Chapter 1

On the day we decided to divorce, Seaford City was hit by a once-in-a-century rainstorm.

Abner drove me to the county clerk's office.

Halfway there, he suddenly pressed a bank card into my hand.

"Zoe, I'm sorry. I know I'm the one who let you down in this marriage."

"But Ivy… she only has me now, and I just can't bear to see her hurting."

I stared at the endless raindrops outside the window and said nothing.

Three years ago, on our honeymoon trip,

Abner and I ran into a small-time thug who robbed us at knifepoint.

Trying to protect Abner, I killed him by accident.

For manslaughter, I was sentenced to three years.

Abner mortgaged the house and drained our savings.

All so I could get out of prison sooner and reunite with him.

Now I'm out.

And Abner tells me he has fallen hopelessly in love with the very girl who put me behind bars.

1.

The rain came down harder and harder, and the car stalled in the downpour.

Abner and I looked at each other, at a loss.

With no other choice, we ended up at a coffee shop on the street corner.

When we ordered, the staffer thoughtfully brought over hot towels.

He looked at the two of us, and his expression suddenly grew excited.

"Mr. and Mrs. Mason, it's you two! It's been so long."

"You two have such a good relationship, out on a date even in rain like this."

I looked at Abner and gave a faint tug at the corner of my lips.

"We're on our way to get divorced."

The staffer froze.

Abner closed the menu without dwelling on it.

"The usual few things, and remember, no sugar in her coffee."

The staffer was about to put in the order when I raised my hand to stop him.

"No need. Just a cup of warm water for me."

"I picked up a stomach condition in prison. I can't drink coffee anymore."

The hand reaching for his wallet paused.

Abner lowered his head and said nothing more.

I pulled out a few tissues and wiped the hem of my skirt, soaked from the rain.

Abner moved to help.

But his gaze drifted, without meaning to, to those ugly scars on my leg.

He froze for a moment, then couldn't help asking.

"These… how did you get them?"

After all this time since my release, Abner had finally noticed something was wrong with me.

Maybe it was only when Ivy wasn't around.

Only then was he willing to spare a little pitiful attention for me.

"Just a minor accident."

In my first month in prison, somehow I offended the head inmate, and every day I was beaten and singled out for no reason I could understand.

Once, I was shoved down a flight of stairs.

A shattered fracture in my lower leg, seventeen stitches.

Back then I really wanted to bury my face in Abner's arms and cry my heart out.

But later, once I learned it was Ivy who had paid someone to do it.

All those countless grievances suddenly wouldn't come out.

I could see the ache and the reluctance in Abner's eyes.

I smiled and said, as if it were nothing.

"It's nothing serious. It's all in the past."

The staffer brought over the drinks.

Out of habit, Abner tore open the packaging for me.

The wind chimes by the door jingled in the rain.

Everything seemed just like it used to be.

Except that as he raised his hand, I caught a whiff of that unfamiliar perfume on him.

Suddenly I felt a little sick.

I didn't touch the glass of water in front of me.

The shop fell silent again.

Abner glanced at the time and, a little awkwardly, cast about for something to say.

"These past few years must have been hard on you."

"I kept trying to find a way to get your sentence reduced, but some things were simply beyond me."

Those days really had been hard to get through.

After I went to prison, my parents cut all ties with me.

The dance troupe struck my name from its roster.

Abner was the whole reason I kept going.

In my first year inside, he was afraid I'd do something desperate, so he always came right on time for visiting hours.

He'd tell me about everything going on in his life lately.

He'd talk over with me how to get my sentence reduced sooner.

He said he'd found the victim's family and would do everything he could to earn their forgiveness.

In my second year, Abner's attitude shifted a little.

He wasn't as full of grief and anger as before; he started sighing often.

"Zoe, I don't know what I should do either."

"Ivy is a pitiful girl. Her parents died young, and she and her brother had only each other growing up."

"Dustin did what he did because he was desperate, with no other way to raise money for her treatment."

"Now that Dustin is dead, how is a young girl like her supposed to survive?"

Back then I didn't grasp the pity and the ache in Abner's words.

I could only faintly sense it.

In a daze, it felt as if something had changed.

After that, Abner visited me less and less.

Our conversations slowly drifted from everyday life to Ivy.

I'd tell him about the wrongs I suffered in prison.

He'd tell me how hard it was for Ivy, living all alone.

I poured out to him how much I missed him.

He kept fretting over Ivy, alone at home.

Maybe by then he had already fallen in love with Ivy.

It was just that neither of us had realized it yet.