After setting my younger sister up, I carried the divorce papers to the City Hall to complete the process.
The employee examined it several times and, after checking again and again, gave me bad news.
“Sorry, miss, your marriage certificate is fake. Please go back and confirm before coming again.”
The marriage certificate was fake?
I held the marriage certificate that I had carefully kept safe for three years, feeling shocked and panicked.
“How can it be fake…”
After the abduction three years earlier, when Xavier saved me, some dishonest media hurried to report and insult my innocence. During that time, I suffered from serious depression and tried to take my life several times to end everything.
It was Xavier who kicked open my room door and dragged me out of the darkness.
He said, “Don’t care about the gossip outside. I will love you for a lifetime.”
As he spoke, he brought me to get the certificate.
Although there was no wedding at that time, I felt his presence was greater than everything.
At that moment, I believed I had gained the happiness of my life.
Now, the fake marriage certificate gave me a hard slap without doubt.
Since the marriage certificate was fake, I didn’t need the divorce cooling-off period.
After calming my feelings, I took a taxi home.
Looking at this house where I had stayed for almost ten years, my chest was full of reluctance.
But I still decided to pack my belongings.
What wasn’t mine, even if I risked my life, I couldn’t hold on to.
For a full ten hours, I cleared away every sign about me.
I called the charity group to come collect the items, but unexpectedly ran into Xavier coming back.
His eyes noticed the box in my hand, and his brows furrowed. “What are you doing? Moving out?”
I froze. The fingers gripping the suitcase unconsciously tightened. Acting calm, I said, “I heard left-behind children have no winter clothes. I’m donating the ones I don’t need.”
Xavier looked me over with a doubtful look. The next moment, a phone ring pulled away all his focus.
From the other side came Millie’s sweet, clingy voice. “It is all your fault for playing too roughly with me in the study last time. My earring even dropped off. I am going to punish you, so hurry and find it for me.”
Xavier lowered his posture, his voice soft and full of pampering. “Okay, okay, who told you to act like a little tease?”
As I passed by Xavier, I donated all the belongings without any expression.
Until I watched Xavier walk away, my entire heart kept shaking.
Saying it did not hurt would be a lie.
After all, twenty years of being together had already made us feel like family to each other.
At midnight, I got a call from the hospital. They told me, “Please move to another hospital as soon as possible. An order has come from above. We are not allowed to take her in.”
By the time I hurried there, my younger sister had already been pushed out by the hospital.
I rushed forward to argue, “Didn’t I already pay? Why are you still forcing her out?”
No one paid any attention to me.
I held my younger sister, trying to rush inside the hospital, but security firmly blocked me.
I shouted until my throat turned rough. Only then did a medical worker who could not bear it quietly tell me, “This afternoon, the hospital was taken over by SwiftWave Company. The notice was also just released by President Barrington. Don’t make things difficult for us.”
I stood frozen in place.
Thinking about the message he sent me that afternoon, it was actually giving me a final warning.
Unwilling to accept it, I carried my younger sister and ran across most of Maryland. The replies I received were all that they could not accept her.
I took my younger sister everywhere, begging for treatment but getting no results.
In deep despair, I pulled out my phone and called Xavier. It was not until the twentieth call that someone picked up.
From the other side came Millie’s voice. “Yo, isn’t this the old woman? Calling again to beg for money?”
I spoke flatly, “Let Xavier answer the phone.”
Millie softly laughed a few times, full of ill intent. “Brother Xavier says you killed my dog, so use your sister’s life to pay for it. One life for one life.”
“Old woman, Brother Xavier has already registered the marriage certificate with me. You should step back.”
While speaking, Millie sent me a picture of a marriage certificate.
I stared at it in shock.
In the cold wind, only my hopeless tears of regret remained.
Regretting that I had loved the wrong man.
Hating that I had trusted the wrong man.
In my haze, several drunk men smelling strongly of alcohol blocked my way, their words full of cheap and greasy jokes.
“Yo, two young girls look pretty good. Want to spend one night playing with a few brothers?”
“Still walking outside so late at night, aren’t you just lonely? Do not worry, big brother will satisfy you right now.”
