Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Looking back, Lucas and I had been together for eight years.

Just last year, I was celebrating that we hadn't hit the so-called seven-year itch.

But now, reality had slapped me across the face.

I didn't even know when it started, but Lucas had lost all patience for me.

The tenderness of our early years was gone, replaced by a cold, unpredictable temper.

Sometimes he would slam the door and leave over the tiniest things.

Every time we fought, I was the one to compromise.

It didn't matter who was wrong or how far he pushed it.

I loved him, so I kept stepping back.

Then Summer Hayes showed up.

The two of them became inseparable almost overnight, constantly whispering and sharing looks.

When my mother was still alive, she heard the neighborhood gossip.

When she asked Lucas about it, he flew into a rage. He flipped the dinner table and screamed at her for not trusting him.

In reality, my mother had only asked a simple question. He was just being paranoid.

When I got home, I found my mother sitting on the couch with bloodshot eyes.

Lucas didn't come home that night.

He didn't answer his phone. He didn't return my texts.

He only showed up the next morning.

That was the first time I ever screamed at him.

Lucas couldn't understand why I was so angry over a small thing.

He forgot that when we first married, my mother treated him like her own son.

Later, when she was hospitalized, Lucas didn't visit her once.

I was angry at first, but then I told myself we were an old couple now. There was no need for drama.

I even deluded myself into thinking that if we just survived this phase, the passion would return.

I lived in a utopia of my own making, constantly brainwashing myself.

I kept making excuses for him.

Until my mother died.

Looking at her cold body on the hospital bed, I realized how pathetic my thoughts were.

There was no future for Lucas and me.

Lucas left the day before the funeral.

I thought he would come back.

But all I got was a phone call.

He actually demanded that I postpone the funeral.

His reason? Summer's mother was sick and wanted to see her daughter married off.

And the lucky groom was my husband.

How ridiculous was that?

His own mother-in-law passes away, and he doesn't help with the mourning. He's too busy marrying someone else.

Even if she wasn't his biological mother, respect for the dead is basic human decency.

I had hoped that when he got my message, he would wake up and feel some remorse.

Instead, he didn't reply and then said those heartless words on camera.

In that moment, the last piece of my heart died.