Chapter 2

I'd sent Taylor the divorce papers more than once, but every time, he would not respond.

On top of that, after Viola started kindergarten, I fell seriously ill.

I was scared that if I filed for divorce again, I'd lose custody of Viola, so I just kept putting it off.

Coming back to my senses, I let out a helpless sigh.

I didn't know if I would ever recover.

I was just about to get up and ask my doctor about my condition when my phone rang.

Then, I learned that Viola had gotten into a fight at kindergarten.

Viola had always been so well-behaved. I wondered why she would hit someone.

I was so worried she might be hurt that I didn't even care about the IV in my arm. I jumped up in a hurry, and the blood started backing up in the tube.

Luckily, the nurse noticed right away. "Mrs. Knowles, why are you being so reckless? Do you know how dangerous that is?"

I looked at her anxiously. "I can't help it. Nurse, could you please take out the IV? Something happened to my daughter at kindergarten."

"Mrs. Knowles, you really shouldn't interrupt your treatment like this. Can't you just let your husband go to the kindergarten instead?" the nurse said.

I thought of the cold look on Taylor's face earlier and felt a pang of hesitation.

The nurse scolded, "You always let Mr. Knowles off the hook. Look at you, you're in this state, and you're still trying to tough it out.

"Just call him already and let him deal with it!"

I pulled out my phone, ready to call Taylor, but as soon as I unlocked it, a gossip alert popped up.

It read: [Taylor Knowles was seen taking a female client to the hospital in the middle of the night. He stayed with her the whole time, and they looked super close.]

People in the comments were losing it. A person wrote: [Wait, isn't Mr. Knowles married? Is he cheating?]

I glanced at the timestamp on the gossip. It was right when he was supposed to be visiting me.

I realized that he didn't come for me at all. He was there for her.

My eyes burned with bitterness, and my heart throbbed painfully.

After wrestling with myself, I finally called him.

"Speak," he said.

His voice was as cold and distant as ever.

I asked, "Can you go pick up Viola from kindergarten? She..."

But before I could finish, I heard a woman's voice on the other end, breathless and weird, like she'd just had some wild action.

It was faint, but it was so shrill that it made my skin crawl.

Even though I should be used to this by now, it still stung. I swallowed the pain and kept talking.

I said, "She got into trouble at kindergarten. I'm about to have surgery and can't get out of bed. Can you go pick her up?"

Before I could finish, Taylor cut me off with a cold laugh. "Why should I care? I don't even claim that kid as mine. You went and did IVF on your own. How am I supposed to know whose child she really is?"

"That's enough!" I was about to lose it.

He knew exactly how everything went down. He knew I'd never do something like that, but he still went out of his way to stab me with those sick words.

Taylor just wouldn't let up, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Am I wrong? If you didn't want me saying stuff like this, maybe you shouldn't have snuck off to see Eric back then.

"Now, he's dead. Bet you're wishing he was still alive so he could pick up your kid for you."

Taylor always knew exactly how to twist the knife. I wanted to defend myself, but then the woman on the other end spoke up.

"Taylor, let's get back to it. Why waste time on that pathetic woman?" she chimed in.

Her voice was lazy and teasing. Even through the phone, I could picture them all over each other, wrapped up in their own little world.

I tried to say something else, but he just hung up on me.

I ended up unable to go to the kindergarten myself, so I had to ask Viola's teacher to drop her off at the hospital.

I didn't expect that when Viola arrived, she'd be burning up with a fever and completely unconscious.

Because of this, I had to put off my surgery.

Thankfully, with the hospital's professional care, Viola's fever finally broke the next day.

When Viola finally woke up, she kept asking for her daddy.

Remembering that call from yesterday, I dropped my gaze, feeling totally powerless. All I could do was quietly to comfort her.

I never thought I'd bump into Taylor when I was taking Viola to the bathroom.

He wasn't there for Viola. He was with another woman and her kid, helping them see a doctor.

I recognized the woman. She was the one from all those gossip posts with Taylor. Her name was Chloe Barnett.

When I saw Taylor, he was crouched down, speaking in a gentle, soothing voice to Chloe's child.

When Viola saw that, her eyes welled up with tears.

Just as I was about to say something, a little kid spoke up.