Chapter 4

I quickly scrolled to the very top of the chat and found the post one of the students had put up at the start.

The post showed a photo of me lying weakly in a hospital bed, right after my miscarriage.

And the post was framed as a cautionary tale.

The gist of it was that girls have to respect themselves.

Don't be like the girl in the picture, who messed around, got pregnant, and broke her friend's heart on top of it.

At the end of the post there was a comment:

Poor friend of mine, who kept himself clean his whole life, thought he'd found an equally clean girl, only to end up with a player.

Newsprint should go looking for newsprint. Why ruin a clean white sheet?

After reading the post, I was shaking with anger.

Worse, some of the students in the work group chat were so bothered by all this that they were demanding refunds, saying they didn't want to learn dance from someone like me.

Going by memory, I found Josephine's place. After knocking for a while, the person who opened the door turned out to be Chester.

I no longer wanted to dwell on why my husband had spent the night at another woman's house.

I just wanted to find Josephine and confront her about the post.

I stepped around Chester and barged inside. The moment I saw Josephine, I hurled my phone at her.

"Why did you post lies about me?!"

Seeing that, Chester slapped me hard, then rushed over and pulled Josephine into his arms.

"Eva, what's gotten into you, coming here first thing in the morning!"

I covered my stinging cheek, fighting back tears as I shouted,

"What's gotten into me? Look at what she did!"

Chester picked the phone up off the floor, and after he saw what the post said, he actually let out a cold laugh.

"Is there anything in this post that's wrong?"

I stared at him in disbelief. "What did you say?"

"You really didn't bleed on our wedding night, and you really did get pregnant while I was away on business. Which line in this post wrongs you?"

"What are you so angry about? Isn't the one who should be angry me?"

I'd known for a long time that Chester had no trust left in me.

But deep down I still held on to that tiny sliver of hope that, this once, he might choose to stand with me.

Good thing there was never much of it to begin with.

I swallowed the bitterness in my throat, smiled calmly, took out the divorce papers, and handed them to Chester.

"Since you're so sure I've wronged you, then sign."

Chester took the divorce papers, gave them only a quick glance, then spoke mockingly.

"You think pulling out something like this will make me feel bad, make me regret it?"

Josephine smiled too, gloating. "Maybe she's read too many chase-back-the-wife novels and thinks her leaving will earn your belated regret."

Chester gave a contemptuous smile at that, then took out a pen and signed his name on the papers without hesitation.

I no longer cared what either of them said about me. I picked up the papers, turned, and left.

Before I walked out, I heard Josephine speak again.

"You really signed it? What if she actually runs off? Aren't you the one who'll be hurting then?"

But Chester couldn't have cared less. "She put up with water near seventy degrees for days on end. How could she really leave me?"

"Besides, everyone knows what kind of woman she is now. Who else do you think would want her, other than me?"

"In a few days she'll be back, crying and begging me to forgive her."

Hearing that, my steps faltered slightly.

Yes. Because I loved him, I forced myself to endure that nearly seventy-degree water.

But Chester, I don't love you anymore.

I've even booked a flight to France, and I'm leaving today.

All I want is to never see you again.