Chapter 3

When I came back to the villa with the agreement, Jeffrey and his friend Albert were lounging on the sofa, talking.

"I'm telling you, Jeff, June's back. What are you going to do—divorce your wife?"

He was silent for a moment at Albert's question.

"No divorce."

"June's flighty. She'll probably take off somewhere again before long. She's never going to marry me."

"Once she's gone, having my wife by my side counts as something to remember her by."

I stood outside the door, my heart stopping for a second, and I stumbled without meaning to.

Albert noticed me first. "Mil— Milly, you're back."

Seeing that something was off with me, he all but fled.

Jeffrey never moved from his spot the whole time. Only when I sat down across from him did he look up.

"Didn't I tell you to go home? Where did you run off to?"

He casually handed me a ring box. "Open it. It's the one you always wanted."

Inside was a diamond ring I'd always wanted. The ads called it one of a kind in the whole world, but the one he was giving me was only a bonus item that came with something else.

Just then a friend request popped up on my phone.

The moment I accepted, a message came through from her: "Do you like the ring? A bonus piece suits a stand-in perfectly."

I opened her social media post. The latest one was a photo of two hands folded together, and on the ring finger of one of them was that one-of-a-kind ring.

I recognized the other hand too. The scar at the base of the thumb was from two years ago, when Jeffrey burned himself making soup for me.

I held up my phone and put it in front of him.

"Three years, and all I'm good for is a bonus piece June didn't want?"

My voice shook as I stared hard at him.

But Jeffrey just looked annoyed. "It's only a ring. You never used to care about this kind of thing. What, has life been so good for so long that you've started comparing yourself to others?"

"If you don't want it, throw it out."

He tossed the ring into the trash without a second thought—forgetting that this was the one he'd promised me for Valentine's Day.

My hand dropped limply. It didn't matter anymore. I was leaving anyway.

Out of the corner of my eye I caught the wedding portrait on the wall, and I couldn't help a bitter smile.

"No wonder."

No wonder he'd never hung the perfectly good photos we took, insisting instead on having a painter turn them into a sketch.

He said it stood for pure love, but really, it just looked more like June that way.

I stood, took the frame down, and looked at him. "Jeffrey, so you never loved me at all, did you?"

Jeffrey frowned slightly. "Can you stop making a scene? It's not that I have no feelings for you. June and I just missed each other for too long. It's only right that I make it up to her."

"Once she's gone, we'll go back to living well, just like before."

I dodged his hand as he reached for me. "I don't want to spend my whole life living in another woman's shadow."

That set Jeffrey off completely. He snatched the album and hurled it down.

"Ever since I told you the truth, you haven't stopped making a fuss."

"Is it too much to ask you to stay by my side and be a proper wife?"

The frame hit the floor, and shards of glass spattered across my calf. Blood started flowing at once.

But he only frowned and watched.

Once, the smallest scratch on me would have had him crying harder than I did. Now he could stand there completely unmoved.

Tears slid down without a sound. I already knew the truth, yet I'd insisted on hearing the answer, bringing this on myself.

Only when my leg gave out and I dropped hard to the floor did Jeffrey come to his senses.

"I'm sorry, I lost my temper just now and hurt you. I'll take you to the hospital."

Before he could even help me up, his phone buzzed.

He glanced at the screen and his face changed completely. "June's hurt—it's serious. I have to go see her."

Eyes red, I tested him one last time. "Jeff, it hurts so much. Please stay with me, okay?"

Jeffrey's face was impatient. "Milly, don't be difficult. I won't be able to rest until I've seen her. Go to the hospital and get it bandaged yourself."

He grabbed his coat and hurried off.

"Jeff."

I called him back and took the agreement out of my coat.

"Didn't you promise to open a pet shop for me? I found a storefront I like. Sign this for me before you go, okay?"

Jeffrey was in too much of a rush to see June. He signed it without so much as a glance and walked straight out.

"Goodbye, Jeffrey."

I was saying my last farewell, but he never looked back.

And he had no idea that what he'd just signed was a divorce agreement.