Chapter 2

2

The air in the room turned deathly silent. Caspian seemed to suddenly realize what he had just spat out.

He swallowed hard and reached out to grab my hand, but I pulled back.

"You're right. I shouldn't have saved you. If I hadn't, I'd be a world-renowned pianist by now."

Caspian stood there, paralyzed. He looked like he couldn't believe I had finally said it.

He opened his mouth to speak, but then thought better of it. He slammed the door, leaving me with one final sentence.

"Bring the marriage certificate. We're going to the courthouse tomorrow."

But the next day, Caspian vanished again.

He sent me a barrage of text messages instead.

He claimed that he had just been acting on impulse the night before.

He also mentioned that his film crew had a last-minute event, so he needed me to go to the foster home to look after Cody.

When we first started dating, Caspian told me he wanted to be child-free.

So, adoption became our only path to having a family.

We had planned to bring Cody home right after the wedding. Now, there was no point.

I didn't bother replying. Instead, I called up my girls for an afternoon tea.

Ever since I started dating Caspian, my social life had withered to nothing.

He told me my friends were just gold-diggers and forbade me from seeing them.

Whenever I tried to go out, he would use his condition to threaten self-harm or cause a scene.

Since we were over anyway, I didn't give a damn about what he thought.

My best friend's face lit up when she saw me at the cafe.

"Oh my god! I didn't think our resident love-brain would actually show up for tea!"

"Is the busy Mrs. Vance finally choosing friends over her man? Truly a miracle."

One of them chuckled and pulled up her phone, showing it to the group.

"Our dear brother-in-law is the busy one. He's the number one trending topic. He's probably swamped with events, which is why Sera is free. Who knows? Raina might be there too."

I froze, my eyes drifting from the menu to the screen.

Sure enough, the top headline read: "A-List Star and First Love Rekindle Their Flame."

The title was clickbait gold, but I didn't even have the courage to tap on it.

His first love was back in the country. Good for them.

My friends were teasing me, thinking this was just some weird PR stunt or a lovers' spat.

But then, the live stream of the event made everyone drop their spoons.

Right there on camera, Caspian and Raina were locked in a passionate, breathless kiss.

The table went dead quiet.

I turned off my phone, cutting the humiliating feed, and took a small sip of my latte.

"We've decided to get a divorce."

I didn't want to break down in front of them, so I kept it short.

"Sera, we've wanted to tell you this for a long time. You were way too good to him. He never deserved you."

"Exactly! So what if he's a big star? You were a star pianist before he ruined everything."

My friends looked at me with pity, offering words of comfort one after another.

My mind drifted back to how I met Caspian.

It felt like something out of a romantic drama.

He was having an episode, smashing things in an alley.

By total accident, he had knocked out a stalker who was about to attack me.

My feelings for him started as nothing but gratitude.

But as I chased after him, he agreed to be with me without a moment's hesitation.

I really believed he felt something for me too.

As the memories flooded back, my body went rigid. I couldn't hold it in anymore and started sobbing.

My friends immediately crowded around me, pulling me into a massive group hug.

Right then, Caspian's phone call broke the moment with an obnoxious ring.