I saw him looked stunned, more at himself than at me. In the next second, he pulled me into his arms in a panic.
“I’m sorry—I didn’t mean it! I just—You said awful things, I lost my temper. You know I’d never hurt you on purpose.” He reached up, gently cupping my cheek, his voice soft, “Does it hurt?”
I held my swollen cheek and pushed him away firmly. “We're getting a divorce. That’s final.”
Then I turned and walked out the door.
Alric started to follow, but Seraphina quickly grabbed his arm. “Let her cool off. She’s just jealous right now. You chasing after her will only make things worse.”
Of course, Alric obeyed her.
I let out a quiet, bitter laugh. Of course he stayed. He truly didn’t understand, it seems.
When a woman finally calmed down, truly calmed down… it wasn’t forgiveness that came next. It was clarity.
And once clarity set in, my decision to leave only became more certain.
I wandered the streets for nearly half an hour before, I hailed a cab and returned home.
But I never made it inside.
Through the massive floor-to-ceiling windows, I saw it: the perfect picture of domestic bliss. Alric, Seraphina and my son were sitting at the candlelit dining table, laughing like a real family.
They looked like a magazine ad for the perfect life.
To be fair, Alric did seem like the ideal husband to outsiders.
Ever since I married him, I never had to work a day. I could shop from home, indulge when I pleased. My parents and little brother moved into a mansion. They drove luxury cars with his name on the papers.
But there’s a wise saying: "marrying well is like swallowing a needle—the pain is silent and sharp and only the one who swallows it knows the sting."
In front of my mother-in-law, I would always act in such meticulous manner to look obedient and polite. At home, I was constantly on my feet, caring for our sickly child, barely getting a moment’s rest.
Those luxury clothes and handbags Alric bought me? I never even had a chance to wear them.
Just then, my mom picked up a phone call in the middle of dinner. Her eyes shot toward the window and when she saw me, she bolted outside.
She slapped me. Hard. My cheek flared with pain.
“Are you out of your mind?” she screamed. “You’re really divorcing a man like Alric? He’s a saint! I swear to God I’ll beat some sense into you!”
“It’s just a coffee! Just a damn cup of coffee! You want to divorce him over that?”