"You seem different today."
Benjamin stood by the door, staring at me with a strange expression.
"Where are you going?"
Then, as if suddenly remembering how to be a husband, he added,
"I'll drive you."
I looked at him for a few seconds.
It was almost ironic.
For the past three years, I had waited countless times for him to offer me even a little care.
But now that I had stopped needing it, he suddenly wanted to play the role of the considerate husband.
I glanced at my reflection in the car window.
The woman staring back at me was no longer the timid girl who used to carefully choose her words around Benjamin.
I was wearing a simple but elegant tailored suit.
Confident.
Independent.
Unfamiliar.
During the three years Benjamin was away, I had changed completely.
I built my own company from nothing.
I negotiated contracts with executives twice my age.
I learned how to handle problems alone.
Even when something broke in the house, I stopped waiting for someone to fix it.
I learned to do it myself.
Because the truth was simple.
I never needed Benjamin to survive.
I just wanted him.
And that was my biggest mistake.
As for his offer to drive me, I smiled faintly.
"No need."
Benjamin frowned.
"I was just trying to help."
"I know."
I looked at him calmly.
"But you don't have to worry about me anymore."
I paused.
"Besides, when it comes to driving, I might actually be better than you now."
His expression stiffened.
He probably wasn't used to hearing me talk to him like this.
But I didn't care.
Today, I had something more important to do.
I was taking Esther to remove our household registration.
Three hours later, when we walked out of the government office, Benjamin's car was still parked outside.
He was standing beside it.
His face was cold.
But his eyes were filled with confusion.
"Jocelyn."
His gaze moved from me to Esther.
"What are you doing here with our daughter?"
I looked at him calmly.
Nothing more.
Nothing less.
He had followed us.
He had watched me carry Esther inside.
And he had waited there for three hours.
I almost wanted to laugh.
"Nothing."
"Our documents needed updating, so I brought Esther here."
I adjusted my daughter's coat.
Then I looked at him.
"Aren't you busy today?"
"I heard Cynthia is looking for a job."
"She probably needs your help."
Benjamin's expression immediately darkened.
His eyes studied my face carefully.
As if he was trying to figure out whether I was pretending.
After a long silence, he suddenly laughed.
A cold, mocking laugh.
"Jocelyn."
"You're really something."
"This is the first time I've seen a wife trying so hard to push her own husband away."
I said nothing.
He stepped closer.
"Since you insist on this."
"Fine."
"I'll do as you wish."
The next second, he opened the car door.
The sound of it closing echoed loudly.
Then his car disappeared from my sight.
I stood there quietly.
For some reason, I couldn't understand his anger.
I was giving him exactly what he wanted.
Freedom.
A chance to be with Cynthia.
A chance to take care of Jessica without worrying about me.
So why did he look like the person who had been abandoned?
I didn't get the answer until Benjamin's assistant called me.
"Madam..."
His voice sounded anxious.
"Mr. Jameson canceled all his appointments today."
"He cleared his entire schedule because he wanted to spend the day with you and Esther."
I was silent.
The assistant continued.
"He thought the three of you could finally spend some time together."
"But after you left, he became upset."
"Now he's drinking."
"And he went to see Cynthia and Jessica..."
His assistant had always believed Benjamin and I were the perfect couple.
He had always tried to convince me not to give up.
But after everything that happened, even he couldn't deny the truth anymore.
I gave a small smile.
A tired smile.
"Thank you for telling me."
"But let him go."
The assistant fell silent.
I looked at the sky.
"In three days, Esther and I will leave."
"This city..."
"We won't come back."
But life often loved to test people one last time before letting them leave.
On the very day I completed Esther's transfer to a new school, everything changed.
Jessica pushed her into the swimming pool.
And my daughter almost lost her life.
The moment I received the call, my entire world collapsed.
I rushed to the hospital with Esther in my arms.
Her little body was cold.
Her face was pale.
I begged every doctor I saw.
"Please save my daughter."
"Please."
But the answer I received almost destroyed me.
Benjamin had used his influence.
Because Jessica had suffered a severe allergic reaction, he had redirected the city's best medical resources toward saving her.
The hospital that should have treated my daughter first...
Had no available specialists left.
Esther lay on the hospital bed.
Her small face was almost colorless.
The oxygen mask covered half of her face.
I grabbed my phone with shaking hands and called Benjamin.
The call connected.
"Benjamin."
My voice broke instantly.
"Please."
"Come to the hospital."
"Esther needs you."
For a moment, there was silence.
Then I heard crying in the background.
Cynthia.
Benjamin's voice sounded exhausted.
But instead of concern, there was only impatience.
"Jocelyn."
"What are you doing now?"
I froze.
"What?"
He laughed coldly.
"What kind of performance is this?"
"Esther is fine."
"How could anything happen to her?"
My fingers trembled.
"Benjamin, listen to me..."
But he continued.
"That day, I put everything aside to spend time with you two."
"But what did you do?"
"You pushed me away."
"Now that Jessica is in critical condition, you're starting this again?"
"Are you trying to make me feel guilty?"
My throat tightened.
I couldn't even speak.
Before I could explain, the call ended.
The sound of the disconnected line echoed in my ear.
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
At that moment, I felt completely helpless.
I turned back toward Esther.
I expected to see fear.
Pain.
Or tears.
But instead, my daughter looked at me quietly.
She was so young.
Yet somehow, she looked like she understood everything.
She forced a tiny smile beneath the oxygen mask.
"Mommy..."
Her voice was weak.
"Daddy really doesn't want me anymore, does he?"
My tears fell instantly.
Esther lifted her small hand.
With great difficulty, she wiped my tears away.
"Don't cry, Mommy."
"If Daddy doesn't want me..."
"Then I don't want him either."
That sentence broke my heart.
In the end, I had no choice but to call my father.
I begged him to use every connection he had to find a doctor for Esther.
He immediately helped.
A top specialist from another city was rushed over.
Only then was my daughter saved.
But during those days in the hospital...
Benjamin never appeared.
Not once.
Not even a phone call.
Yet on the news, his face appeared everywhere.
The reports praised him for using his influence to mobilize the city's medical resources.
They called him a man who would do anything to save someone important to him.
I stared at the screen.
Looking at his worried expression.
The same man who had never once come to see his own daughter.
A cold smile appeared on my lips.
"Benjamin."
"Since you care about them so much..."
"Then I'll help you."
On the day Esther was finally discharged, I completed the final procedures.
Our household registration was officially canceled.
I deleted Benjamin's number from my phone.
I removed every photo.
Every message.
Every trace of the life I had once desperately wanted.
Then I broke the SIM card in half.
And holding Esther's hand, I walked away.
This time...
I wasn't leaving to make him regret losing me.
I was leaving because I finally understood.
A daughter did not need a father who only remembered her when it was convenient.
And I did not need a husband who had never chosen us.
Benjamin Jameson.
From this day forward...
You were no longer part of our world.
