Cherie's POV

Early the next morning, I was woken up by the sounds of Aster's laughter.

"Mommy, look! Daddy got this gift for me!"

Aster then happily showed me his new airplane model with a huge smile on his face. Yet, I wasn't able to smile back at him.

I had seen one of Stacy's maids holding that exact gift last night.

I didn't say anything and just called Mitchell out to the balcony.

"That was one of Stacy's presents, wasn't it?"

He didn't seem bothered by the tremor in my voice and casually lit up his cigarette.

"Stacy said she didn't like it. I was in a rush when I came back, so I just brought it along with me."

"How could you give Aster a present that someone else didn't want!"

I finally lost it and yelled angrily at him. However, Mitchell didn't think that it was a big deal at all as he retorted, "Are you done making a fuss, Cherie? Can't you see how happy Aster is? You're even worse than a kid when it comes to matters like this."

With that, he snuffed out his cigarette and went back inside to continue playing with Aster and his airplane model.

Aster was overjoyed and a little stunned.

Looking at his little face, I felt a surge of mixed emotions. Aster had been neglected by Mitchell for so long and always longed for his love and attention. Would Aster even be willing to come along with me?

I was still feeling a little distressed when I was suddenly snapped out of my reverie when Aster's handphone buzzed with a new text message.

I looked at him still playing happily in the living room and decided to bring the phone to him. However, I immediately stopped in my tracks as soon as I saw the message preview on the screen.

"Pfft, look at you showing off your stupid present. It's just something that I didn't want anymore! Take that!"

My hand trembled all of a sudden.

"Mommy? What's wrong?"

I hurriedly deleted the text message and said that it was nothing before looking at the clock on the wall.

"Sweetie, how about we skip school today? I'll take you to the amusement park you've always wanted to visit."

He immediately jumped for joy and rushed into the study.

"Daddy! Mommy's taking me to the amusement park! Can you come with us too?"

He looked eagerly and expectantly at Mitchell, but all he got in response was a very cold and distant, "Get out."

Mitchell then glared coldly at Aster and said, "I still have a lot of work to do."

Aster froze where he stood, tears welling in his eyes. He probably never thought that the person who'd just gifted him the airplane model and played with him earlier would suddenly turn so cold and distant without any warning.

I happened to witness the scene and ushered Aster out, handing him over to the maid. Then, I walked into the study and slammed the door behind me with a loud bang.

Mitchell jumped at my actions.

However, it was only for a brief second as he immediately regained his calm composure and called his secretary, Morgan Berger.

"Order a limited-edition Lego airplane set and have it delivered to my place within 30 minutes."

After hanging up, he looked at me again and asked, "Happy now?"

I felt as though my anger had suddenly been doused with a bucket of cold water to my face. It was as though I was a deflated balloon now.

"I don't understand why you dislike me and Aster so much yet still insist on living with us, Mitchell Clayton."

My voice began to choke up. "We can… get a divorce if you want.

"A divorce?"

Mitchell frowned. "It's just a small matter, Cherie Hudson. Why are you even bringing divorce over something as trivial as this?"

He walked up to me and wiped away the tears in the corner of my eyes with the pads of his fingers.

"Aster is still my son after all, and he's also the future heir of the Claytons. How could I not like him? It's just that he still needs to go to school like the other kids. You can't overindulge a kid like that, or they'll turn out spoiled and rotten."

He then pressed a black card into my hands.

"Alright, stop making a fuss and take Aster out. I still have another meeting to attend."

I looked at the card in my hands and smiled self-deprecatingly before turning to leave without another word.

Aster stood not too far away from me, staring at me blankly as he said, "Don't cry, Mommy. It's all my fault… I shouldn't have made Daddy angry."

He wiped away the tears in his eyes as he spoke, and suddenly, I felt that my entire marriage had been nothing but a terrible mistake.

Still, it didn't matter anymore because it would soon be over.

I tried my best to recompose myself. Aster then said that he didn't want to go to the amusement park anymore because he was too upset, so I just kept him company at home while trying to cheer him up.

When Mitchell finally came out of his study, I was drawing pictures with Aster in the garden. The sun was shining down brightly on us as we both laughed happily, like the little episode with Mitchell earlier hadn't happened.

Mitchell's expression softened.

"I have to attend another event tonight," he said to me. "You don't have to come with me. You can keep Aster company instead."

I simply hummed in acknowledgement without even looking at him.

However, Aster set down his coloured pencil and said, "I don't need Mommy to keep me company. You can let Mommy come with you too."

Both Mitchell and I were astonished to hear Aster say that.

The secret marriage had always been a source of resentment between Mitchell and me, but I never thought that Aster would actually catch on like this.

Suddenly, I felt a wave of regret washing over me.

I was just about to speak when I saw Mitchell glaring coldly at me. "Did you teach him to say that?"

Everything I wanted to say immediately got caught in my throat.

"Don't teach him anything like that again. You'll ruin my relationship with him."

Then, Mitchell added, "There'll be another event in a week. I can bring you with me to that one instead."

I chuckled coldly and silently watched him close the door behind him.

Then, I let out a long sigh of relief as I pulled myself together. While Aster was taking a nap, I hurried to the lawyer's office to inquire about divorce and custody matters.

I no longer wanted to prove my worth by attending events with Mitchell anymore. I didn't want any of his love anymore, either.

Cherie's POV

From that day onward, I asked the lawyer to draft a divorce agreement for me while I went home to tidy up my belongings.

I caught sight of a box in the study and thought that it was a box of Aster's toys. When I opened it, however, I realized it was a box of old photos I took with Mitchell.

There were photos of us laughing while eating from the cheap fast food restaurant outside our rented apartment, and also of us running along the beach hand in hand.

These photos had been here for a very long time, but there were no signs of wear or storage on them. In fact, there wasn't even a single speck of dust on them. It was obvious that someone had been taking them out every day and then carefully and meticulously putting everything back.

A surge of emotions welled up inside me. However, I ultimately put the photos back where they belonged.

I wasn't going to change my mind again since I'd already made up my mind about leaving.

Still, Bianca refused to let me go without a fight.

She kept sending me photos of Mitchell at the event that night with captions like, "Isn't he so handsome? What a pity that you've never seen how charming he can be at events like this in person.

"Damn, I wouldn't have dumped him back in the day if I knew that he would be wearing tailor-made suits now. Still, luckily for me, I dumped him so hastily that he just can't stop thinking about me and missing me.

"I mean, he might be married now, but he's still pathetic enough to be treating another man's daughter as his own, like an obedient dog. Guess it's just engraved in his bones, huh?"

I read the long line of text and didn't reply to her at all. Instead, I just calmly took screenshots of the conversation and took Aster out to the amusement park instead, letting him enjoy himself to his heart's content.

It was just that Aster would occasionally look at the other children at the park happily riding on their fathers' shoulders, and the smile on his face would drop.

I casually shielded him from the view and handed him the ice cream cone I'd just bought.

"Wanna ride on Mommy's shoulders instead, sweetie?"

He shook his head. "No. I'm too heavy for you, Mommy. You'll get hurt."

I ruffled his hair endearingly at that.

My marriage to Mitchell might have been a mess, but I was still grateful every day for having a son as kind and thoughtful as Aster.

We stayed at the amusement park until closing time. Then, I brought him out to a fancy dinner before going home.

However, as soon as we reached home, we saw Aster's favorite toy dog thrown carelessly on the lawn.

Aster immediately ran over to the toy, picked it up, and dusted it off.

Mitchell then came out of the mansion.

"Stacy and Bianca are coming over to stay for a few days. You and Aster can move out for a while when they're here. You don't have a problem with that, do you?"

I looked at the suitcases and other items that were already packed at the door. He wasn't even asking me for my opinion anymore, but rather, just notifying me of a decision he'd already made.

How could he even think of driving his own son out of the house for another woman's sake?

My face went red with anger as I began to retort.

However, Aster grabbed my hand tightly and looked at Mitchell, saying, "I don't have a problem with that, Uncle Mitch."

Mitchell frowned when he heard Aster call him that. He was used to Aster calling him "Daddy" at home, but now…

I felt my heart breaking. I looked at Mitchel with disappointment in my eyes, not wanting to say another word to him anymore. I didn't even want to take any of the suitcases or things with me. Instead, I just turned and led Aster out of the yard.

Mitchell's voice sounded behind me.

"Aren't you taking the suitcases with you?"

"I don't need them."

Northern Yewrope, the place we were going to, had plenty of those things anyway. I didn't want Aster or myself to touch any of the things that would ever remind us of Mitchell anymore.

However, I never thought that Mitchell would come after me. He grabbed me by my wrist and asked, "Are you mad at me, Cherie?"

I scoffed and thought of flinging him off when his phone suddenly rang right at that moment, and Bianca's voice could be heard on the other end of the line.

"Mitchie! What should I do? Stacy cried until she threw up, and she also won't stop crying at the hospital! I… I really don't know what to do anymore!"

Mitchell immediately comforted her and said, "Calm down. Tell me everything."

"I heard from her teacher that she was shoved to the floor by her classmate and called a 'bastard' because she didn't have a father…"

"What?"

Mitchell's voice thundered. "Who dared to say such a thing about Stacy? Give me their names! I will personally talk to their parents tomorrow!"

I chuckled self-deprecatingly and tugged Aster along with me to leave.

But then, Bianca said clearly over the phone, "It was Aster Clayton."

Both Aster and I stopped in our tracks, turning back to look at him incredulously.

"You're lying!"

Aster immediately ran up to Mitchell and released all of his pent-up frustrations. "She's the one who kept calling me a 'bastard' without a father! She's the one who always called me names like that!"

"Aster Clayton!" Mitchell roared at him. "Shut up! Stacy would never call you anything like that!"

Then, he continued speaking gently into the phone. "Don't worry. I'll drag him over at once and make him apologize to her."

I couldn't believe my ears when I heard him say that.

"Mitchell Clayton! Aster didn't even go to school today! We were at the amusement park the whole day!"

"That's enough, Cherie Hudson! Stop teaching your son to lie!" he yelled angrily and immediately grabbed Aster by the arm before forcefully dragging him into the car without waiting for me to say another word.

Aster fought and struggled hard as he screamed tearfully, "Mommy! I don't want to go with him, Mommy! I didn't do anything wrong! Why must I apologize?"

At that point, I didn't care about anything anymore and shoved Mitchell aside with all the strength I had.

"You're worse than a beast, Mitchell Clayton!"

Then, I gathered Aster in my arms and ran with him as quickly as I could.

Mitchell didn't come after us. He just rolled up his windows in frustration before driving off.

I stopped running, suddenly losing all energy to move.

"Mommy, you can put me down."

Aster sounded quiet and exhausted as well. I carefully set him down on the ground and wiped away the tears in his eyes.

Suddenly, he held my fingers and spoke so calmly that he didn't sound like a kid anymore. "Mommy, is there a way for us to leave Daddy for good? I don't want him anymore."

My hand froze midair. I never thought that Aster would actually ask me if we could leave.

At that moment, all of the heartache I felt up to that point suddenly became still and calm. I smiled at him and said, "Of course, sweetie. I've already done all the preparations necessary. We can leave tomorrow."

I then brought him to a hotel, and he obediently went to wash up as usual without a fuss.

It wasn't until I woke up in the middle of the night and pulled the covers off of him that I realized that he was sporting a high fever.

I got such a scare that I rushed him to the hospital as quickly as I could.

The doctor told me that Aster was too emotionally distressed, which then caused a psychogenic fever.

I sat in the waiting room, feeling more exhausted than ever.

Just then, I received a text message reminder on my phone. It said, "Your flight will depart at 9:00 am tomorrow. Please arrive at the boarding gate on time."

I felt energized after reading the words on the screen and got up to get some warm water for Aster. However, I never thought that I would bump into Mitchell at the end of the hallway.

Cherie's POV

Mitchell was just as surprised to see me. However, the first thing he blurted out was, "Are you stalking me?"

I enunciated each word clearly as I said, "Aster is having a fever due to emotional distress."

Mitchell scoffed. "Trying to copy Stacy by crying himself into a hospital? Don't come up with such a lame excuse, Cherie Hudson."

I didn't want to explain myself any further and just went around him instead.

Mitchell hesitated, probably because of how cold I was to him, and caught up to me.

"Wait, is Aster really sick? Which room is he in?"

"306."

I could hear footsteps behind me, and I sighed in exhaustion.

If I hadn't heard Aster mumbling "Daddy" in his sleep just now, I would never even have allowed Mitchell to get anywhere close to him this time. But fortunately, this would be the very last time they would meet again in their lifetimes.

I had so much on my mind that I didn't even notice the hot water brimming from the cup and scalding my hand. I snapped back to the present immediately after that.

I quickly ran my hand under cold water, but I suddenly heard someone scoffing and laughing at me.

Bianca patted me on the shoulders and said, "What a terrible day it must have been for you today. First, you got kicked out of your home by your own husband, and now, you burned your hand because you weren't paying attention."

I endured the pain as I looked coldly at her. "Move aside."

She didn't budge. "What's the rush? Aren't you even a little curious why Mitchell is treating Stacy like his own daughter?"

I stiffened.

Bianca seemed satisfied with my reaction. She then retrieved a report from her bag and brandished it in my face.

"Because Stacy is his daughter."

I forgot about the pain in my hand that very instant as my eyes landed on the DNA test report before me.

"Mitchie's already said that he's going to divorce you as soon as he's done sorting out the marital assets between you both. Then, he's going to let Stacy move into your kid's bedroom.

"However, I don't like using secondhand things, so I'm planning to burn everything up. When that time comes, Mitchie won't even care about you or your kid, even if his fever goes up to 105 degrees."

Bianca then watched me closely after saying that, but she didn't manage to see the expression she wanted to see on my face.

I looked at her indifferently and said, "Then, I hope that you'll burn everything as thoroughly as you can. I don't wish to let Mitchell touch anything that belongs to Aster at all."

With that, I shoved Bianca out of the way and went back to Aster's hospital room.

Aster was already awake, and Mitchell was telling him a bedtime story, looking like a dutiful parent.

I just chuckled coldly.

Mitchell heard me and walked out of the room. When he saw my scalded hand, he froze for a second before calling a passing doctor over.

"Be gentle," he told the doctor. "She doesn't take pain very well."

After my hand was bandaged, Mitchell held it up and sighed, saying, "You're already an adult. How could you burn yourself just by getting water?"

I coldly pull my hand back.

He froze for a second before softening his tone. "I've been neglecting Aster too much lately. But Stacy will only be here for a couple more days before leaving. When that time comes, I'll personally come and bring you both back into the house. Happy?"

"Fine."

He seemed to want to say something more after seeing how dismissive I was toward him. However, Bianca suddenly turned up out of the blue at the end of the hallway, and he immediately left me for her.

"I'll come visit Aster again later."

I ignored him and turned to Aster instead.

There wasn't a smile on his face—just a cold calmness that a little boy his age should never have.

At that moment, I knew that Aster and I would no longer be touched or moved by Mitchell's temporary kindness anymore.

I approached Aster and closed the storybook Mitchell had been reading to him earlier.

"Go to sleep, sweetie," I said softly. "All of the bad feelings will be gone when you wake up tomorrow."

I went to Stacy's hospital room after Aster fell asleep. Mitchell frowned at once, and Bianca also got up with a guarded expression on her face.

However, I only handed Mitchell a stack of papers and said simply, "Aster's hospital bills."

Mitchell obviously sighed in relief as he signed his initials without hesitation. When he handed the papers back to me, he asked, "How's he doing?"

I shook my head. "He's fast asleep."

Mitchell hummed in acknowledgement. Just before I left, however, he said, "Call me when he wakes up later. I'll go and visit him again."

I acknowledged him with another hum and carefully put the signed papers away. I'd hidden the divorce agreement under the hospital bill just now, and I felt like everything was finally coming to a close as I stared at his hasty signature on the agreement.

Early the next morning, I brought Aster with me and headed straight for the airport, deleting and blocking all of Mitchell's contacts before boarding the plane.

I didn't want to see him ever again.