Helen sounded shocked. "Why? Weren't you two always good together?"

Apparently, Helen had always believed that William and I had a good marriage, but I'd noticed William wasn't into me anymore a couple of years ago.

At the time, though, there had been no one else in his life, and he hadn't actually left me yet.

Seeing I stay quiet, Helen started blaming herself. "Is it because I told you yesterday he was out with someone?"

She was a smart woman. A man alone in an unfamiliar place with a beautiful young woman beside him was enough to make anyone's imagination run wild, even if nothing had actually happened.

"Don't overthink it. It has nothing to do with you," I said.

We didn't talk for much longer before I hung up and started getting used to life on my own.

For lunch, I made myself a simple dish. Then in the afternoon, I unpacked the stuff the movers brought over.

That night, I curled up on the couch and watched some of the shows I filmed when I was younger.

There was a line in one of them that had always stayed with me. "One doesn't get to choose where he comes from or everything that happens along the way, but he gets to decide how his story ends."

Without realizing it, I drifted off to sleep on the couch, and when I woke up, it was already the early hours of the morning.

Everything that had happened yesterday felt like a dream.

I reached for my phone to check the time, but the first thing that popped up was a news headline: [Movie star Claire Dawson got dumped by her husband].

Dumped?

I couldn't resist clicking to see what the media had written.

It went on and on about how I had stood by William when he was a nobody, how I had helped him build his business from the ground up until it became a publicly traded company, and how, in the end, he had divorced me.

I scrolled down and saw the comments.

[This is what happens when you stand by a loser until he makes it big. She doesn't deserve any sympathy.]

[If I were her, I'd never get divorced. After finally making it as a rich guy's wife, why give it all up so easily?]

[Men are all the same. Give them money, and they'll go rotten.]

Everyone online was saying I was dumb and William was the jerk.

I thought back to who I used to be. I had once been an ordinary girl whose parents didn't love her. William had been the only person who truly cared about me.

I never had the option to go for someone rich, so I chose him, who had once loved me sincerely.

William's success wasn't all because of me. I'd been hustling for my own career these years, too. We didn't owe each other a thing.

Besides, he wasn't exactly some tycoon. At most, he was a self-made millionaire who had gotten lucky and made it big.

Scrolling further, I saw some people guessing.

[I bet William wants a divorce because they don't have kids.]

[They've been married for five or six years, right? No kids at all. Any guy would get fed up with that.]

After reading that, I put my phone down and went to wash up.

As I looked at myself in the mirror, I couldn't help remembering what happened when I was ten, after my grandmother died and I was sent to the city to live with my parents.

"Why didn't you die with your grandma, you little brat?"

"You're wasting our food."

"Girls grow up to get married anyway. What's the point of sending her to school?"

"I swear, if you don't listen, I'll beat you to death."

The little girl who had once been beaten until her body was covered in bruises was still somewhere inside me.

I always thought I'd never be a good mom.

When I told William about this, he said, "Let's not have kids for now. We'll wait until we're ready."

Unfortunately, before either of us was ready to become parents, we were going our separate ways.

Maybe it was a good thing that we never had children. At least now, walking away from each other was that much simpler.