4
Five days after moving back in with my mom,
Jake was standing at her door, looking worn out with dark circles under his eyes. “Why
aren’t you answering my calls?”
I saw the hint of impatience in his eyes, and I
said, immediately, “Other than divorce, we
have nothing left to talk about.”
<
It took him a while to unclench his jaw. He
pulled a small gift box out of his pocket:
“I know I screwed up. It was my fault I wasn’t
at Leo’s birthday party, I apologize, okay?”
“I got you a necklace, don’t be mad, babe.”
I looked at him.
In our five years of marriage, he’d told me not
to be mad a million times.
Jake and I got married right after I graduated
from college.
His mom was pressuring us. I didn’t even get
a proposal. Our families got together and set
the date.
く
The Qin family was generous and organized,
Jake was successful and kind, no one
complained.
The day before our wedding, Jake and I were
driving to meet the wedding planner and got
stuck in traffic.
At the train station in the distance, a man in a
suit was proposing.
He stood there with flowers, fist clenched,
constantly checking the time, looking very
nervous.
When the girl finally got out of the station, he
went down on both knees in a dramatic
fashion.
People around us chuckled, but the girl was
crying.
As our car began moving again, I heard the
man shout, “Will you marry me?”
I turned to look at Jake, he was calm, not
even the slightest emotion.
In fact, I rarely saw him nervous for my sake.
I felt a pang of pain and, childishly, said, “I
don’t want to get married. You never
proposed. You clearly don’t care about me.”
Jake held the steering wheel with one hand,
placed his other hand on the back of mine,
and said, looking straight ahead, “This
marriage was a little rushed, but don’t worry,
I’ll make it up to you later.”
く
Later, on our wedding day, he was late for the
ceremony and I was told not to worry.
Our honeymoon was canceled because his
company was growing and I was told not to
worry.
When I had a difficult delivery, and my life.
was in danger, he was traveling on business
and when he called, he told me not to worry.
And then again on my son’s first birthday, while he was sleeping with his “star“, he told
me not to worry.
“I’m not worried.”
That’s always my answer.
Jake looked a bit relieved, “So we can pick
く
I shook my head. “I mean, I wasn’t worried
before, and I won’t be worried in the future,
either.”
I took out my phone and pulled up the email
Chloe had sent me.
When Jake’s gaze landed on the email, he
looked terrified, but he quickly regained
control.
“I’ll sort this out, I promise.”
He pressed the gift box into my hand, asking
me to wait.
I stopped him and, right in front of him, threw
the necklace in the trash. “You’re giving me
something she touched? What kind of sick
joke is that, Jake?”
His face turned pale.
“I’m not divorcing you.”
When Chloe came to my office, the
renovation was almost done but the office
wasn’t opened yet.
She pushed open the door and sat across
from me, without asking.
“Hi, Ms. Sunny, I would like to consult on how
to get a divorce from my spouse fast.”
I looked at her. She looked the same as her
pictures.
She wore a white sundress and her hair was
loose over her shoulders. However, the eyes
in the picture were clear, unlike now, where
<
She smiled at me sweetly, “Sorry, I’m
consulting on behalf of my boyfriend.”
I put down my pen. “If your vision is impaired,
go see a doctor, this is not a hospital.”
Her smile faltered. She probably didn’t think
I’d be so direct.
“What does that mean?”
“If you have trouble understanding basic
words, turn right and walk out. Read the six
words on the door, then think again about
whether or not you should walk back in.”
She pressed her lips together, frowning,
vulnerable and stubborn, like the female lead
in a melodrama.
L
No wonder Jake said she was like a little
sapling, easy to break but also resilient.
She said, as if reminiscing, “Do you
remember where Jake was before and after
your wedding?”
He told me he was on a work trip.
Chloe answered, “In Paris.”
Those three words drove me into the cross on
my marriage tomb.
The happiness, it was just fake and had
shattered into millions of pieces.
“He told me he was going to get married, but
he didn’t propose to his fiancée. The only
person he ever wanted to propose to was me.
<
I remember he took the wedding ring and
knelt down in front of me, saying that if I said
yes, he would stay here with me and we’d get
married in Paris.‘
33
LO
Paris.
A few years back, Jake and I were side–by-
side on the couch, scrolling through travel
sites on a tablet.
When we got to Paris, before I could even say
I was interested, his eyes clouded over and he
flipped to the next page. “How about
somewhere else?”
I thought he hated Paris.
Turns out, he’d desperately abandoned his
<
then–fiancée in that romantic city to chase
his “one true love,” only to fail miserably and
come home with his tail between his legs.
Chloe saw a flicker of pain cross my face and smiled smugly.
“And on your wedding day? He was late because he was waiting for me to email him back.”
“When you were giving birth? He was in Paris with me for my birthday. I just got drunk and called him, and he came.”
“Oh, and of course, your son’s first birthday? That’s when I came back to the States.”
She said it so casually, so contentedly.
く
Effortlessly turning my happy marriage into
dust.
“How can you be on a business trip when
your wife is in labor? Is the money more
important than your wife’s life?”
“Jake, where are you? The doctor said Sunny
is having a hard time, she might not make it.”
I was suddenly thrown back a year.
Before being wheeled into the delivery room, I
was in agony.
I called Jake, again and again. Every single
call rang and rang and rang until the cold,
robotic voice said, “The number you have
dialed is not in service.”
く
I was so scared, all I wanted was to hear his
voice, even for a second.
But on the operating table, as I exhausted
every ounce of strength and was nearly dying,
all I could think about were those seven
unanswered calls.
I don’t know how I made it out of the delivery
room alive.
I only remember lying in the hospital bed, still
out of it, when I heard my mom finally
connect with Jake.
My mother, who had never believed in a
higher power, was suddenly praying to every god she could think of. And Jake just said, calmly, “I can’t make it.”
<
His “star” needed him there for her birthday.
My thoughts came back to the present, I looked at Chloe, expressionless.
Her cold hand grabbed my arm, like a snake watching its prey, hoping to break down my last defense.
“Ms. Sunny, you’re a proud woman, you can’t accept that your husband has someone else in his heart, can you?”
No, I couldn’t.
But that doesn’t give you the right to stomp
on a proud woman’s dignity.
When Chloe left my office, her face was
marked with several red welts How
く
dress was dirty from the floor, her hair a
mess.
Jake was right.
Chloe was weak.
So weak that when I slapped her, she could
only retaliate by throwing my vase across the
room.
“I’m going to sue you for assault!”
She was going to sue a lawyer, a true joke.
I pointed to the sign beside the door, not
opening yet, under construction.
“I already told you to read the sign on the
door. I haven’t even installed the security
