Chapter 2

The rain was still falling.

Traffic in the city was badly backed up.

The tow truck Abner had called wouldn't arrive for several more hours.

He couldn't stop worrying about Ivy, so he called to let her know he was safe.

"Don't worry, I'll come back once the rain stops."

"Zoe and I will definitely get divorced today."

"Yes, I won't shortchange you or the baby. The wedding will be exactly the Chinese-style ceremony you like."

As Abner said these words, his face was full of tenderness.

I lowered my head and took a sip of the water in my glass.

I don't know if something was wrong with my sense of taste.

I hadn't ordered coffee.

And yet the water in the glass tasted so bitter to me.

When he hung up, Abner seemed to feel it was a little inappropriate, and explained to me almost sheepishly.

"Zoe, don't take it to heart. Ivy just has that kind of temper."

"Her moods have been unstable ever since Dustin passed away."

"Now that she's pregnant, I don't dare upset her."

His eyes were practically overflowing with tenderness.

I paused, then couldn't help speaking.

"Abner, do you still remember our child?"

On our honeymoon, I was already three months pregnant.

So when we were being robbed, I took out all the cash and jewelry I had on me.

All I asked was that Dustin not harm the baby in my belly.

He had already agreed.

Then somehow, because of a single phone call from Ivy, they turned murderous toward us.

In the chaos, I accidentally killed him while trying to protect Abner.

And because of that, I lost the baby in my belly.

Back then Abner had held me and cried so hard he nearly fainted.

With tears streaming down his face, he told me.

"Zoe, I'm the one who wronged you, I'm the one who owes you."

"I'll spend the rest of my life making it up to you."

But now he'd had a child with the murderer's sister.

I took a deep breath.

I lowered my head and stopped dwelling on it.

"Never mind. It's all in the past."

Three years in prison had already smoothed all of it away.

But Abner's emotions suddenly grew agitated.

His eyes reddened, and the coffee in his hand spilled over.

"Of course I remember! How could I ever forget!"

"That was our first child, and the doctor said he was developing very healthily."

"We bought him little clothes, little toys, and we decorated the nursery together with our own hands..."

Yes, back then we'd waited for that child to arrive with our hearts full of joy.

But by the time I got out of prison, the clothes and toys were covered in dust.

And that nursery we'd decorated with our own hands had been turned into Ivy's art studio.

Abner explained to me.

"Ivy was heartbroken after losing her family."

"The doctor suggested she ease her pain through painting, so I set up this studio for her."

He ached for Ivy, who had lost her only family.

But he forgot.

How heartbroken I, who had lost everything, must be.

I glanced down at the time.

It felt like a long time had passed.

It turned out to be only ten minutes.

Three years had left us with nothing to say to each other.

We faced each other in silence, and all we could do was stare blankly at the raindrops outside the window.

Abner hesitated for a long while, then suddenly asked me.

"Zoe, after the divorce, what do you plan to do?"