Chapter 3

I couldn't make it to the courthouse to finalize the divorce that Friday.

After the termination protocol started,

my body quickly showed signs of decay, my immune system severely weakened.

I had a fever.

My lips were dry and cracked.

Subconsciously, I called out, "Seraphina, water."

Usually, whenever she was home, I would always have perfectly temperate water.

I liked and was used to her accommodating me in small things.

But opening my eyes, I remembered she’d moved out long ago.

The day she agreed to marry Julian.

"He's my teacher's son. For my teacher's sake, I have to take care of him."

"He's practically dying; it's just a wedding ceremony. Can't you be the bigger person?"

That day, I stared at her blankly.

"If it's just a ceremony, why bother getting divorced?"

She lowered her eyes, her fair, beautiful face tinged with frost.

"We can't have him known as the other man, can we?"

Right, legally, we weren't divorced, so he would be the "other man."

She was really going all out for this act.

I looked at her indifferently.

"Seraphina, if we divorce, I can't ever get back together with you."

She froze for a second, dropping her suitcase.

She gripped my arm tightly.

"What did you say?"

"You won't be with me? Who will you be with?"

"You said you were an orphan in this world; you have no family except me."

Perhaps she hurt me physically, and it also stung my heart.

I patiently pushed her away. "Let go. You were the one who didn't want me first."

But she ignored me and threw herself into my arms.

Remembering our ten years together, my eyes welled up.

"Don't be sad, Liam. If you're sad, I'll be even sadder."

"How could I not want you?"

She awkwardly tried to comfort me.

Her kisses trailed from my lips down to my Adam's apple.

She said she was an orphan and her teacher had taken care of her so much since she was little.

She said Julian was just like a younger brother.

I believed her. After all, he had a rare, terminal illness and was dying, wasn't he?

The System said if we restored our marital relationship within three months, the mission wouldn't be a failure.

It wasn't until a week later, when I went to the hospital to bring her some nutrient soup.

Passing by the outdoor parking lot,

Julian was in the driver's seat, car windows fully open.

She stood outside the car, hands in the pockets of her white coat, looking stunningly elegant.

The next second, she bent down and kissed her "little brother."

It felt like a bucket of ice water had been dumped over my head.

I watched numbly as she reached out a fair, slender finger and playfully ruffled his hair.

"Be good, go home and rest."

He seemed to mumble something, then put on his sunglasses and drove off.

All of this felt so familiar.

She used to do all that for me.

She wanted to fulfill his wish to marry her, and a chilling realization dawned on me.

Was it merely sympathy and a sense of responsibility?

Perhaps, her heart had already wandered?

Wandered to another man, all while trying not to violate the vows of our relationship.

No wonder she was so eager to divorce and get married to him.

That day, I threw the nutrient soup into the trash.

And along with it, the heart I once gave her so completely, so unconditionally.