The next morning, Sean canceled all his meetings just to cheer me up.

When we pulled up to the city’s most famous rooftop couples’ restaurant, I saw a heart-shaped display made entirely of fresh flowers.

I’d tried to book this place so many times before, but Sean had always been too busy with work to come. This time, to win me over, he booked the entire place for us.

However, it felt like biting into candy that had long since gone stale—sweet in theory, bitter in reality.

The restaurant’s speakers were playing the piano piece we used to love when we first fell for each other.

Suddenly, I was back at the arts festival in high school, where I danced while he played the piano. Everyone said we were a perfect match.

Later, right after graduation, he had played this very piece when he confessed to me.

We dated for four years and have been married for three. As his company grew, his time at home shrank.

At some point, the lipstick stains on his collars, the strawberry hair clips in his suit pockets, and the stray hairs in his folders started making me jump.

Last night, he asked why I was getting harder and harder to please. However, he’d forgotten that I used to be a girl who could be won over with a single sweet.

When the food came, a young waitress lost her grip on a tray and accidentally spilled hot soup onto my leg.

I yelped and jumped up. Sean rushed to steady the waitress, his eyes unconsciously revealing his worry for her.

My dress today was light and thin. Within moments, white steam rose from my thigh, the skin already stinging in a cluster of tiny burning spots.

It hurt so badly, but my chest hurt a thousand times worse.

I glanced toward the waitress with a ponytail, but Sean quickly stepped between us, blocking my view.

When he finally noticed my injury, he looked pained and immediately called the restaurant manager over.

Still, my gaze followed the waitress’s retreating figure, and I realized her back matched the girl in those photos I’d seen yesterday.

So this was her.

While the doctor treated my burn, Sean winced as he watched on, as if he were the one in pain.

Seeing me flinch, he told the doctor softly, “Please be gentle. My wife’s terrified of pain.”

His voice was so gentle that it made my eyes sting.

However, before I could say anything, he crouched in front of me and continued, “Jane, I found out that the waitress is fresh out of college. You’re Mrs. Roth, and should be more forgiving toward a young girl, don’t you think?”

I said nothing, only stared at the angry red burn across my leg.

Sean knew I cared about my looks and was afraid of pain. Even a single pimple could throw me off for days.

Now I had a burn big enough to make me give up wearing short skirts forever, yet he wanted me to be understanding?

The warmth that had just barely returned to my heart froze over again.

Then came the final blow. “Honestly, your burn isn’t that bad. Let’s just drop it. If word gets out that Mrs. Roth bullied a young girl, imagine how bad that would look!”

Every word sounded like it was for my sake, but each one was actually defending his lover.

The tenderness in his eyes when he looked at me was real, but his heart was no longer mine alone.

Suddenly, I felt tired. All those jealous outbursts and desperate attempts to keep him were nothing but a joke.

So I looked him straight in the eye and said, “Sean, I can stop being Mrs. Roth anytime.”

Sean froze at my words, looking at me with slight confusion. “Jane, don’t talk nonsense. Is your leg hurting that badly? Here, let me blow on it for you.”

He kneeled on one knee and gently blew on the burn.

Back when I was learning to ride a bike and fell, he used to do this—smiling and coaxing me out of my tears.

However, the wounds on the body can heal, but not the ones in the heart.

I stopped him and met his eyes seriously. “Sean, I mean it.”

“Why?”

He could not seem to accept it. Standing up, he looked down at me from above. “Just because I spoke up for some waitress?”

I nodded, too tired to argue anymore. “Let’s just call it that.”

I was sure he already knew the real reason and wasn’t about to tear off that thin veil between us. It would only make things uglier.

Seeing that I wasn’t budging, Sean’s expression darkened.

“Jane,” he rasped, “are you sure about this? You’d throw away seven years of us over something so small?”

My fingers curled slightly.

Then I thought of all the times I’d spent nights alone, of the empty chairs at dinners he promised to attend, of the strange perfume lingering on his shirts…

All the nights I lay awake, sick with fear of losing him, and suddenly, I had all the courage and resolve I needed.

I just wanted a good night’s sleep, without the constant anxiety over him.

So I nodded, pulled out my phone, and called a lawyer friend I knew. “Please help me draft a divorce agreement with Sean. The sooner, the better.”

When I hung up, Sean’s face had gone completely cold, his voice edged with anger. “Jane, maybe I’ve spoiled you too much after we got married that you’ve forgotten what’s important.

“I’ve already lowered myself to talk to you like this, and you’re still being unreasonable!”

He bent over and trapped me in his arms, his eyes a mix of icy malice and fury that was dark as ink.

“This relationship started because of me, so it should end when I say so. Who do you think you are to bring up divorce first?”

I froze.

A second later, he let go, but only to drive the point home. He snorted, “Fine, we can divorce. But remember, it’s because I don’t want you anymore.

“You think you’re still the girl you were back then? Please. There are plenty of women out there, younger and prettier than you. I don’t need you, Jane.”

The hospital room door slammed so hard it shook.

On his way out, he bumped into the doctor treating me, making the cotton swab press hard against my burn.

The sting in my leg was sharp, but somehow, my heart hurt more.

Sean was right. I wasn’t the young, radiant Jane I once was. However, he was no longer the gentle, genuine boy I remembered either.

I realized then that he would always hit me with a stick and hand me candy, dangling those memories of our younger love just enough to keep me.

What I’d been swallowing all this time was his expired love.

On the outside, it was coated in honey. Inside, it was sour, bitter, and laced with shards of glass, sharp enough to cut my heart.

The next day, when Sean’s assistant delivered the divorce papers, I didn’t hesitate for a second before signing.

Dan gathered up the documents, hesitating before speaking. “Mrs. Roth… are you really going through with this?

“Mr. Roth even added a special clause today. He’s giving you an extra five percent of the company’s shares, plus dozens of properties. He really does care about you!”

My hand, still holding the teacup, paused for a moment.

For Sean, offering up profit like this was probably his quiet way of hoping I’d have a change of heart.

But I knew better.

All these years, Sean’s love was never tied to where his money went.

He could hand me company shares, buy me couture jewelry, and then turn around and spend just as much on someone else.

In fact, our cold war started when I found out Sean had taken his company’s intern to the Aegean Sea, a place I had longed to go back to.

That was the place I’d told him I wanted to revisit for our third wedding anniversary.

On that day, I’d dressed up exactly how he liked, sat in the living room all morning, waiting with excitement.

Instead, I got a phone call just before his flight.

“Jane, work is crazy right now. I can’t get away. I’ll make it up to you when I’m back from this trip.”

Before the call even ended, I heard a sweet, bright, and energetic female voice right next to him.

Later, I saw her posts.

She was younger and livelier than I, all smiles in the nine-photo collage of the Aegean coastline.

[Thanks to the boss for this amazing employee perk! With a view this gorgeous, how could I not be completely loyal to Mr. Roth?!]

At first glance, the pictures seemed ordinary until I noticed a half-visible arm in the corner of one shot with a wedding band on the ring finger. It was the wedding band I had given him.

It was obvious who went to the Aegean with her.

In that moment, it felt like lightning had struck me. I stayed home, sobbing until my eyes burned.

I wanted so badly to call him and scream, “Sean, do you feel even a shred of guilt taking a young girl to the place where we honeymooned, where we made vows?!

“When you were laughing and playing with her, did you think about the newlyweds we once were? Did you think about me, still waiting for you at home?!”

I wanted to pour every ounce of my pain and anger into that call.

It was the first time I had ever broken through my calm façade and used my influence to have someone fired.

However, Sean was far too busy pampering his little sweetheart, picking gifts for her, and playing the perfect knight in shining armor that he didn’t even answer my calls.

I stared at the ninety-nine missed calls on my phone until my tears completely dried.

The man who once put me first and never ignored my calls and texts was gone, dead and buried in my memory.

Watching Dan walk away with the divorce papers, I quietly went to my room and started packing.

On the first day of the divorce cooling-off period, I booked a flight to Silverlake.

Sean didn’t come home the second day. Instead, he mailed me his wedding ring.

Day three, word spread in our social circle about Sean’s new bird and how he was now openly wooing a young girl.

As for me, I boarded a plane out of here, ready to start adjusting to my new life.