Chapter 4
The upheaval struck on an afternoon when torrential rain poured down.
Fierce winds hurled sheets of rain against the flower shop's display windows, turning the outside world into a blur.
Evelyn was bent over, carefully bandaging the finger of an elderly customer who'd been pricked by a rose thorn. Her touch was gentle, her voice was soft, and even her eyes were warm.
"Evelyn." Charles's hoarse voice cut through the rain. Evelyn looked up and saw him standing in the doorway.
He was drenched, his expensive suit plastered to his body, his tie hanging loose around his neck.
His eyes were bloodshot, his jaw rough with stubble, and the swagger he always had was nowhere to be seen. All that was left was raw exhaustion and barely concealed panic.
Evelyn looked away and finished tying the bandage, her tone calm and unruffled, as if Charles were a stranger. "Mr. Rivers, this is a flower shop. We don't welcome irrelevant people."
She called him an irrelevant person.
Charles shoved the door open, rain dripping from his hair and pooling on the floor.
He strode over and grabbed her wrist, his grip so tight that it nearly crushed her bones. His voice shook, tinged with desperation. "You're my wife! Evelyn, you're my legal wife. How could I be irrelevant?"
Evelyn yanked her hand free, angry red marks blooming on her wrist. She shot him a glare sharp enough to cut glass, and the icy look in her eyes made Charles's heart clench.
Evelyn said, "Wife? Charles, when you married me, who was really on your mind? When you made those vows at our wedding, were you still thinking about Vivian?
"You promised me that you wouldn't see her or let her into our lives again, but you broke your word."
Her voice was steady, but every word hit like a slap, cold enough to sting right through Charles.
Evelyn went on, "The day after our wedding, you took Vivian to a charity gala and publicly announced you'd spend a fortune rebuilding her rehab center.
"During the past three months, you had people watching my shop, but secretly you never left her side. What am I to you? Your backup? Or her substitute?
"Charles, no matter what happens, I'll never be anyone's substitute, and I won't stick around for a marriage with no real love."
"I never saw you as a substitute!" Charles blurted out, his voice tight with desperation.
He wanted to tell her that Vivian had gotten into a car accident right after coming back, lost her memory, and only remembered the promise he'd made to her when they were young. He just wanted to help her get her memory back.
But Evelyn's icy stare shut him up before he could say a word.
Hearing Charles say that he just wanted to help Vivian, Evelyn let out a cold, mocking laugh, her eyes flashing with bitter irony. Tears threatened to spill, but she stubbornly held them back.
She said, "So, you use 'helping her' as an excuse to trample on my dignity again and again? You use 'helping her' to treat our eight years together, our marriage, like some kind of joke?
"Charles, I waited eight years for you, and all I got was a wedding where I was nothing but a substitute. You didn't even show up on our wedding day, and you were enjoying a happy time with your first love.
"Is that really all my eight years of youth and love mean to you?"
Evelyn's words cut deep, stabbing right into Charles's heart. Charles was stunned, panic flashing in his eyes. He tried to wipe away Evelyn's tears, but she turned away, dodging his hand.
Evelyn turned and walked into the back room. Moments later, she came out with a document and slammed it down on the counter in front of him. The letters "Divorce Agreement" stung Charles's eyes.
Evelyn said, "I signed the divorce agreement ages ago. Sign it, and it's over. From now on, you stay with your first love, and I'll stick to my flower shop. We'll go our separate ways, never crossing paths again."
Charles stared at the divorce agreement, his fingertips numb with cold. For the first time, the confidence that made him feel in control of everything was falling apart piece by piece.
He thought that if he came back to Evelyn, and if he admitted he was wrong, Evelyn would obediently stay by his side, just like before. But he forgot that once a heart froze, there was no thawing it.
He forgot that eight years of joy and heartbreak had all been shattered in an instant and could never be pieced back together.
Charles didn't sign. He staggered out of the flower shop, straight into the pouring rain.
The rain blurred his vision, drowning out all his pride.
In that moment, he finally understood that he hadn't just lost a wife. He'd lost the girl whose world once revolved around him, and the warmth he'd never get back, not in this lifetime.