It's my daughter, Clementine Hartman's first time smashing cake and we hold a big birthday party for her.

Somehow, she digs out a thong belonging to Nancy Ortega, my husband's female best friend, from the giftbox he has prepared.

Everyone is stunned, to say the least. Nancy lets out a soft gasp before blinking at me innocently.

"Sorry, this is my fault! Shawn and I traded underwear just for fun some time ago, and I forgot to take it away. Please don't take this matter to heart, Karina."

I do my best to suppress my rage and pretend that nothing has happened for Clementine's sake.

But suddenly Clementine picks up a document.

Thinking that it's a present prepared by the elderly members in the family for Clementine, I glance at it before putting it away.

Unexpectedly, Nancy bursts out laughing.

"Karina, is money all you care about? Did you seriously accept that document without going through it? Don't tell me you seriously think a property deed is wrapped up in that document!"

Then, Nancy picks out a few pieces of paper from the pile before tossing them to me.

Only then do I make out the details. It turns out that Clementine has actually grabbed a copy of the divorce agreement meant for me and Shawn Hartman.

I stare at Shawn in disbelief. "Is this what you really want? A divorce?"

Shawn looks perplexed at first, but he still shields Nancy behind him out of instinct.

"Nancy's just pulling a prank. Don't take it to heart. She's just joking around."

But Nancy sticks her head out from behind Shawn and adds, "Joking around? Shawn, don't tell me you've lost your courage to divorce Karina!"

All the guests fall silent at her words. They all turn to look at me.

After a while, I don't react by crying or kicking up a fuss. Instead, I drop my signature on the divorce agreement while everyone else stares at me in shock.

"Fine. Let's get divorced."

After all, it is my daughter's gift.

Shawn Hartman's expression changed instantly when he saw me sign the divorce papers without hesitation.

"Karina Decker, are you crazy? Those divorce papers were just something Nancy accidentally slipped in. It's not real."

"Accidentally? Are you saying you accidentally drafted the divorce papers and then accidentally signed them?" I lowered my head and let out a bitter laugh. "Shawn, do you take me for a fool?"

"Oh, come on, Karina, is it really that big of a deal? Those divorce papers were just a silly dare Shawn lost. We were all just messing around. If it bothers you that much, how about I tear it up for you? I promise that Shawn won't say a single word against you."

With a look that conveyed her annoyance, Nancy Ortega reached over to grab the papers on the table.

Shawn frowned and said, "It was just a joke. If you're going to be this sensitive about it, I'll just tear up the divorce papers right now, okay?"

"Enough!"

I could tell from his tone that he thought I was being unreasonable, and I finally couldn't hold back anymore. All the hurt I'd been bottling up just burst out.

"A joke! It's always a joke!"

When Nancy had deliberately flushed my wedding ring down the toilet and cut my wedding dress to shreds, Shawn had also said that she was just joking.

Later, when I was pregnant, she purposely poured water on the floor, causing me to slip and go into premature labor. But Shawn had simply said that Nancy didn't mean to do that.

While I was out of the house, Nancy put a dead rat under my daughter, Clementine Hartman's blanket, scaring her so badly that she came down with a high fever that wouldn't break. And Shawn still said that Nancy was just joking around.

Even now, with Clementine's one-year-old birthday party completely ruined, he was still saying that Nancy was only playing a joke on me.

I stared into his eyes and asked emphatically, "What if I slipped poison into her wine today, and then also said it was just a joke?"

The moment the words left my mouth, Shawn knocked the wine glass from Nancy's hand just as it reached her lips.

With a sharp crash, shards of glass flew everywhere, cutting my ankle. Blood seeped out, but all I could see on Shawn's face was concern for Nancy.

Suddenly, it all felt utterly pointless.

I shoved the divorce papers into Shawn's hands, then picked up Clementine and turned to leave.

"I'll be waiting for you at the courthouse tomorrow."

At the entrance, Shawn rushed after me and grabbed my arm.

"What are you even angry about? You know perfectly well Nancy's always been this careless. It's just how she is."

When I didn't reply, he softened his tone with a resigned air. "Alright, alright. I'll tell her to be more careful from now on, okay?"

Even at this moment, he still hadn't realized that I was truly exhausted and genuinely wanted a divorce.

"Today is Clementine's first birthday party. Do you really have to make things this ugly?"

"Oh, so you do know that today is Clementine's first birthday party, and not your wedding with Nancy?"

I laughed bitterly inside.

It was clearly Clementine's birthday party, yet he had let Nancy tamper with the gifts. We were clearly the ones who were married, yet he showed up with her in matching couple outfits.

"Shawn, to anyone who doesn't know us, it would look like the two of you are a couple, and I'm the outsider."

I stared at him, trying to find even a flicker of guilt or remorse in his eyes. Unfortunately, there was none.

Instead, he just said dismissively, "Nancy and I grew up together like two peas in a pod. We're just friends. You're not seriously jealous of her, are you?"

"Friend?" I fixed my gaze on the red marks on his neck that he'd claimed were mosquito bites and sneered. "You know perfectly well in your heart whether or not the two of you have done anything shameful!"

"Hey! I came here out of the goodness of my heart to attend Clementine's birthday party, yet you dare insult me?"

Behind me, Nancy and her group had come chasing out at some point without me noticing.

She turned to Shawn and asked, "Shawn, are you just going to stand there and let her ruin my reputation? How am I supposed ever to get married after this? Forget it. If she can't handle a little fun, then maybe we just shouldn't see each other anymore."

As she spoke, she blocked Shawn's number right in front of me.

"That way Karina won't have any reason to go around spreading rumors that I'm trying to seduce you."

It was as if Nancy had truly made up her mind to cut ties with Shawn forever. Before leaving, she didn't forget to take with her the nightgown and thong she had "accidentally" left behind.

Shawn panicked instantly. "Nancy!"

He made to run after her. But before he could even take a step, Clementine's cries stopped him in his tracks.

And the moment his friends saw that Nancy had left in a huff, they immediately swarmed around me and turned their anger on me all at once.

"Karina, look at what you've done! Nancy came here out of kindness to celebrate Clementine's birthday, and you just had to drive her away!"

"What do you expect from a gold digger? She'll always be petty and tacky. If Nancy really had intentions toward Shawn, do you honestly think a florist like you could have married into his family?"

"Shawn, Nancy might not hold what happened today against you, but as her friends, we have to demand justice for her!"

They all fixed their eyes on me simultaneously.

"If you two don't go and apologize to Nancy, none of us will ever set foot in your house again!"

Before long, the guests had all cleared out completely.

The vast living room was left with nothing but a scene of devastation and Clementine's broken, intermittent sobs.

Shawn rubbed his throbbing temples, then suddenly kicked over the potted flowers by his feet.

"Are you happy now that it's turned into such a mess?"

Instead of answering, I simply stared at the broken pot of butterfly orchids.

Suddenly, I recalled the summer I met Shawn. He was the one who had stood with me in the rain, hawking flowers, and pushing the cart together.

He was the one who had secretly called up his own friends and used his own money to buy out every last flower on the cart. Bit by bit, he helped me scrape together the medical bills for my mother, Wanda Cobb.

Later, we finally fell in love, got married, and had Clementine.

In the days when our love was at its deepest, he said he would never let me stand in the rain or suffer hardship ever again. He also said he would always stay by my side and give me a happy home.

But when Nancy returned from abroad, everything changed.

Without me noticing when, Shawn quietly swapped out our matching couple profile pictures. When we went out, he no longer wanted to wear the flashy coordinated couple outfits with me.

And he, who once couldn't even bring himself to ride a roller coaster with me, had somewhere along the way learned to love everything Nancy did—skydiving, bungee jumping, and drag racing.

All these tiny changes gathered like streams merging into an ocean, washing away the old Shawn beyond all recognition little by little. And the ridiculous thing was, he still had the nerve to deny that his feelings hadn't changed.

As I snapped back to the present, Shawn seemed to have calmed down a little too. He stepped forward and took hold of my ice-cold hand.

"I'm sorry, Karina. I shouldn't have lost my temper at you during Clementine's birthday party. But Nancy and I really are just good friends, nothing more.

"The whole thing with the divorce papers was just an accident, and I've never once thought about leaving you and Clementine. I promise to see less of Nancy from now on, okay?"

As he spoke, Shawn seemed to transform back into the person he used to be. His eyes were sincere, and it didn't look like an act.

In the past, even as recently as just three days ago, I might have relented for Clementine's sake.

But now, looking at the face I had once fallen for countless times, all I could think about was the first time Nancy and I had a fight and how she disappeared immediately afterward.

Shawn used my account to write an apology in his friends' group chat, begging for forgiveness. In the end, he managed to coax Nancy into coming back. But in doing so, he made me the laughingstock of our entire circle.

And the night Clementine had a heart attack, Shawn was off with Nancy, partying the night away at Dream Park.

Thus, I slowly pulled my hand back.

"No, I want a divorce."

In an instant, shock, panic, and indignation flickered through Shawn's eyes one after another.

"Karina, have you lost your mind? Must you tear this family apart before you'll be satisfied?"

"It's not. It's you. You're the one who betrayed our marriage!"

In the midst of the argument, a frantic voice burst in from outside the door.

"Shawn, bad news! Nancy's been in a car accident!"

I stood at the doorway, watching the taillights of Shawn's car disappear into the night.

It wasn't until Clementine pressed her tiny, warm body against me that I finally snapped out of the numbing cold. I held her tight and pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead. Then, I turned around and went back inside to start packing.

Clothes, documents, Clementine's baby formula and vaccination records—one by one, I erased every single trace of my presence in this house. The moment I finished booking the plane tickets, I suddenly felt as if a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.

By the time Shawn came back, the sky had already brightened. He pushed open the door and froze for a second when he saw the open suitcase sitting in the middle of the living room.

"Karina, what are you kicking up a fuss about now?"

Instead of answering, I just kept folding Clementine's clothes.

He grabbed my wrist and yanked me to a stop, his voice simmering with suppressed anger.

"Nancy got into a car accident last night because of you, and now she's lying in the hospital refusing to see me. She won't even let me visit her. What more do you want from me?"

I looked up at him expressionlessly.

"Do you have to push me until I've completely lost all patience with you before you'll be satisfied? Karina, are you really asking me to cut off a friendship of over ten years with her just for you?"

A friendship of over ten years.

Suddenly, I let out a laugh.

So it turned out that Clementine and I meant less to him than his so-called friendship with Nancy.

"If she means that much to you, then why did you pursue me in the first place?"

Shawn froze.

"And haven't I already agreed to the divorce so that the two of you can be together?"

With red-rimmed eyes, I pulled my hand out of his grasp.

"I should be the one asking you what more you want from me!"

"Divorce, divorce, divorce! Is that the only word you know how to say?"

With a furious sweep of his arm, he sent the suitcase crashing to the floor.

Clementine was instantly startled and burst into wailing sobs.

I instinctively tried to run to her, only to trip over the scattered suitcase. My whole body came crashing down hard, and the back of my waist slammed against the corner of the coffee table.

A searing pain shot through me, so intense that my face drained of all color.

That year, when Nancy caused me to fall and go into premature labor, my lower back had been severely injured. Even to this day, just bending over to pick something up still sent a dull ache through me.

"Karina, what's wrong?" Shawn walked over with Clementine in his arms and asked anxiously, "Did you hurt your back? I'll take you to the hospital right now."

He bent down, about to help me up, when one of his friends, Doug Finley, suddenly called him.

"Shawn, get over here right now! Nancy's awake, and the moment she didn't see you, she started throwing a fit about going to a bar to get drunk!"

Shawn's hand froze mid-air, and in an instant, he forgot all about my back injury.

"What did you say? She's willing to see me?"

He immediately straightened up, unable to hide the sheer excitement in his voice.

"Tell her not to go anywhere. I'll be right there."

He stuffed Clementine into my arms and rushed out the door without so much as a backward glance.

The door slammed shut, and with that bang, the last shred of hope I'd been holding onto was shaken loose.

With Clementine cradled in my arms, I called for a ride and painfully made my way to the hospital, where I registered myself and got an X-ray.

As I passed the neighboring hospital room, I saw Nancy's bed crowded with people.

And Shawn, who had promised me to see less of Nancy just a few hours ago, was now down on his hands and knees, barking like a dog, just to cheer her up.

I tore my gaze away from that nauseating scene and looked back at the message Shawn had sent me just minutes before.

"Honey, I ordered some pain relief cream for you. They'll be delivered soon. Something came up with work, so I won't be coming home tonight."

In that moment, I found it all utterly laughable.