“I spoiled you, and that’s why you think you can throw tantrums without consequence!”
“I just hired an assistant, and you’re making a spectacle out of it—divorce?”
“What if I get paired with a female driver someday—are you going to blow up the entire racing team?”
I listened calmly to the torrent of insults over the phone.
“I would’ve done that before, but not anymore.”
“You disgust me.”
The words hit the water like a stone, sending ripples everywhere.
I didn’t need to see him to know how enraged he was.
“Olivia’s an orphan. What’s wrong with me helping her within my power?”
“If I’d known you’d be this unfeeling, I never should’ve saved you.”
“I should’ve let you die on your eighteenth birthday!”
I looked at the divorce petition in my hand.
“Then divorce me. You two can ride off into the sunset. We’ll be done.”
I hung up, ignoring Ethan’s crazed shouting.
What I didn’t expect was Olivia showing up at my door to “apologize.”
“Sophia, I know you misunderstand me. I came today to explain.”
“There’s nothing improper between Ethan and me. He really loves you—he only has you in his heart!”
“Sophia, I’m a woman too—I get it. You’re just trying to get Ethan to care more.”
“I’ll apologize on Ethan’s behalf. Please forgive him, okay?”
Olivia called out in her sweet, theatrical voice.
Neighbors poked their heads out to watch.
I stood behind the second-floor window, quietly observing through the glass.
When the crowd thickened and whispers grew louder,
Olivia went all in—she dropped to her knees with a thud.
“Sophia, this is all my fault. I never should’ve joined the racing team.”
“Ethan shouldn’t have taken me in just because I’m an orphan.”
“As long as you forgive me, I’ll kneel here for the rest of my life!”
Ethan arrived just in time to see the scene.
He rushed forward to lift Olivia up, but she jerked away, stubbornly staying on her knees—
as if I had framed her and Ethan, slapping a scarlet A on both of them.
When the onlookers heard the word “orphan,” their disgust turned into sympathy.
I knew exactly what Olivia was doing.
I didn’t engage. I wouldn’t.
In less than ten minutes, Olivia “fainted,”
still managing to deliver her final line with trembling devotion:
“Ethan, I’ve been kneeling so long—Sophia must have forgiven me by now… right?”
Ethan scooped her up protectively and rushed toward the ER.
Once they were gone, I finally took my prenatal checkup report and headed out.