Chapter 7.
Finally, we never did go to that rental place.
Just sat there in the car.
Dylan lit up a cigarette.
Dead silence.
From the moment I’d said “divorce” until now, he hadn’t said a word.
I stayed quiet too.
All that deliberate nastiness on the drive over – now I was kind of losing steam.
While I was disgusting him, wasn’t I disgusting myself just as much?
I pulled out my own cigarettes and lit one up.
“How long?”
Dylan’s voice came out rough.
“What?”
The smoking. How long?”
was five years older than Dylan. When he was still in college, I was already working.
Back then, fresh out of school, the pressure was insane.
That’s when I picked up the smoking habit.
Dylan was the one who forced me to quit
le said “it’s bad for your health.”
He said “I’ll buy you candy instead.”
Nine Years Warted–Now I’m Macrying our Storal
He said “hell, you can beat me up to blow off steam, just stop smoking!”
And I actually did quit. Never touched another one.
That was seven or eight years ago.
But because of all this mess, I’d started again.
If he wanted specifics, I thought about it: “The day after you didn’t come home from Peach’s place.”
Dylan’s hand jerked.
The half–burned cigarette fell onto the leather seat, instantly burning a hole right through.
Dylan frantically brushed it away, but the damage was done.
Still, he kept trying to smooth it over, rubbing at it over and over, pressing harder and harder.
Finally he completely lost it, exploding, kicking the car door.
“Fuck!”
He said: “I can’t fix this, and you’ll never forgive me anyway, right?”
“Right!”
He let out a bitter laugh and held out his hand.
“The divorce papers.”
He didn’t even read what was in them.
Just flipped to the back page and signed his name.
“I won’t go back to the house. I’ll come by sometime to clear out my stuff.”
Then he got out of the car without another word.
Leaning against the door, he talked into his phone: “Come out, you’re not staying at the dorm tonight. Yeah, I’m waiting at the school gate!”
After hanging up, he raised an eyebrow at me: “When you’re ready to hit up city hall, give me a call.”
15:08
Chapter 7
“Don’t you feel like you’re punching cotton? All that frustration with nowhere to go? He’s doing it on
purpose!”
I forced a smile and downed my drink in one go.
“I know.”
Maybe I didn’t get it at first.
But by now, I could taste exactly what he was doing.
Dylan had always been incredibly arrogant.
His attitude toward people, toward everything was: I’m not wrong! And even if I am wrong, what the hell are you gonna do about it?
I knew him.
And I’d even predicted how he might react.
But even though I thought I was prepared, facing his casual indifference still got to me.
My hand shook as I held my glass.
“I thought, I thought I’d at least get a ‘sorry‘!”
We always hope the person who hurt us will truly repent, like that’s the only way our wounds can
heal.
Otherwise it just feels so unfair!
From his eighteenth birthday to his twenty–eighth, ten years.
Those were my ten years too.
I went from being an outsider to being completely trapped, and he was the one who pulled me in.
When he loved me, he gave me honey.
When he stopped, he cut me to pieces.
He owed me an apology.
15:05
Nine Years Wasted–Now I’m Marrying Your Rival
138
Chapter 7
The constant grinding of negative emotions was making me lose control.
I took two days off work.
Stayed home, didn’t go anywhere.
I cried, I cursed, I fell apart.
And then, finally, I calmed down.
Because my boss called.
He said the contract data needed adjustments, and I had to get the revisions done ASAP.
I opened my laptop and threw myself into work.
Two hours later, I sent over the new contract.
“Zhang’s coming next Wednesday, you’re coming with me to the meeting!”
“Sure!”
After finishing that, I sat back on the couch, suddenly feeling kind of lost.
Was I really that devastated?
Dylan was my choice.
Nobody forced me, nobody threatened me.
So everything that happened after that, I should accept the consequences.
I took the gamble, so I should be able to handle losing.
So Claire, can’t you handle losing?
No!
I could handle it!
15:05 O
