5
The moment the words left my mouth, Daniel’s face instantly changed.
His voice trembled.
It was like fear, but also the relief of a fugitive who had been living on edge, finally caught by the
police.
“You… you knew everything.”
I scoffed, listing Daniel’s many transgressions:
“Everything?”
“What are you referring to?”
“Besides sleeping together, did you mean your secret matching profile pictures with Chloe, or the two of you hugging and kissing foreheads in the fire escape stairwell? If there’s more, then I wouldn’t
know.”
My sarcastic voice was like a needle,
Stabbing at Daniel’s heart, making it bleed.
“We didn’t sleep together. Amelia, I admit my intentions were wrong.”
“But it was just because her apartment complex had a power outage that day, and her water pipe happened to burst. She was terrified, and the building management wouldn’t come. So she had no one else to call but me. I was afraid you’d overthink it, that’s why I lied to you.”
“She said she was scared of the thunder, I just lay on the bed with her for a while. I accidentally fell asleep, that’s all.”
I hummed in response.
My tone was flat, unclear if I believed him or not.
Impatiently, I replied:
“So what?”
3:42 pm
<
“Are you done? If not, you can save the rest for the judge.”
I didn’t give him another chance to explain.
Just like he did that day, I decisively hung up the phone.
I told Mr. Davis to discuss the divorce matters with Daniel and relay anything important to me.
I couldn’t.
If I spoke to him for two more minutes,
I was afraid I’d throw up.
After about a week in Brighton, I decided to go back.
It wasn’t escaping; it was more about gaining clarity and planning how to handle everything. Ten years of loving each other, six years of marriage. Our lives had long been intimately intertwined.
Since I was determined to divorce,
I needed to explain things to my family and to Daniel’s family.
My parents were okay; although angry, they could only accept it. After all, when it came to infidelity, there was no other path but divorce.
Rather than trying to gloss over it and swallow this cream-covered turd,
It was better to spit it out sooner and find release.
Aside from the civil affairs bureau, I originally didn’t intend to have any contact with Daniel. But out of respect for Mrs. Miller, I finally agreed to talk in a private room at a coffee shop.
Daniel grew up in a single-parent household.
At the time, the company was booming, but Mrs. Miller suddenly had a car accident and needed care. I didn’t trust hired nurses, so I volunteered to take care of her myself.
I remember then, Daniel cried as he held my hand.
3:42 pm
<
He knew how ambitious I was in my career.
And how difficult it was for me to make that decision for him.
“Amelia, I promise I’ll be good to you for the rest of my life.”
His vows sounded as sincere as if they’d been spoken yesterday.
Today, it had come to this, an ugly confrontation over divorce and infidelity.
As soon as I sat down,
Mrs. Miller, without a word, raised her hand and delivered a resounding slap directly to Daniel’s face.
She turned to me, her eyes red:
“I’ve been a teacher my whole life, and I never thought I’d end up failing to teach my own son.””
“Amelia, I know your heart is true.”
“This matter, no matter how you slice it, Daniel is in the wrong. I have no face to persuade you. This
slap is my statement as a mother. The rest is for you two to sort out.”‘
Mrs. Miller didn’t say much more.
She left the private room to Daniel and me.
He looked haggard; he truly hadn’t been doing well lately. Mrs. Miller’s slap had been heavy, and the
left side of his face was already swollen.
Daniel reached out, wanting to take my hand. His voice pleaded:
“Amelia, can we please not get divorced?”
