Miranda didn’t even bother wiping her tears. Her face darkened entirely. She slapped me and gritted her teeth.
"Apologize to Ralph."
"Keep dreaming!"
Meanwhile, Olive suddenly rushed over with her small hands, clumsily wiping at Ralph’s shirt.
"Uncle Ralph, don’t be upset. I will blow on your hair … "
Her tender gesture made it seem as if Ralph were her real father. Miranda let go of me and went to help Ralph clean the dirt from his clothes. She turned and sneered at me.
"Okay, fine then! Anthony, since you insist on getting a divorce, let’s get one then! But you must remember that this is all your fault!"
I ignored her, walked over to Olive and asked her one last time, "Olive, do you want to go with Daddy?"
My daughter hugged Ralph’s neck tightly and shook her head with all her might.
"You’re a bad dad! I don’t want to go with you! You only make Mom sad!"
It turned out that the child I had lovingly raised for five years had already drifted toward another man.
I gave Miranda one last look and said calmly, "You win. Olive is yours."
I could see that the red marks on the neck of the woman I’d risked my life to marry were especially glaring under the restaurant’s lighting. They weren’t mosquito bites at all, but rather, kiss marks left behind from passionate sex.
As I turned to leave, my mother-in-law’s triumphant voice rang out across the room.
"My daughter is an amazing woman! Do you think she won’t find someone better? As for people like you, older, divorced and useless, who would want you after leaving my daughter?"
"Even your own daughter doesn’t want you. You’re fated to live a lonely life!"
My parents’ echoing apologies were even more humiliating.
"Mr. and Mrs. Moon, it’s our fault for not raising our son properly. If he insists on divorcing Miranda, we’ll pretend we never had him! From now on, we only recognize Miranda as our daughter!"
The night breeze was cool, but it was unable to wash away the burning on my face. The sting from Miranda’s slap still lingered, but it meant nothing compared to my heartache. When I reached the entrance of my apartment complex, the security guard stopped me.
"Mr. Lewinsky, I’m sorry, but Miss Moon said you’re not allowed to enter."
I stood stunned.
"What do you mean by that? I’m going back to my own house. Why can’t I go in?"
The security guard looked at me with disdain.