Chapter 2

2.

"What did you just say?"

Autumn let out a sharp, mocking laugh, as if she had just heard the most ridiculous joke in the world.

"Luke, are you seriously asking for a divorce?"

"Making such a huge scene just because I missed one evening at home?"

In her eyes, my feelings were always a minor nuisance.

Whatever.

She could think whatever she wanted; I was too exhausted to argue.

I tried to sidestep her, but Autumn reached out and grabbed my arm tightly.

Right at that moment, her phone rang.

"Autumn? When are you coming over? Ella is sick... and my leg is hurting really bad again."

Hearing Silas's fragile voice, the frost in Autumn's eyes melted away instantly.

She answered softly, "I'm on my way right now, Silas. Don't worry."

After hanging up, she immediately avoided looking me in the eye.

Guilt flickered across her face.

Just a minute ago, she had lied straight to my face, saying she was meeting a client.

Another lie.

I didn't care in the slightest.

I pulled my arm out of her grip and walked into the kitchen.

Autumn grabbed her coat and purse, yelling toward the kitchen as she headed out the door.

"Stay home and cool your head off!"

I tuned out her voice, washed my bowl, and immediately went to see a lawyer to draft the divorce papers.

By the time I got back to our apartment, it was already past one in the afternoon.

I usually took an afternoon nap, but today my mind was wide awake.

I unlocked my phone and aimlessly scrolled through social media.

I noticed three consecutive posts that Silas had shared on his public story.

The first two photos showed Autumn doting on him with intimate care.

The captions were filled with sickeningly sweet romantic lines: "So grateful to have you by my side this autumn..."

The third photo was a shot of Silas, his daughter, and Autumn holding hands together.

That picture felt like a dagger twisting in my chest.

Last year, Autumn got pregnant.

When I first learned the news, I was over the moon with joy.

We had been married for five years without any children.

When we got checked at the clinic back then, the doctor told me the fertility issue was on my side.

Devastated by guilt, I had even offered Autumn a divorce so she wouldn't miss out on motherhood.

I knew how much she adored children.

Instead of blaming me, she had comforted me and encouraged me to stay strong.

I thought the universe had finally taken pity on us when she miraculously conceived after years of me taking medications.

From that day on, I treated her like precious porcelain.

I counted down the days until our baby's arrival with pure excitement.

I even sketched dozens of outfits for our child, designing clothes for every age from infancy to ten years old, for both a boy and a girl.

I never imagined that she would heartlessly terminate our pregnancy just because Silas's little daughter said she didn't want a baby sibling.

If I hadn't accidentally found her hospital discharge paperwork, she would have kept it a secret from me forever.

We had the worst fight of our marriage after that.

"Autumn! That was my child too!"

"Luke! It was in my body, and I can do whatever I want with it! You don't get a say!"

We didn't speak a word to each other for nearly a month.

During that entire recovery period, she ran to Silas's apartment every single day to take care of him and his daughter, ignoring her own post-procedure rest.

As a result, she developed chronic pelvic pain, and her mother stormed over to curse me out, calling me a worthless husband.

From that moment on, a deep resentment took root in my heart toward Silas and his daughter.

To make matters worse, Silas constantly went out of his way to rub things in my face.

I used to burn with uncontrollable rage whenever he did.

Now, looking at his childish flexes on my screen, my heart was completely still.

Let him have Autumn.

None of it mattered to me anymore.

I closed the app, and exhaustion finally caught up with me.

I drifted off to sleep, only to be violently shaken awake hours later by Autumn.

"Luke Campbell, you really think you're something, don't you? If you're too proud to eat the food I buy, you shouldn't be sleeping on the bed I paid for either!"