After ending the call, my mother-in-law's moist eyes overflowed with tears. She held my hand tightly, her voice trembling with a cry, "I'm sorry, Aria…. This is all my fault. I should never have forced you to stay with him, causing you to suffer so much …."

It was true — she had orchestrated my marriage to Sean.

After I graduated from college, she arranged a blind date and told him bluntly that I was the only suitable daughter-in-law for the Carter Family.

He protested and fought against the idea, but he couldn’t overcome her persistence. We got married.

At first, I thought I’d found my safe harbor, someone I could rely on. I was filled with hope for our future.

I poured my heart into being a good wife, putting him first.

Whenever my colleagues invited me out for dinner, I declined, worried he wouldn’t eat properly if left alone.

Eventually, they stopped asking.

I put all my thoughts on him and did not care about contact with the outside world.

I thought my sincerity would be returned in kind.

But I was wrong. Not long after our wedding, Sean began staying out late.

Naively, I assumed it was work-related. I prepared nutritious meals and delivered them to his office, urging him to care for himself.

Until one night, I attended a banquet with him. Midway through, a glamorous woman approached with a provocative smile.

"So, you're Mrs. Carter?" she sneered. "I heard you're an orphan. No wonder your cooking is so good — it must've been a survival skill, huh? Were you a chef before?"

Then, I realized the meals I had painstakingly prepared for him had been going straight into another woman’s stomach.

When we got home, I confronted him for the first time.

To say it was a fight is more like a catharsis for me alone.

He was unimpressed, as calm and self-possessed as a madman.

Once I had exhausted myself, he calmly remarked, "Aria Hampton, don’t you think your self-pity is a bit pathetic?"

That single sentence shattered every defense I had.

My good to him, he is completely not on the heart, as if watching the drama of the passer-by. He calmly watched me pay and then cloudy commented: You are in self-touching.

How ridiculous.

I didn’t know how to face him or our future, so I chose avoidance. I stopped caring about what he did.

Soon, rumors about his affairs became frequent headlines.

One day, he attended a fashion show with a young model. The next, he dined with a flight attendant. Then, he slipped into a hotel with a business partner.

Each scandal chipped away at my resolve until I was ready to file for divorce.

But my mother-in-law insisted, "It’s all just for show, nothing serious. Aria, he likes you but just doesn’t know how to express it. Please, for my sake, give him one more try."

She had been my benefactor since I was five, supporting me through life at the orphanage.

Thanks to her, I never suffered the way other orphans did.

Remembering that she had favoured me, I put up with it.

After that, I slowly went from pain to numbness to his cheating.

But last year, when my mother-in-law discovered I couldn’t sleep without medication, she finally conceded.

"If you give Sean a child — boy or girl — I'll agree to your divorce."

Desperate for freedom, I forced myself to recover and take care of my body.

But he wouldn't touch me. He preferred living at the office to coming home.

So, I took matters into my own hands, using his sperm to undergo IVF.

Thankfully, it worked.

I got pregnant and gave birth.

Now, I was finally on the brink of freedom.

Not long after my mother-in-law's call, Sean stormed into the hospital room, his face cold as ice.

The nurse told him, "It's a boy."

Sean's face flickered with shock. He quickly recovered and said, "Please arrange a paternity test as soon as possible."

His words struck like a slap in the air.

My mother-in-law, who had just returned from a phone call, heard it clearly. Her face darkened with fury.

"Sean! Your wife just gave birth to your child, and this is how you treat her? Are you even human?"

Afraid of truly angering his mother, he backtracked awkwardly. "I was just joking."

I heard everything.

But I didn’t get angry.

Why would I? I’d known all along that he doubted the child was his.

Even though I’d explained several times that I used his sperm for IVF, he never believed me.

Eventually, I stopped bothering to convince him.

My mother-in-law ushered him into the room before leaving us alone.

He stood at a distance, not bothering to approach me as though I were a stranger. I also did not care.

The silence in the room was thick and oppressive.

After a long pause, he finally opened his mouth, and the words he said were still not favorable. "You wanted this child. Don’t expect me to help raise it."

As he said this, he watched my expression, trying to see something on my face.

I smiled faintly. "Mom’s already hired a top-tier nanny. The child will be well taken care of."

His brows furrowed, clearly displeased. "Don’t think you can use this baby to tie me down. I won’t—"

"It’s fine," I interrupted calmly. "Do whatever you want. Mom will handle the child. You won't be bothered."

My response seemed to catch him off guard. He pressed his lips into a thin line, momentarily silent.

I knew why he was surprised.

When we first got married, I had told him that if we ever had a child, I wanted to give them a complete, loving family — something I never had growing up.

But now?

I no longer had any expectations of him.

He opened his mouth to say something else, but his phone buzzed.

Glancing at the screen, he hesitated briefly before stepping out to answer it.

Even inside the room, I could hear the sugary voice on the other end.

"The baby isn’t even yours. Why bother visiting her? I want to go to see the idol's concert. I want you to accompany me ..."

He went out to answer the phone and never came back.

As I stared at the door he left through, a mom-to-be walked past my door, supported by her husband.

"Do you think the baby will look like you or me?" she asked playfully.

"Like you, of course — beautiful like you," he teased, making her laugh.

The woman was coaxed by her husband to laugh, and her husband laughed with her. His eyes stared at the woman beside him for an instant, and his movements were careful for fear of falling on her.

Look at their body overflowing with happiness.

I was envious.

If there is someone who can love me, how good would it be?

Lost in thought, I was jolted back to reality by my phone buzzing on the bedside table.

[You've received 50,000 dollars on your card.]

I checked the transfer message.

It read: [From Mom.]

I steadied my thoughts, deciding not to return the money. After all, I deserved it.

After a few days in the hospital, my mother-in-law brought me back home to recover.

She promised me that the day my confinement period ended would be the day she helped finalize my divorce from Sean.

With her promise, the restless ache in my heart finally began to settle.

That night, the director of the orphanage suddenly called me.

She said she had found my birth parents, but they had died a long time ago.

But they left me a letter and a key.

I was required to go to the local police station in their hometown personally to collect the letter and key left by my biological parents.

After jotting down the address, I was about to slip the note into my phone case when I heard the door open.

Sean pushed the door and walked in.

As he came in, I smelled a strong odor of alcohol.

Before I could speak, he collapsed onto the bed beside me, eyes closed. "Mom told me to live a good life with you from now on," he muttered.

Hearing this, I was shocked.

My mother-in-law had promised to help us divorce. Why had she changed her mind?

A wave of unease swept over me. I threw back the blanket, ready to find her and get an explanation.

But Sean suddenly rolled over, grabbing my arm. His expression turned stern as he scolded, "Do you realize you can't catch a chill right now? You're a mother now—take better care of yourself!"

His sudden concern sent a chill down my spine.

I instinctively pulled away, creating distance between us. "I get it. You should go back to your room. I need to sleep."

He noticed my rejection and laughed bitterly, a sneer twisting his lips. "Don’t flatter yourself. You're a woman who just gave birth—your body's completely out of shape. It’s not like I can’t find someone better."

I bit back a response.

During my pregnancy, the doctor had warned that I wasn’t getting enough nutrition. I forced myself to consume countless supplements to ensure the baby’s health, gaining just enough weight to meet the normal range.

Now, post-pregnancy, soft flesh still clung stubbornly to my waist.

I glanced at him, didn't say anything, and lay back down with my back to him, thinking that I would ask my mother-in-law tomorrow.

In the middle of the night, I woke up in a daze, and no one was around me anymore.

Reaching for my phone, I noticed a message from Sean’s secretary sent three minutes earlier.

The photo attached showed him driving, his profile illuminated by the dashboard lights.

Her text read:

[So, what if you have a child now? If he doesn’t love you, he just doesn’t love you. I only missed him for a bit and called—he left with me right away.]

[Aria, you're the only one who took this ridiculous marriage seriously. You’ve lost.]

She was right. I had lost completely.

But what Sean would never know was that the first time I met his mother, she told me about him.

He would never discover that we had attended the same school since middle school.

I had secretly admired him for years, silently following his life without ever intruding.

So when his mother proposed that I marry him after graduating from college, I was so thrilled I couldn’t sleep all night.

But my happiness had been built on his misery.

Since that was the case, it was time to set us both free.

I didn’t reply to the secretary’s message.

At home, I ate well, rested well, and cared for myself.

Soon, the final day of my postpartum confinement arrived.

During dinner, my mother-in-law, true to her word, placed a divorce agreement signed by Sean in front of me. Her voice wavered with reluctance.

"Tomorrow is your baby’s one-month celebration. Could you stay and attend it before leaving?"

I shook my head firmly. "No, I’ve already booked a ticket for tomorrow morning."

"What about—"

"Mom, I'll leave this family to you from now on."

I cut her off gently, smiling softly.

She recognized my resolve, wiping away tears. "Alright, I’ll raise your baby well. Don’t worry."

I took the divorce agreement from her just as Sean descended the stairs.

He frowned at the sight. "What are you holding?"

Gripping the agreement tightly, I shook my head. "Nothing."

His eyes narrowed, suspicion flickering in his gaze as he stared at me intently.

But I remained composed.

Fortunately, he didn’t press the issue, shifting the topic to tomorrow's baby's celebration.

"I have something to handle tomorrow," Sean said indifferently. "I'll be late to the hotel. If there's an issue, just ask Mom."

My mother-in-law frowned in disapproval. "What could possibly be more important than your son's one-month celebration? You—"

"It's fine. It doesn't matter. If you have something to do, go and get busy," I said calmly. His presence or absence made no difference to the child.

After all, he hadn't spared the boy a single glance since our baby's birth—just like me.

My mother-in-law opened her mouth to argue but stopped when I gave her a reassuring smile and shook my head.

The day of the celebration arrived. The atmosphere at home was quieter than expected.

Holding the baby, my mother-in-law prepared to leave. One of the housekeepers hesitated and asked, "Madam, shouldn't we wait for Mrs. Hampton to go with us?"

She froze, glancing toward the upstairs hallway. Her expression faltered, but she shook her head with a choked breath.

What she didn't know was that I had already left.

The night before the baby's celebration, I had boarded a plane and flown away.

I was long gone when Sean finished his work and rushed to the event, searching anxiously for me.

An inexplicable sense of panic gripped his chest as he frantically asked his mother, "Where's Aria? Where did she go?"