02
I was eating some takeout and scrolling through photos when Leon’s call came through.
He seemed eager to explain something.
“Nora, I was just out buying breakfast when I remembered Mark was getting married today. One of the groomsmen had to bail last minute, and they roped me in as a replacement. I actually planned to bring you along…”
I nodded, “Well, congratulations to him.”
“Aren’t you angry?”
“Why should I be angry?”
There was a
long silence on the phone. Thinking it was a bad signal, I was about to hang up when I heard Leon say:
another gathering after the wedding tonight. Get ready, I’ll come to pick you up.
I was about to refuse when the call abruptly ended.
When Leon came to pick me up, Xenia was already sitting in her usual spot in the passenger seat, waving at me through the window.
“Nora, you missed Mark’s wedding today. I thought you were snubbing us!”
Ignoring her, I calmly opened the back door and got in.
Throughout the ride, Leon kept sneaking glances at me, and Xenia, clearly annoyed, after sizing me up, remarked snidely, “Nora, couldn’t you have dressed up a bit? Even though you’re not the youngest, showing up like this to a gathering… people might think you’re from a different generation!”
I lifted my head, meeting Leon’s gaze in the rearview mirror.
He furrowed his brows and said, “Try to spruce up a bit when you go out next time.”
Unperturbed, I continued to engage with my phone, leaving Leon to awkwardly attempt small talk for the rest of the journey.
Upon arriving at the venue, Mark quickly came over to explain why he had to draft Leon in as a groomsman, assuring me that Leon would have brought me along otherwise. He downed three penalty drinks to show his regret.
I wasn’t at all upset, “Don’t blame yourself, Happy wedding.”
While everyone was initially shocked not to see me make a scene as before, I acted as if I was an entirely different person, disinterested in their surprise.
Soon, the atmosphere livened up again, someone wanted to make Xenia drink, and she looked pitifully at Leon, who promptly stepped in to shield her from the drink.
Observing the familiar yet alien Leon, I realized I might never have truly known him.
Protests of feeling unwell.
On our third anniversary, during dinner, one of his friends insisted I drink despite
Leon, thinking I was just throwing a temper tantrum, forced me to drink. I ended up the hospital that night, where I learned I had miscarried.
When I woke up, sweating from the pain, instead of comforting me, he lashed o
at me.
“As a woman, you didn’t even know you were pregnant? Why do you always do that at men’s gatherings, happy now that you’ve lost the child”
Recalling this suffocated me, making me realize how foolish I had been not to see through him earlier,
I grabbed my bag and left directly.
Surprisingly, Leon followed me home immediately. As soon as we entered, he erupted.
“Nora, have you had enough fun? It’s Mark’s wedding, and you just had to spoil his mood, didn’t you?”
Seeing my silence, he became even more emboldened,
“If you keep this up, we should just get a divorce!”
Previously, such a threat would have terrified me into tears and apologies. This time. I simply took a deep breath and felt an immense relief.
อ
“Fine,” I agreed calmly.
He paused, stunned as if he’d misheard.
“What did you say?”
I looked steadily into his eyes and said, “I said I agree to the divorce.”
Without waiting for his reaction, I took out the divorce agreement from the drawer.
“Take a look. If everything is fine, sign it.”
Leon, seeing the words “divorce agreement,” widened his eyes in disbelief, ” You want to divorce me?!”
I frowned, “Wasn’t that your idea?”
Since he got what he wanted, why was he angry?
Leon pushed away the divorce agreement I handed him, “No wonder you’re not making a fuss anymore–you’ve learned some new tricks!” He took his clothes and left, not returning for over half a month.
One night, deep in sleep, I was awoken by a call from Mark.
He informed me that Leon was suffering from severe stomach pain after drinking too much and urged me to come quickly.
Lazily, I replied, “If his stomach hurts, take him to the hospital. I’m not a doctor. Call Xenia if it gets worse.”
Leon didn’t go anywhere but instead went back home.
Bizarrely, he started picking me up from work regularly. I didn’t fuss, comfortably settling into the back seat each time, treating him merely as my
driver.
Early in our marriage, he couldn’t wait to drive me to and from work. Later, he complained it was inconvenient and stopped. Yet, he’d go out of his way to pick up and drop off Xenia, claiming it was just proper to look after a young graduate like her.
Moreover, he kept sending me flowers, which I routinely tossed in the trash. In the past, I’d have flaunted his flowers on social media. This time, however, his relentless social media checks only revealed that my last post was from four years ago, right after the miscarriage. “Baby, if only you were still alive.”
He irritably turned off his phone; he seemed to have forgotten about the divorce.
I didn’t push it because my lawyer was still gathering evidence.
My best friend invited me to a bar, saying we should celebrate my impending divorce.
To my surprise, as soon as I arrived at the bar, I saw Leon.
His eyes lit up with surprise at my appearance, and without waiting for a response, he dragged me into their private room.
The atmosphere shifted oddly as everyone’s eyes turned to Xenia.
She looked at me and said, “Nora, are you used to hanging out in places like this with us young folks? Can you handle it?”
She casually flicked her hair, deliberately showing her hand with a ring on it.
It was Leon’s wedding ring.
This ring was custom–designed by me, and Leon said he would never take it off in his lifetime.
Noticing this, Leon nervously pulled me aside, explaining hastily, “We were just playing a game, I lost, and that’s why she’s wearing the ring.” I texted my friend to ask for their room number, nodding casually.
“Yeah. It suits her.”
Just as Leon was about to explain further, Xenia suddenly pulled me closer, her eyes brimming with feigned innocence, “Nora, are you misunderstanding me and Leon again?”
She covered her chest as if guiding me to look at her chest, where I caught a glimpse of a tattoo of a man and a woman kissing. This tattoo, I had seen it on Leon before.
I met his panicked look with a deceptive smile and made a move that shocked
everyone.
