8
At two in the morning, Declan came back with Nora.
As they entered, Nora clung to Declan’s neck, purring, “Declan, will you sleep with me tonight? I want to give myself to you…”
As she spoke, she leaned in to kiss him, but Declan dodged.
I sat on the sofa, watching Nora act shamelessly. Declan’s gaze landed on me.
Nora paused, turned back to see me, and smiled provocatively.
“Nora, if I’d known you were home, I would have asked Declan to come back earlier!”
“We didn’t see any shooting stars tonight. He was afraid I’d be disappointed, so he insisted on taking me to set off fireworks.”
“Nora, I’m sorry. If you want to blame someone, blame me, not Decian.“
I had a bit of alcohol, feeling drowsy as I stood up and approached her, directly asking, “Where’s my jade pendant?
Nora blinked guiltily, still smiling, “Are you talking about that jade pendant from the safe?”
“I accidentally broke it while packing. It didn’t seem valuable, so I threw it away.”
My tears fell suddenly. A chill spread through my limbs, and my lips trembled uncontrollably.
My mind filled with the afternoon my mom died, holding me tightly and wiping away my tears repeatedly.
She told me not to be afraid, that she wouldn’t leave. She said she had already spoken to Buddha.
“As long as the jade pendant is here, so is Mom.”
I threw the wine glass at Nora, the glass shattered on the marble, and shards cut her leg.
She was scared, took two steps back, and hid behind Declan, pitifully crying out, “It hurts.”
I grabbed her collar, hysterically asking, “Where did you throw it? Where did you throw it?”
Declan came to stop me. I slapped him, cursing, “We haven’t divorced yet. Why did you bring her back? Why did you let her touch my things? Why!”
“Are you that desperate to sleep with her? Declan, aren’t you disgusted!”
He held me tightly, soothing my hair, overpowering my voice as he said calmly, “Nora, calm down.”
“I’ll take you to find your jade pendant, okay?”
“Please stop crying. It hurts me to see you cry.”
