Chapter 2

Seeing my silence, he gently tugged at me again, seemingly wanting to cheer me up like he used to.

My gaze lowered, falling on the prominent scar on the back of his hand, a mark left behind for my sake.

This scar, like a fissure in his life, added a touch of weathering to those once flawless hands.

Although he had scars on his body and face, his handsome features remained undiminished. He was still the same dashing Everett.

Yet, the faint lines at the corners of his eyes silently spoke of the passage of time, reminding me that he was no longer that twenty-year-old boy who loved me recklessly.

I withdrew my gaze, pulled out my phone, opened the calendar, and held it in front of him, my tone calm and indifferent: "It's 20xx now. We've been divorced for three years."

Reality hit him like a sledgehammer, leaving him momentarily stunned.

However, in the next second, he suddenly laughed, so roguishly and lightly: "We were married? I knew it. I was bound to marry you in this lifetime. Who else could I love so much? In this life, it's Aria or no one."

He still had that youthful air about him - bold, confident, with a touch of childish stubbornness.

Only this time, his joke met with no response.I sighed and sat down in the chair beside him, carefully examining my freshly manicured nails.

Under the bright lights, my fingertips sparkled softly, while the man across from me suddenly fell silent.

I looked up to find his eyes rimmed with red, his voice no longer lazy and composed: "Aria, if you want to stab me in the heart, just do it quickly. Don't torture me with these words."

His gaze was defiant, as if demanding: "What did I do wrong? Or have you had a change of heart?"

Faced with his accusation, I wasn't angry. I just looked at him calmly, my eyes betraying no emotion: "Everett, you've forgotten. This knife – you handed it to me. The divorce – you brought it up."

"That's absolutely impossible!" He refuted almost instinctively, his tone firm.

"I will never leave you in this lifetime, not even in death."

I let out a soft laugh, filled with complexity: "Hah. At twenty, those words moved me to tears. At twenty-five, they left me utterly heartbroken. Now, pushing thirty, hearing them again just makes me laugh."

This promise, he had made countless times, and I had believed it just as many.

Yet, in the end, he still betrayed me, grew to despise me, abandoned me.That day, he spoke over the phone, his tone laced with amusement and a hint of casual mockery: "I used to love you, but that's in the past. Isn't it normal to lose feelings after being together for so long? Also, get rid of the baby, and don't come looking for me at the office anymore. It's embarrassing."

At that time, I was desperate to win him back, but he hadn't been home in so long that I didn't know where to find him.

So, I stood outside the company building every day with my swollen belly, waiting for him.