In the eighth year of my marriage to Leon, he and his female assistant Reese made a high-profile announcement on their Instagram.

[Ship us. The sweetest couple.]

After I gave him a like, the post was deleted.

He made a video call and scolded me in front of his crying assistant and friends for being too serious and stupid.

Five minutes later, an intimate photo of Reese and Leon was posted on her Instagram.

If it was in the past, I would definitely come to them, cry, and make a fuss to spoil the mood.

But this time, I really didn't care.

When Leon got home, I was cleaning up the dishes and cakes on the table.

Yesterday was his birthday.

He told me that he would take a few friends home to celebrate.

So I took half a day off and prepared for it the whole afternoon.

However, after waiting for an entire night, he did not appear.

If I hadn't seen Reese's Instagram, I wouldn't have known that he had changed his plan at the last minute.

"Did you make the cake yourself?"

Leon smeared the cream on my face. When he saw me nod, he smiled faintly.

"No wonder it looks so bad."

In the past when I heard this, I would be upset and argue with him.

But now, I couldn't be bothered to argue at all.

Watching me clean up the mess, Leon raised an eyebrow.

"Nicole, I've packed a seafood boil for you."

"I saw it."

Leon would always bring home some food after scolding me.

We made up with each other tacitly.

"I'll heat it up for you."

Without giving me a chance to refuse, he walked into the kitchen.

Ten minutes later, a terrible smell of burnt food wafted out of the kitchen.

Leon didn't come out of the bedroom, so I went to turn off the heat.

While filling the bowl with food, I saw his cell phone on the kitchen table light up.

It was a message from Reese.

[Leon, thank you. I was very happy last night.]

Before I could look away, his cold voice came from behind me.

"Who allowed you to look at my phone?"

"I didn't. Hiss!"

He slammed into my back angrily.

The hot food scalded my left hand.

He glanced at me as if I was mentally challenged and proposed to take me to the hospital.

Because I was in much pain, I agreed immediately and went out with him.

As soon as I got in the car, what came into view was a sticker put on by Reese.

[My Cute Assistant Only]

Leon's expression changed slightly.

"This is what Reese did out of boredom."

I replied calmly, "Oh, it's pretty cute."

There was a brief silence in the car.

He looked at me strangely.

"Aren't you going to tear it off?"

I blinked.

Why should I?

Oh, by the way, if it were me in the past, I would throw away the things left in his car by another woman on purpose.

But now, I didn't even care about him.

Why would I care about the girls who hooked up with him?

"Hurry up and go to the hospital. I have to go to work."

At my soft urging, he drove the car fast at a steady pace.

When we were just one turn away from the hospital, Leon's cell phone rang.

It was Reese's ringtone.

She said that she had drunk too much last night and felt dizzy and uncomfortable, so she couldn't fall asleep at all.

After hanging up the phone, Leon turned around and rushed to her place without even looking at me.

The car pulled up. He took out the hangover pills I had prepared for him from a locker and said perfunctorily,

"I left a document at Reese's place. I'll go get it and be right back."

After that, he locked the car and went upstairs alone.

An hour passed quickly.

Under the scorching sun, I waited in the stuffy car until I was dehydrated, but I didn't see Leon.

I smashed the car window with a safety hammer, climbed out of the car with pale lips, and went to the hospital with the help of a kind-hearted security guard.

In the evening, Leon got home and saw me eating takeout.

"Nicole, why didn't you order mine?"

He knew that my hand was injured and I couldn't cook.

But why didn't I order food for him?

He had told me half an hour ago that he would come back.

We had been married for eight years, and I always texted him back the second I got a message from him.

He didn't expect me to shrug and reply perfunctorily, "My phone is charging. I didn't read what you sent to me."

He clenched the gift bag in his hand, pursed his lips, and put it in front of me.

"If I remember right, you're running out of perfume."

I looked up from the delicious food and met his merciful eyes, saying politely,

"Give it to someone else. I'll never get used to branded perfume."

Half an hour ago, Reese posted a photo of a luxury bag on her ‎Instagram.

A corner of the picture showed a Vacheron Constantin watch on Leon's right wrist.

My hand was wrapped in bandages and I was watching a cartoon on TV and giggling.

Leon moved closer with a stern face to check on my injury.

I subconsciously dodged, knocking over the bag and breaking the perfume.

He sneered.

"Nicole, I just asked you to wait a little longer in the car this morning. And you're still mad at me?

"I'm not mad."

I told him the truth, but he ridiculed me in response.

"You're obviously angry. Nicole, look at how old you are. You're thinking too much. You're hopeless."

I was three years older than him.

Every time we quarreled, he would laugh at me for being stupid and old.

Then, he calmly watched me cry and go crazy.

However, I did not cry this time, nor did I ask him madly if he regretted marrying me.

I only said, "You can think whatever you want."

...

After throwing away the garbage, I took my bag, opened the door, and went out.

In the past when I acted like running away from home, he never caught up with me.

But today, for the first time in my life, he followed me to the elevator and asked me where I was going in the middle of the night.

I lied blatantly.

"My mom asked me to go back and get some vegetables she planted."

He seemed to have something to say, but the elevator door was closed.

Less than two hours after I went out, I received a message on my phone while I was chatting in the bar.

Leon sent a question mark.

Seeing that I had no intention of replying, my best friend Bailey said incredulously,

"Nicole, your husband's finally contacted you. If you don't reply, he will be angry, won't he?"

My friends all knew that I was most afraid of displeasing Leon.

But tonight, not only did I ignore him, but I also had fun with them for the rest of the evening.

When I got home, Leon was standing in front of the refrigerator drinking water.

He didn't care where I went, and I ignored him and went straight to the bathroom to take a shower.

As soon as I lay down on the bed, he came over.

We kissed for a few seconds, and then I pushed him away forcefully.

He couldn't stand it anymore and turned on the bedside lamp.

"Nicole, don't tell me you've forgotten that you're ovulating today."

Leon and I weren't DINKs.

So when I ovulated every month, he would have sex with me reluctantly.

I turned my back to him.

"I'm too tired today. I've gotta sleep."

I had rejected him countless times before.

Hearing that, Leon paused for a long while. Finally, he walked out of the bedroom, his face dark with fury.

I knew that he would sleep in the guest room for the next few days.

In the past when he slept in another room, I would feel panic and couldn't fall asleep all night.

However, I slept very soundly tonight.

The next day, I was surprisingly efficient at work.

When my superior jokingly asked me what reward I wanted, I looked at her seriously.

"The lawyer we met last time is very good at handling divorce cases. Please introduce her to me."

On the ninth day of sleeping in separate rooms, Leon got up early and made me my favorite bacon and fried eggs. Then, he went back to sleep in his room.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, I saw a wedding photo of Leon's friend in the group chat.

Not only was Leon in the photo, but there was also Reese, who was holding his hand and smiling shyly.

In less than five minutes after the group photo was posted, I received a call from Leon.

He mumbled, hesitating a lot between words, "Nicole, don't get me wrong. Dylan's wedding was on weekdays, so..."

I was confused. "What's there to misunderstand?"

"You're not angry?"

"Why should I be angry?"

He was silent for a moment and said,

"Wait for me at the company after work. I'll take you to dinner."

Before I could refuse, the call ended.

When he came to pick me up, Reese was sitting in the passenger seat.

"Nicole, you're also going to have a free meal."

In response to Reese's sarcasm, I smiled faintly and opened the rear door.

Along the way, Leon kept looking at me in the rearview mirror and tried to chat with me.

I kept looking at my phone and made a perfunctory reply. Then, I stopped talking.

When we arrived at a private room in the restaurant, Dylan came up to us and said that it was a great pity that I didn't attend his wedding.

I knew that he said that to calm Leon's anger.

However, I was not angry with anyone.

"Don't say that. Congratulations on your wedding, by the way."

Seeing that I sat down at the table without another word, Dylan gaped at me in surprise.

In the past year, he had covered for Leon more than once when Leon was on vacation with Reese.

There was even a time when I went to him and exposed the lie that he was on a business trip with Leon.

At that time, he was not surprised at all.

Halfway through the meal, the restaurant manager brought a few bottles of good wine and asked Leon,

"This is what you and Ms. Perry stored last time. Do you want to open them now?"

Seeing that no one spoke, I kindly explained on behalf of the manager who didn't know the situation here.

"Open all of them. Don't waste any."

Seeing me walk out of the private room, Leon quickly caught up with me and said in a rare nervous tone,

"Nicole, the company struck a big deal some time ago. The wine was for celebration."

I waved my hand casually and walked into the ladies' room.

When I returned to the private room, Leon was drinking Reese's wine.

It reminded me of a dinner party two years ago.

I was allergic to alcohol, but those guys made me to drink.

At that time, instead of stopping them, Leon pressed me down with his eyes narrowed and prised my mouth open with his hand.

He said it was just a glass of wine.

At worst, he'd take me to the hospital to pump my stomach.

Right after dinner, I started to have a fever.

Two days later, I was sent to the hospital because of serious abdominal pain. The doctor told me that my pregnancy ended in miscarriage at four weeks.

Hearing that I had a miscarriage, Leon rushed to the hospital and shouted at me.

"I told you not to go there, but you insisted. You idiot! This is the price you pay for drinking with those guys."

Thinking of this, I walked to my seat, picked up my bag, and left.

Leon, who followed me home, was furious.

"Nicole, are you crazy? You left without saying goodbye and made everyone unhappy."

Seeing that I was silent, he pulled down his collar and sneered.

"Since you have bad manners, let's get a divorce."

This was the second time that he had asked for a divorce.

The last time he did so was when he thought I snooped on his phone.

At that time, I knelt at his feet and cried bitterly, swearing to him that I would never make him unhappy again.

However, at this moment, I looked into his eyes and said, "Okay."