Chapter 2

“What are you doing here?”

Milton came out of the kitchen carrying a dish. When he saw me, his brow furrowed.

“Is this ever going to end? I don't even remember you now. What's the point of clinging on like this?”

Maud scolded him gently. “Milton, be nicer.”

I drew in a deep breath.

I honestly didn't have the strength to sit through their amnesia act any longer.

I held out the property-division agreement in my hand.

“Milton, how much longer are you going to keep up this amnesia routine?”

Milton went quiet.

A long moment passed. He coaxed Maud softly back into the master bedroom, and when he spoke, his voice dropped very low.

“So you already know?”

He drew in a deep breath.

“Vonnie, Maud has severe depression. She's relied on me her whole life. I'm only doing this to give her enough sense of security, so her condition doesn't get worse.”

“And what about me?”

I asked it offhandedly. I'd stopped expecting anything a long time ago.

He was silent for a few seconds.

“Don't overcomplicate it. It's just some outward favoritism. You know I care about Maud, but I care about you even more.”

So it turned out that being abandoned over and over, watered by his lies, could also be called caring.

Milton seemed to catch the shift in my mood. He rubbed the space between his brows, worn out.

“Be good, stop making a fuss. Tomorrow I'll go with you and we'll register the marriage again.”

The marriage certificate we'd failed to get three times.

On the fourth try, it finally came out of his mouth in the tone of a handout.

I closed my eyes and set the property-division agreement lightly on the table.

“There's no need. Let's break up——”

I'd barely started when Maud opened the door and came out.

She clutched her head, as if her depression had broken loose into a full collapse.

“Milton doesn't want me anymore. He's going to register a marriage with someone else. I'm just a burden. I deserve to die. I shouldn't be alive……”

Still talking, she ran to the edge of the balcony to throw herself off.

Milton hauled her back against his chest by the waist. “Maud, don't scare me.”

In the middle of her struggling, Maud suddenly rushed at me.

She grabbed a fistful of my hair and brought her hand down in a vicious slap.

“It's you. You want to steal Milton away. You deserve to die, go die……”

Slap after slap landed, and drained of strength, I dropped to the floor.

Before I could get a word out, she suddenly crouched down clutching her head, whimpering and trembling.

“I'm sorry, I'm sorry……”

Milton held her tightly.

His eyes turned to me, full of blame.

“You knew Maud has depression. Why would you come back on purpose to provoke her?”

Maud tilted her head and curled a taunting smile at me.

I stared blankly at the two of them, my chest so choked I couldn't breathe.

I forced myself upright, and a hand clamped down on my wrist.

“Yvonne, apologize to Maud.”

Apologize.

As those two words fell, the last bit of warmth in my chest drained away too.

I wrenched free of him and stumbled into the bedroom.

I pulled out my suitcase and started packing.

Outside the door came the sound of Maud crying, falling apart.

“Milton, did I do something wrong?”

“I didn't want to, but when the depression breaks out, I can't control myself.”

Milton's voice went very soft.

“It's okay. It's not your fault.”

I slumped down to the floor, my fingertips curling in bit by bit.

Halfway through packing, my phone rang.

It was Mr. Finch from the news TV network.

“Yvonne, someone put the video of your wedding online. The post has blown up, and someone's claiming you were the other woman. There's some negative talk out there right now. You need to watch it, or it could hurt your on-air time as an anchor.”

I fought back the pain and apologized to him.

After I hung up, I opened the post.