Chapter 4
Colin s face darkened. “Eloise, are you seriously trying to use divorce as some twisted tactic to get attention?
He scoffed, his words dripping with disdain. “First, you fake being pregnant just to steal the doctor from Siena, and now you re throwing around threats of divorce. Can you stop being so childish?” I furrowed my brows, feeling the exhaustion settle deep into my bones. I couldn’t entirely blame him. for not believing me. After all, I used to love him with such blind devotion. No matter how many times he hurt me, I would swallow the pain and keep smiling.
But now? I was just tired.
“Colin, this isn’t a game or a threat,” I said, my voice calm but weary. “I’m exhausted–mentally, emotionally, Would a divorce really be so terrible? You‘ re in love with Siena, she’s divorced now, and I’m offering to step aside. You two can finally be together.”
For some reason, my words seemed to strike a nerve. Colin’s eyes flared with anger, and he cut me off sharply.
“Enough, Eloise! Stop with the theatrics. These manipulative tricks are only making me more annoyed. He sneered, his tone condescending. “I won’t hold this against you, but you need to seriously reflect on your behavior.”
He turned to leave as if that was the final word on the matter.
“Wait.
Colin halted, glancing back at me. His anger seemed to waver slightly, as if he expected me to back down, like always.
I pointed to the bouquet of red roses on the bedside table, my voice steady as I spoke.
You remembered wrong. The one thing I hate most in this world is red roses. Take them with you. Colin froze, caught off guard by my words. A flash of panic crossed his face–just for a moment–before he tried to cover it.
He opened his mouth as if to argue or explain, but I had already turned my head away, dismissing him
without another word.
All I heard were his hurried footsteps as he grabbed the roses and stormed out, slamming the door behind him.
Finally, the room fell into silence. I closed my eyes, hoping for some rest after all the chaos. Suddenly, my phone vibrated on the bedside table. Sighing, I grabbed it and immediately saw a message from Siena.
Eloise, is Colin with you? Tell him to come back quickly; I want him to make me some porridge.] I stared at the message, feeling the urge to block her. But as I swiped the screen, my fingers slipped, and I accidentally opened her social media feed instead.
There, staring back at me, was a photo of a lavish bouquet of red roses alongside a smaller bouquet of delicate white jasmine.
Her caption read: [Red roses are so tacky. When he saw I didn’t like them, he bought me jasmine to make me happy!]
I instantly recognized the roses. They were the very same ones Colin had brought to me. Suddenly, everything clicked into place–Colin had given me the flowers that Siena had rejected.
A bitter smile tugged at the corners of my lips as I scrolled down to see Colin‘ s comment beneath her
post:
Jasmine for you, my wish is that you never leave.]
The comment section was filled with a stream of supportive messages from his friends, offering their congratulations and blessings.
I stared at the screen, stunned.
Colin’s friends had always disliked me, thinking I was the one who had come between him and Siena. They believed I was the third party in their story
But they couldn’t have been more wrong.
I had been with Colin for ten years–married to him for seven. It was Siena who had reappeared out of nowhere and inserted herself back into his life.
Our marriage had been happy–almost perfect–until Siena returned from abroad.
Colin had claimed his involvement with her was purely out of gratitude, that she had done him a favor in the past and he was simply repaying the debt.
But it wasn’t long before their relationship became inseparable, and their closeness suffocating.
I used to ask him if I had done something wrong, constantly trying to please him, thinking I could win back his affection.
Until the day I overheard him in a private room, talking to his friends,
“Eloise isn’t bad, but compared to Siena, she just doesn‘ t measure up.
11
“Siena, if only you’d come back a few years earlier, we could” ve had a kid in school by now.
I remember Siena laughing softly, playfully teasing him. “Colin, am I your true love?”
His friends had cheered them on, calling them the real couple.
Siena would always brush off their comments, but she would still post ambiguous messages on social media. And Colin wasn’t any different–he loved the attention, the way people thought he was Siena s true husband, not mine.
We fought about it once. However, Colin told me I was overreacting, that there was no need to prove anything, and that I should respect his choices.
He promised me he’d set boundaries with Siena, but those boundaries never held.
Whenever she looked at him with those teary eyes, he would forget all sense of reason.
And as for me? He always believed I would never leave him. That no matter how far he pushed, I’d always come crawling back.
Seven years of marriage had taught me the harshest lesson..
To Colín, Siena was the untouchable ‘first love–the woman he would always cherish from afar. As for
me? I was like the ‘cow dung,‘ the thing he could casually mock and discard.
But what he forgot was that I was not like him. I won‘ t grovel forever.
And as for his so–called savior, I had my doubts. Was Siena truly the one who saved his life all those years ago?
Chapter 4
Or was that just another story she spun to keep him hooked?
