In the eighth year of our marriage, Keith gave me a pure white pearl necklace.

I stroked the photo of my mother wearing the necklace, looked at the man in front of me and calmly filed for a divorce.

His assistant stood behind Keith, crying, “Ruby, it’s all my fault that I didn’t investigate it clearly. You must not divorce Mr. Trivett.”

Keith turned around and hugged her in his arms, looking at me coldly. “Ruby, don’t regret it.”

——

When I called him again, no one answered.

When Keith came back, he smelled of alcohol and took out a pure white pearl necklace from his pocket.

He threw it on the table casually, as if giving alms. “Ruby, an anniversary gift.”

I looked at the pointer on the wall that had passed midnight, changed my posture and lay on the sofa without answering.

Keith seemed to be irritated by my disregard. He held the pearl necklace in front of me and said provocatively, “Ruby, an anniversary gift.”

I looked up at the man in front of me and said word by word, “Keith, let’s get a divorce.”

Keith was a little angry, but there was a little pride between his eyebrows. “You want to divorce me just because of this necklace?”

I looked at the familiar tag on the necklace and thought of Keith’s childhood sweetheart, who always liked this brand.

Keith was so busy that his personal assistant had to prepare the anniversary gift.

He was so busy that he knew what I hated the most, but he used it to deliberately anger me in order to make his childhood sweetheart happy.

“That’s enough. Cynthia doesn’t know what you like. I’ll take you to pick a new one tomorrow.”

Cynthia. This name was not unfamiliar.

I knew her since I fell in love with him.

She and Keith were childhood sweethearts and everyone thought they were a perfect match.

But when Keith pursued me, he said that he didn’t like this kind of woman, who was coquettish and weak.

He only liked me, who was generous and bright, as if I was full of carefree freedom.

In order to shut those people up, he held my hand and said loudly to them in front of everyone, “Cynthia is just my sister. I will only like Ruby in this life.”

I believed it.

But the so-called sister became Keith’s personal assistant after graduation and all his food, clothing and travel were handled by her.

The two of them were always in pairs and even the female companion next to Keith at the banquet was her.

Now, in order to make his childhood sweetheart laugh, he took the thing I hated the most to deliberately anger me.

It turned out that the definition of sister was so broad.

I stared at the phone in a daze and didn’t answer.

Keith thought the matter was over and played with the necklace.

“Ruby, will you go to the parent-teacher meeting of our son tomorrow?”

I looked up at him and his question made me laugh.

He knew that I couldn’t see my son at all.

The Trivett Family had always looked down on me and felt that I was not worthy of Keith and Cynthia was the one who matched him.

After my son was born, he was raised in the old house of the Trivett Family. He saw me only a few times a year.

I made a fuss to see my son many times, but was rejected.

After I threatened to commit suicide, Keith compromised and agreed to let me see my son once a month.

Now he asked me such a childish question.

“I won’t go.”

Keith seemed to have caught my handle and curled his lips. “Since you don’t go, only Cynthia can go. Do you know that my son calls her mom? You are not a qualified mother at all.”

I looked at his mouth opening and closing and felt it was so ridiculous.

Last Friday, I was supposed to pick up my son to go out and play. I had already discussed with my son to take him to his favorite amusement park.

When we separated, my son hugged my neck and spoke carefully, “Mom, you will definitely take me to the amusement park. You won’t break your promise, right?”

I nodded and said firmly, “I will.”

I waited at the gate of his school until late at night and Cynthia called, “Ruby, you promised to take Archer to the amusement park, why do you lie?”

Before I opened my mouth, I heard Archer crying. “Mom, you are a liar. You clearly said you would take me to the amusement park, but you asked me to wait at home and you didn’t come to pick me up. I hate you!!”

I was a little confused and was about to explain, but Cynthia comforted Archer softly, accompanied by Keith’s gentle coaxing.

They looked like a family of three and I looked like an outsider who was excluded.

The phone was hung up.

I stood in the dark and figured out the reason. It was probably Cynthia who was making trouble again.

I rubbed my eyes and tried to suppress my tears.

“Keith, I’m not kidding, we’re getting divorced.”

Keith was enraged and threw the necklace on the table.

White pearls fell in the empty room, like the sound of sorrow and joy.

I ignored the scattered beads and took out the pregnancy test report from my pocket.

Keith looked at me happily and asked, “Ruby, are you pregnant? Are we going to have a new baby?”

I watched his face change from anger to joy, nodded and shook his head.

I reached out and handed him another list.

Keith stretched out his hand to pinch my neck. “Ruby, are you kidding me? Why is our child gone?”

I pried his hand open and reported a date.

I watched with satisfaction as Keith’s face gradually turned pale and the corners of my mouth curled up happily.

Keith had no right to blame me.

Because that day I fell down the stairs and my stomach hurt so much.

I held on to the last bit of fantasy and called Keith countless times.

Until the phone ran out of power, until I was in so much pain that I was unconscious, Keith did not answer the phone.

And that day was the birthday of his childhood sweetheart.

Keith rubbed his hands and was quiet for a moment. “It doesn’t matter if the child is gone, you are not worthy of being a mother at all.”

Keith washed his hands, as if he had just touched me and dirty his palms and turned back to the study.

If it were me in the past, I might have brought fruit and begged for peace in a humble manner. But in this eight-year marriage, I found that I was not happy in any aspect.

The person in front of me was no longer the one in my heart.

I turned back to the bedroom and took a bath with hot water.

Keith did not wait for my request for peace, but only waited for an empty and dark room.

I soaked in the water, letting the water cover my head.

Who would have thought that Keith and I were together because of an accident? The story was a cliché hero saving beauty, but it was incredible.

I was the hero, Keith was also a hero and the kitten in Keith’s arms was beautiful.

When Keith was in high school, his father did not allow him to reveal his identity and his mother was extremely strict.

His temperament had always been a little cold and with a good-looking face, he attracted many girls.

Others were jealous and thought he was noble, especially his loyalty to rescuing small animals, which added a new layer of glory to his cold personality.

Such people were inevitably bullied at school.

When I appeared in the alley on my bicycle with a bun in my mouth, Keith was already at a disadvantage. His fair face was rubbed by the wall and blood was on it. He was still holding the little cat tightly in his arms.

I rushed toward the gangsters in the lead on my bicycle.

The gangsters shouted for mercy and ran two miles away.

Keith looked up at me and said that my appearance that day was like a beam of light.

The kitten meowed and rubbed my trouser legs in a flattering way.

Since that incident, Morris realized that he could no longer suppress Keith’s identity and Keith became bolder.

He changed his cold appearance in the past and launched a fierce pursuit of me.

I had been avoiding him because I really didn’t want to cause trouble for myself.

I said to Keith more than once, “I am not saving you, I am doing it for Coco.”

Keith smiled and replied, “I know, I got Coco’s help.”

Until my drunk father smashed the bottle on my mother’s forehead and my mother jumped down from the upstairs.

At that time, my mother was wearing the pure white pearl necklace that my father gave her when he got married.

I looked at the necklace soaked in my mother’s blood and looked up at my father with empty eyes.

I sat under the streetlight and lost my mind.

When Keith found me, I was almost frozen to hypothermia in the snowy night, wearing thin clothes.

Keith’s embrace awakened my remaining rationality.

I threw myself into his arms and cried loudly.

I cried and laughed.

I said, “Keith, my mother was wearing that necklace before she died. Tell me, will all men change?”

Keith touched my palms that were frozen and unable to move over and over again and told me firmly. “No, Ruby, I will not change, I will love you forever.”

That day under the streetlight, I kissed his lips. I looked at his eyes that were almost obsessed with the streetlight and said carefully, “Keith, let’s fall in love.”

Keith hugged me tightly in his arms and tears spread over my head.

I looked at the pearl necklace on the ground and murmured, “Keith, if you don’t love me anymore, give me a pearl necklace and we’ll separate.”

He cried and shook his head. “No, Ruby, I will love you, for a lifetime, in the next life, forever.”

I never doubted Keith’s sincerity, but sincerity changed rapidly.

Keith was determined to be with me.

Morris thought that my mother died unexpectedly and my father was an alcoholic and gambler.

I was a trouble and his family had always disagreed with my relationship with Keith.

Keith took me to another city despite his family’s objections.

Morris cut off all Keith’s financial resources just to wait for him to bow his head.

Keith had to help me deal with my difficult father while making a living, often working multiple jobs.

We always stood under the streetlights and looked up at the lights of thousands of homes.

Keith touched my head. “Ruby, believe me, if I didn’t rely on my family, I would buy you a house like this.”

At that time, he always got off work very late and I often waited for him until I fell asleep.

Every night, when he worked overtime, he would bring me the cake from my favorite store and a discounted rose.

I invited him to eat with me, but he always shook his head and said he didn’t like it and turned around to put the rose into the vase we picked together.

In fact, I knew that he was the person who loved sweets the most.

Under this kind of life, the young master who had never touched the housework learned to bargain with the aunties in the vegetable market.

He always held the vegetables in one hand and held my hand with the other. “Ruby, it was awesome! That aunt gave us two garlics.”

Outside the door, Keith and I were busy with the family.

When I opened the door, Coco stretched her back and walked toward us, meowing around the new things she bought.

Keith would skillfully scoop Coco’s poop and then act coquettishly and let me help him tie his apron.

With the roar of the range hood, we and Coco’s meal were served.

Morris finally compromised, perhaps because he was too old, or perhaps because he needed an heir because of terminal cancer.

On the day when Keith was allowed to marry me, he cried in front of me for the second time.

He held the wedding ring and the house deed and knelt on one knee.

“Ruby, I finally got the approval from my parents that you wanted. I want to marry you. I bought all these with the money I earned over the years. My vows were fulfilled at that time. Ruby, will you marry me?”

Coco circled around me excitedly. My eyes were red and I nodded frantically.

The doctor pushed my shoulder and I came to my senses. My physical condition had been getting worse recently.

My heart, digestion and nerves had all had problems.

The doctor said that I was suffering from somatization of anxiety and asked me to find time to relax.

I took a bag of medicine and nodded in agreement.

When I was leaving, I ran into Keith holding Cynthia’s waist. Cynthia called me, “Ruby, why are you here too?”

I turned around and wanted to leave, but Keith snatched the diagnosis from my hand.

“Anxiety disorder? Ruby, why are you pretending?”

Cynthia tugged at the corner of Keith’s clothes. “Ruby, I’m sorry, I didn’t know you called because you fell down because of pregnancy, otherwise I would have let Keith go back and you would have a new child.”

I sneered, “No, we’re getting divorced soon, Cynthia, you can finally take the throne.”

Keith threw my medicine on the ground, clenched his hands so tightly that veins appeared and suppressed his anger.

“Ruby, what are you talking about? Am I told you that Cynthia is just my sister? Besides, Cynthia has a stomachache today. Wouldn’t it make her feel worse if you said that?”

Cynthia fell into Keith’s arms unintentionally, muttering softly, “Keith, I’m fine. Go see Ruby.”

Keith stood in front of me, feeling very oppressive. “Ruby, how long are you going to make a fuss?”

I picked up the medicine and looked at him calmly. “I’m not making a fuss.”

Keith still thought that my proposal for divorce was a new way to attract his attention.

He didn’t even realize that I had moved out long ago when he hadn’t returned home for a long time.

It was ridiculous.

Keith grabbed the medicine I had just picked up and said without question, “I’ll take you home.”

I didn’t say anything, crossed my arms and looked at Cynthia.

Cynthia groaned and looked at Keith with tears in her eyes. “Keith, my stomach hurts.”

Keith looked at me, then at Cynthia. I took the medicine back and turned to leave.

You see, when faced with a conflict, Keith’s balance still leaned toward Cynthia.