Chapter 3

I hadn't thought about that.

My leg is ruined; I can't dance anymore.

And I can't go back home either.

My parents couldn't accept having a murderer for a son, so they cut ties with me long ago.

After being cut off from the world for so many years,

I don't even know what I'm still good for.

Meryl read my silence and took out the bank card again.

"We can't grow old together, but the feeling we once had is still there."

"You went to prison to save me, so I should take responsibility for you too."

"Take this money for now. If there's anything else you need, let's settle it all at once."

"Elwin... doesn't want us to have any contact from now on."

After all these years, the cartoon design on the card had faded.

But I still remembered how we opened those cards together back then.

Back then we promised each other we'd build a home and a career in Harbor City through our own efforts.

That we'd save up so much money in this card.

Now she had her family and her career.

And she wanted to use this faded card to sever every last tie with me.

I still didn't take it.

It was just that my voice couldn't help going a little hoarse.

"Meryl, do you really think this bit of money can make up for the harm the two of you did to me?"

When I first got out of prison, I tried so hard to patch things up with Meryl.

I pretended not to see the pink cartoon cushion in the car.

Pretended not to see Elwin's photo in her wallet.

But when I pushed open that familiar door,

I couldn't keep myself calm after all.

The home we'd been married in was nothing like I remembered.

The big red double-happiness cutout had been replaced with a poster of some celebrity Elwin liked.

The wedding photo on the wall had become a picture of her and Elwin.

This house we'd saved up to buy together, renovated together—

I couldn't find a single trace of myself in it anymore.

I asked Meryl why.

She explained to me helplessly.

"You only lost three years, but Elwin lost the only family he had."

"He ended up like this because of us. How could I just stand by and do nothing?"

So she hired the best psychologist for Elwin and brought him into her home, caring for him down to the smallest detail.

I couldn't accept any of it.

It set off the worst fight we'd ever had.

At the height of the shouting, Meryl suddenly stopped.

She looked at me calmly and spoke in a tone that left no room for argument.

"Elwin is afraid of your voice."

"If there's something to say, we'll say it outside."

In that moment, I knew.

Meryl and I could never go back to the way things were.

The woman before me fell silent again.

She hesitated a moment, then slowly raised her head to look at me.

"Elwin's wedding cost a lot, and he'll need money after the surgery too."

"It's true we bought the house together, but its value has dropped a great deal. I still calculated your share at the original price we paid."

"Keith, this is truly all I can give."

Then she took a business card out of her bag and set it in front of me.

"If you ever need anything, you can call the number on it."

"I'll help you as much as I can."

"As for the rest... all I can say is I'm sorry."

It was as if she were reminding me.

As a star attorney, she had a thousand ways to send me off with nothing.

Yet for the sake of what we'd once had, she was still leaving me one last shred of dignity.

I shouldn't fail to know a good thing when I saw it.

I smiled, a little helpless.

"Meryl, you don't need to worry so much."

"I have my dignity too. I won't cling to you and make a scene."

At the start, I truly wasn't willing to let go.

I stubbornly wanted Meryl to give me an explanation.

But Elwin made far bigger scenes than I ever did.

When I met with Meryl, he'd deliberately stop his medication and land himself in the emergency room.

When I called Meryl, he'd rip off the monitor and claim his heart was acting up.

When I refused to divorce, he'd curse me in the street as the homewrecker who ruined their relationship.

Meryl never blamed Elwin.

She'd only frown and say to me,

"You know perfectly well Elwin is sick, so why do you keep provoking him?"

The worst time, Elwin sent people to beat me until I ended up in the hospital.

I thought surely, this time, Meryl would take my side.

But she only silently laid a divorce agreement in front of me.

"Elwin's condition has gotten worse."

"After my sister died, I'm the only one left in this world he has to hold on to."

"I have to give him a proper standing, so he can go through the surgery with his mind at ease."

From that moment on, I let go of my last obsession with Meryl.