Chapter 2

Vivienne halted mid-step, slowly turning to face me with a mix of shock and bewilderment:

"What do you mean?"

I rubbed my forehead, pacing in circles, at a loss for words. My chest heaved violently, as if I might suffocate at any moment.

Vivienne, however, assumed I was just having a momentary tantrum. She walked up to me, clearly irritated:

"Fine, I'll give you some time to process this. Looking at your disheveled state, you're clearly not fit to get the marriage license today. We'll come back another day."

She grabbed my hand nonchalantly, as if nothing had happened, and started walking towards the exit.

I was stunned by her audacity, but instinctively followed her to the curb.

I remained silent the entire way, while Vivienne kept glancing at my face. Seeing no other emotions, she secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

As I calmed down, I realized our relationship was over. She didn't see me as a person, so I had no reason to keep indulging her.

However, now wasn't the time to completely burn bridges.

I needed to get back everything that belonged to me before we officially called it quits.

I clenched my fists tightly, barely managing to suppress the emotions churning inside me.

To Vivienne, who kept grinning at her phone, I said:

"There was a car accident on the way here. I need to go to the hospital to get my wounds treated first."She absentmindedly let out an "Mm," her fingers tapping the screen twice to send a "pouty" emoji to the person on the other end of the chat.

The profile picture belonged to Nolan, whom I had personally deleted and blocked a year ago after a huge fight with Vivienne over him.

Somehow, at some point, Vivienne had added him back.

Vivienne was fully engrossed in chatting with the guy on the other end, clearly not having heard what I said.

My heart was filled with so much resentment:

"Vivienne, you promised me you wouldn't see Nolan again!"

Without even looking up, she continued chatting with Nolan:

"Don't be unreasonable. Nolan broke up with his girlfriend and was feeling down, so I just went to keep him company."

"We were both drunk that night, so stop obsessing over the baby issue. Does it really matter if it's yours or not?"

"You love me, not the baby. Isn't it enough that I'm yours?"

Once again, I was shocked by her morally bankrupt statements.

I gave a bitter smile, but my heart suddenly felt calm, and my fingers slowly loosened their grip.

I used to firmly believe that without Vivienne, my life would be dark and meaningless.

Turns out, falling out of love with her happened in an instant.I stared coldly at her beaming face and raised my voice to ask:

"Where's the car? I'll go get it."

Vivienne finally deigned to glance at me, saying dismissively:

"Nolan has an important interview in a few days and needs to look presentable, so I lent him the car for a while."

To earn money for our family and fulfill her dream of being a rich housewife, I took on the company's toughest project, traveling for a month and slaving away for the client like a dog.

Yet behind my back, she got pregnant with someone else's child and even gave my car to that bastard.

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and lowered my voice:

"Vivienne, get the car back. We've talked about this many times - you can't lend our personal car to outsiders. There are serious consequences."

Vivienne got agitated too:

"What's wrong with you today, Zoran?"

"You keep picking fights with me. And Nolan isn't an outsider - he's the father of my child."

"What's the big deal about lending him your crappy car for a couple days?"

I couldn't be bothered to argue further. I snatched her phone and immediately dialed Nolan for a voice call.

He picked up instantly. An oily male voice came through:

"Baby, isn't your husband right there with you? You dare call me? Aren't you afraid he'll cry his eyes out?"My thirty years of good upbringing nearly crumbled in that moment.

All the venomous words rushed to my throat, jostling to be spoken. After a moment of silence, reason finally triumphed over impulse.

Being cheated on was humiliating enough. If I lost control and confronted them in a rage, it would only make them despise me more.

Ignoring their hurtful actions was the best form of retaliation.

I informed him with utmost formality:

"You have two hours to return my car to the garage, or I'll report it as stolen to the police!"

The next second, Vivienne snatched back the phone and yelled at me:

"Zoran, who do you think you are?"

"I lent out the car, what right do you have to call the cops?"

Then she brought the phone close to her ear, softly comforting the person on the other end:

"Nolan, don't listen to him. Feel free to use the car. I'll deal with him and get even for you in a bit."

Nolan, soothed by her words, laughed happily.

I felt that staying with Vivienne for even one more second would give me a heart attack from anger.

I waved down a taxi:

"Driver, to the hospital."

Vivienne quickly hung up the phone and ran over, clinging to the car window:

"The hospital? I haven't had lunch yet. Who's going to cook for me if you go to the hospital?"

"My sweetheart and I have had enough of the junk food out there."I thought she had a change of heart, finally realizing I was injured, but she only wanted me to come home and cook for her.

Heartbroken doesn't even begin to describe how I felt in that moment.

Without hesitation, I rolled up the car window and turned away, refusing to look at her again.