Chapter 2

Three months ago, I accidentally saw her and Jason interacting on a social app.

She posted a photo of the two of them together with the caption: Love that can’t be obtained.

Then in the comments, she wrote: “My love with him always seems to fall just a little short. Our parents’ opposition forced us onto different paths.

My marriage now is bland and boring, and I have no desire to keep it going. But luckily, he came back to me, like my salvation.”

Actually, the relationship I once had with Emily was really good. It was nothing like she described, not worthless at all, and certainly not bland and boring. All of that changed after Jason came back.

She slowly stopped wanting to come home. She started working late more and more often, and every time she got home it was deep into the night. In order to accommodate her work schedule, I tried to stay up later too, hoping I could say a few more words to her.

But even so, we talked less and less. Her conversations were always centered around Jason, that so-called “salvation.”

Little by little, I started to realize that Emily’s heart was no longer with me.

Her eyes, her smile, even her tone of voice no longer belonged to me.

During those days, I kept telling myself maybe I was overthinking it, maybe she was just confused for a while.

But reality hit me again and again, and that post made it impossible for me to keep lying to myself.

One day, while she was taking a shower, I accidentally saw her phone screen again. It was her conversation with Jason.

Their words were full of flirtation, and I couldn’t accept what I was reading.

I confronted her, but she only smiled faintly and told me, “It was just a joke between friends.”

To be honest, I really was pathetic back then. I couldn’t let go of Emily. Every expression on her face, every smile, pulled at my heart.

Maybe my possessiveness was acting up too. I wanted Emily to come back to me from Jason.

I started reflecting on whether I had failed somewhere.

I treated Emily better and better, buying bags, buying cars, giving her everything she wanted.

But after she accepted the gifts so naturally, she would say a few sweet words as if soothing a puppy, and then her attitude would go right back to normal.

Jason and Emily had met in high school. Emily had never gotten over Jason, but her parents didn’t approve.

Jason’s family wasn’t well off, or to put it bluntly, his money didn’t exactly come from honest work.

His father had been sentenced to more than twenty years for loan sharking, and after that his mother remarried.

Emily’s family, on the other hand, ran a small business, so they were fairly well off and naturally would not accept a delinquent like Jason.

So the two of them were forcibly split up, but in the end, it still didn’t work. Their relationship ended because Jason was the one who broke up with her.

Later, Jason went to another city to build his life, and after that, there was no more news of him.

Back then, my family company was booming, so a lot of small business owners came looking to connect with us.

One of them was Emily’s parents.

And at that time, I fell for Emily at first sight, but I didn’t show it. Instead, she was the one who took the initiative to add me on Snapchat first.

Of course her parents were happy about that and fully supported our relationship.

So naturally, we ended up together, and our life had always been happy and harmonious.

But the only regret was that we still didn’t have any children. She always said she wasn’t ready yet.

I respected every decision she made. Even without kids, I would still treat her well like always.

But everything changed after Jason came back.

Pulling myself out of my thoughts, after I slapped the divorce agreement onto the table, she froze for a moment.

She looked at me in disbelief, and then understanding slowly appeared in her eyes.

“Ethan Cole, is this your pathetic little reverse psychology trick? It’s so old-fashioned!

You’re just jealous of Jason, aren’t you? You’re so petty! Fine, fine, stop it!”

She grabbed the divorce papers and my bag and threw them hard onto the floor before turning and going back into the bedroom.

The smell of men’s cologne drifted past me, especially sharp and disgusting.