I froze. Then, I said, "Go ahead and cut it."
"You can't!" Unexpectedly, Anthony snapped. He came running down from upstairs so fast that he nearly stumbled and fell. "I won't let you cut the ring, Giselle!"
His outburst startled everyone, especially Emma. Since she started working with me, this was the first time she'd seen Anthony lose his composure.
"Mr. Walker?" she mumbled.
He caught himself and cleared his throat. "I'm just worried you'll hurt your hand. If you do, you won't be able to paint, and then you'll cry to me about it. That's annoying."
Then, something seemed to occur to him. He arched a brow at me. "Where's the painting you did for me yesterday? I have time to look at it now."
"I burned it," I said evenly, lowering my gaze.
He was stunned. "What did you say? How could you burn it?"
He stormed toward me, ready to argue, when his phone suddenly lit up. He'd received a few voice messages from his guys' group chat.
"Anthony, I heard you got divorced. You had big news like that, and you didn't tell us? Are we still friends or what?"
"Yeah, man. Why didn't you let us celebrate the big occasion with you?"
"We've all seen your new girlfriend. She's definitely young and sweet, unlike Giselle. Didn't you say she was like a dead fish in bed? You should be satisfied now, right?"
Their jeering cut through the room.
Anthony panicked and fumbled to silence his phone. He stammered, "Giselle, it's not what you think. They don't know the divorce is fake. They're just talking nonsense."
I gave a low hum, then calmly pushed him and his luggage out the door. For the first time, I saw him completely at a loss.
The door shut. The silence hung heavy, especially over Emma. Her eyes were even redder than mine. "Mrs. Walker… no, Giselle…"
I gave her a reassuring smile, only then noticing the slight chill on my face from my tears. I turned to the staff from the jewelry store and said, "Help me cut the ring off."
…
For the next few days, Anthony was too embarrassed to come home. Strangely enough, he didn't stop sending me gifts.
The emerald bracelet I'd once liked on social media, the couture dress I'd casually mentioned, and even a private mountain villa in Jorvain I'd always wanted but thought was too much trouble to buy…
Each gift came with a careful little note.
"Five days until we remarry."
"Four days until we remarry."
"Three days until we remarry."
The gift on the second-to-last day was a sapphire brooch I'd seen on Tanya's feed. It was called "Beloved".
My first reaction was that Anthony had sent it to the wrong person. And I was right.
At my last art exhibition before going abroad, Tanya burst onto the stage in front of the media. "Giselle, please give 'Beloved' back to me! Anthony gave it to me as a token of our love. He said he'll only ever love me. I can give you anything else, but not this. I'm begging you—don't take away the gift my boyfriend gave me!"
She cried prettily, but her sharp nails dug deep into my forearm.
Pain shot through me. I instinctively tried to pull back, and she dropped to the floor with the movement. She clutched her chest, gasping that it hurt.
Before I could even process what was happening, Anthony barreled into the venue. His temper flared at the sight of Tanya's swollen, tearful eyes.
"Tanya, are you okay? Giselle Townsend, couldn't you have taken your anger out on me? Why did you pick on an innocent young woman? No wonder my mom called you vulgar back then. She was absolutely right!"
