Chapter 3

3

“Zach, are you being serious right now? Do you think painting my portrait will touch my heart and make me forgive your attitude today?”

Frowning, Valerie marched over and kicked the easel over.

Bottles and jars of paint shattered across the floor, smearing all over the canvas.

“Hurry up and throw this trash out. It’s just taking up space in the house.”

Looking at the ruined portrait, I didn’t get angry at all.

I simply bent down in silence, cleaning up the scattered mess.

“You once said you wanted a keepsake to mark our first seven years together.”

I muttered softly, running my fingers through the wet paint on the canvas.

The room finally fell silent.

Valerie seemed to recall something, and the anger on her face slowly dissolved.

A flicker of awkwardness crossed her eyes.

Her tone softened slightly:

“Why bring up things from so long ago? We’re an old married couple now; aren’t you embarrassed talking like that?”

“Fine, I’ll just assume you were in a bad mood today and let it slide. Happy now?”

When I remained completely unresponsive, Valerie lost her temper again.

She shoved me hard against my chest.

“Say something! Are you mute? What on earth do you want from me?”

I had no strength left to reply.

Her shove tore open the surgical incision that had just been re-stitched in the emergency room.

Blood instantly soaked through my shirt, blooming into a vivid red stain.

Seeing the blood, Valerie stumbled back several steps in horror.

“What... what happened? It’s been a month since your surgery. Weren’t you fully healed?”

Without another word, she frantically helped me downstairs.

She drove me straight to the hospital.

It was only from the doctor that Valerie learned about my near-death experience a week ago.

She sat on the hallway bench with her head down, completely silent the entire time.

When my wound was dressed and I walked out, she jumped up anxiously.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were feeling sick back then? What if something fatal had happened to you?”

I had no desire to speak and brushed past her shoulder.

Back on that trail, my face had been completely pale, and sweat had covered my forehead.

I was on the verge of collapsing at any second.

Just asking for a brief rest had earned me her utter disgust.

I had called her so many times, yet she never answered once.

If I hadn’t still harbored foolish hope for her, I would have dialed 911 directly on the mountain...

“Zach, I really didn’t know your heart was acting up. Otherwise, I never would have left you behind.”

“Please don’t be mad, okay? Once you recover, I’ll go to the art exhibition with you. Think of it as my way of making it up to you, alright?”

After all these years, this was the first time Valerie had ever swallowed her pride and apologized.

“It’s over.”

I shook my head and picked up my pace toward the exit.

Valerie grabbed my arm tightly.

“If we missed it this year, we can just go next year! I promise I won’t change plans at the last minute again, I swear.”

The next second, I slipped off the wedding ring I had worn for seven whole years.

Right in front of Valerie, I dropped it onto the floor.

“I mean our marriage is over.”

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