My hand remained on the divorce agreement, my fingertips cold. For a brief moment, I could not even respond to what I had heard.
“What did you say?”
Clayton frowned, as if thinking I was making too much of it.
“Don’t worry, wife. I already asked someone to clean it up. The attic is quiet and bright, good for Verity to recover. She won’t disturb us, she’ll stay a few days and then leave.”
In that instant, it felt as though a bucket of cold water had been poured over me from head to toe.
The attic was where Clayton had proposed to me.
It held a unique meaning for us; we used to spend time there talking and dating in the attic.
I bit down hard on the inside of my mouth. The noises from the dressing room earlier still seemed to ring in my ears. My chest tightened again and again, and even breathing felt hard.
I stared at Clayton, my voice hoarse. “Haven’t you already made up your mind? She has already moved in. Why are you asking me now?”
As soon as the sentence ended, he suddenly reached out and held my hand.
“Wife, don’t put it that way.”
Clayton’s brows drew together slightly, as if he had been wrongly accused. “I brought Verity home today because her heart problem suddenly worsened. It wasn’t safe outside, and I had no time to inform you beforehand.”
“But if you don’t want her to live here, I’ll send her away right away.”
Clayton’s words were calm and thoughtful.
As though, at that moment, all authority to decide had seriously been handed to me.
Yet my heart abruptly grew cold.
After knowing the truth, the reason that had once disappeared because of blind love returned.
I understood that if I shook my head now, if I simply said I was unwilling, tomorrow, every relative and friend would know that I had treated my fiancé’s ill cousin cruelly, that I was petty, harsh, and jealous.
I hadn’t understood it before.
On the evening of the thirteenth ruined wedding, he had also held my hand like this, lifting me to a higher position and giving me the power to decide.
I had been upset and refused to let him go to Verity, and Clayton had quickly agreed.
On the second day, the company circulated a rumor that I was jealous, that I could not even endure my fiancé’s cousin.
At that time, I sat at my workstation every day feeling restless and uneasy.
In the end, Clayton rose and explained before everyone, saying I was not that type of person, that I had never been unable to accept the cousin, that they had misunderstood me.
In private, he comforted me repeatedly, telling me not to dwell on it, saying it was only a misunderstanding.
At that moment, I was deeply touched.
I even felt guilty for misjudging his relationship with Verity.
Only now did I see that perhaps the entire situation had been arranged by him from beginning to end.
So that later I would never again dare to reject his closeness with Verity.
For Verity, Clayton truly gave everything he had.
Thinking of this, my eyes grew warm instantly, yet my heart hurt with emptiness.
“Do as you please,” I said in a tone of surrender.
No matter whether I agreed or not, she had already settled into the attic and already tainted that place.
In a few days, I would leave this house, so whoever stayed here would no longer concern me.
Clayton clearly breathed out in relief.
“Wife, you’re truly kind.”
“I knew you would understand me.”
I lowered my gaze to the divorce papers on the table, my heart aching.
Twenty-one days of memory clearing.
Nineteen ruined weddings.
I would count the debt as repaid nineteen times.
Clayton.
There were still two times remaining.
Once I returned your favor fully, we would owe each other nothing and have no further ties.
I placed the agreement into my bag, turned, returned to the room, locked the door, and sent the electronic copy I had already prepared to the lawyer.
The lawyer sent a message. [In about seven days, the process will be finished.]
I looked at that sentence for a long while, my heart still tightening.
I blinked hard, holding back the tears.
At night, I lay on the bed, yet I could not shut my eyes.
From upstairs came sounds that could not be overlooked.
Throughout the entire night, Clayton hardly rested properly.
Either Verity claimed she was hungry, or said she was thirsty, or mentioned that her chest felt slightly uncomfortable; excuses came one after another.
Time and again, I heard him rise from the bed, and time and again, his steps moved toward the attic.
In the past, I had always thought Clayton was already attentive enough to me.
When I craved something to eat at midnight, he would put on his coat and head downstairs. Even if he had to travel across half the city, he would return with the snack I wanted.
But when Verity said she was hungry, Clayton immediately went into the kitchen.
“You shouldn’t eat outside food right now. I’ll prepare something light for you. Outside food isn’t healthy.”
Before, when I accidentally hurt my foot, Clayton would calmly soothe me and examine the injury.
However, when Verity knocked her foot, Clayton directly carried her to the couch, carefully rubbed ointment on her, and, because she was scared of pain, he gently coaxed her while doing it.
I lay in bed, my palm tightly covering my stomach, my chest feeling heavy.
So the gap between being loved and not being loved was this clear.
It was very late before Clayton returned to the room.
The mattress sank, and he reached out to draw me into his arms.
“Verity is very sensitive. It’s her first time living in someone else’s home, so she isn’t quite comfortable. Wife, don’t be angry with her.”
I stayed silent and only turned away.
Clayton bent his head and placed his hand over my belly, his tone gentle.
“Wife, are you feeling jealous? Don’t be mad. I’m simply caring for my younger sister. Being angry isn’t good for the baby in your belly.”
“Verity even prepared a small gold lock for the child. She said she wishes the baby to arrive safely. She’s from the countryside and doesn’t earn much; she saved for a long time to buy that gold lock.”
“She also wanted to apologize to you, saying she had troubled you for a long time.”
Clayton spoke with such honesty.
If I had not discovered them cheating today, I might truly have believed Verity was sincere, and I might even have felt glad that the child would have another aunt who cared for her.
I abruptly pushed him away and said in a cold voice, “I don’t want anything from her.”
Clayton was surprised.
“Celestine…”
“My child.”
I stared at him and said slowly, “I will provide her with the best myself.”
Just as Clayton was about to pull me into his arms and continue speaking, Verity’s restrained sobbing suddenly came from the attic.
“Brother… I’m a little afraid…”
Clayton’s face changed instantly. He shoved me aside and rushed out while shouting upstairs, “Don’t be scared, brother is here!”
With a loud sound, I lost my footing from the push, and my back hit the headboard heavily, the pain darkening my sight.
