“The divorce papers are already in your email.” I kept my eyes down, reaching for the diapers on the shelf and arranging them one by one. “Sign them as soon as possible. We can negotiate custody, but the marriage must end.”
“Angela!” Jonathan’s voice cracked as it rose, edged with a despair he could barely keep down. “What more do you want from me? I’ve given you all my money, all my time. No matter how troublesome, if you wanted it, I made it happen. What else do you want from me?”
His sudden outburst startled Ethan, who started crying even louder.
Around us, voices clashed—scolding, pleading, and trying to comfort—all tangled together with the child’s wailing until the whole shop felt suffocating, like a net closing in.
I didn’t turn to him. My fingers tightened around the diapers until my knuckles stood out pale.
“I don’t want anything,” I said flatly. “Just your signature on the divorce papers.”
Jonathan stepped forward suddenly, practically pressing Ethan into my arms. “Angela, hold Ethan. Look at him. He’s crying so pitifully. For the child’s sake, let’s not get divorced, alright?”
Ethan’s small face was flushed from crying, his tiny hands clutching at my clothes.
His muffled sobs escaped between choked words.
"Mama.”
Warm tears slid down the back of my hand.
My heart twisted tightly.
My fingers trembled with the urge to grab Ethan and hold on forever. But then the image of that fish tank flickered in my mind—Jonathan standing in front of it in the dead of night, whispering words I couldn't understand. The unease it stirred in me strengthened my resolve. I clenched my teeth and stepped back, avoiding Ethan’s frantic little hands.
“I don’t want to hold him right now.” My voice came out cold, like ice shattering in the air, so cold it scared even me.
Jonathan froze.
Ethan, unable to reach me, cried harder, so hard he nearly choked.
Jonathan’s face twisted with disbelief, bloodshot veins spreading across his eyes like spiderwebs.
His voice shook as he demanded, “What… what did you say? Ethan is your child! Angela, how can you be so heartless?”
The shop erupted at once.
“Angela, are you insane? The child is crying like this, and you won’t even hold him?”
“All this, just for a divorce? You’d even abandon your child? Is your heart made of stone? What sin did your husband commit to end up with a woman like you?”