Chapter 4

“Isn’t a pink diamond a little too flashy?” Sienna sounded like she was complaining, but she could not hide the smile in her eyes.

“If you like it, it isn’t a waste,” replied Damian.

Four years ago, I wanted a small wedding. He told me hotels, flowers, and wedding dresses were nothing but traps designed to make people spend money. Due to that, we just invited six close friends and relatives over for dinner at home. We did not even exchange vows.

Now, Sienna was going through her list one item at a time. “Roses, a live band, dinner by the ocean, and a handwritten letter from you. I want all of it.”

“Okay.”

“And you have to put the ring on my finger yourself.”

“Sure.”

Every reply felt like it was being carved out of the four years I had spent with him.

Sienna asked again, “Damian, why did you marry her?”

He fell silent for a moment. “She’s suited for a quiet life.”

“What about me?”

“You’re different.”

“How?”

“She doesn’t need to be pampered.”

Sienna broke into laughter.

I pushed the door open. The suite was covered in roses, while photographs of Sienna from childhood to the present filled the walls. Across the four-tiered cake was written: [Sienna, four years later and you’re still the one person I’ll always make an exception for.]

It turned out that they had their own anniversary too.

Damian shot to his feet. “Elena?”

I looked at him. “You said you were only here to pay the deposit.”

“I just came to check on the birthday setup."

Sienna lifted a hand and brushed her hair back. The pink diamond caught the light, flashing painfully bright. “Elena, don’t make it uglier than it is. Damian just feels like he owes me. He gave up the person he loved most to marry you, after all. I don’t think it’s too much for me to accept a few gifts.”

“Sienna.” Damian’s voice was low, warning her to stop.

However, her eyes reddened as she asked, “Am I wrong? You promised me that even if you got married, you’d save all the romance for me.”

The room fell silent. For the first time, panic flashed across Damian’s face. “That was a long time ago. I didn’t mean it. Elena, let's go home first. I’ll explain everything.”

I took the scrapbook out of my bag. “Forty-three movie tickets, 12 train tickets, and four letters I wrote to you.”

I held it out to him. “Tell me one last time. What do these mean to you?”

Damian did not take it. He only frowned. “This isn’t the time for this.”

Sienna reached over and took the scrapbook from my hands, flipping through a couple of pages. “A bunch of scraps of paper, and you’re making this big a deal out of them?”

I reached for it. She stepped back. The scrapbook fell straight into the champagne bucket. The ice water instantly soaked through the pages. Movie tickets floated loose one after another, the ink bleeding into blurred black stains.

I bent down to retrieve them, but Damian grabbed my arm.

“That’s enough! Don’t make a scene on Sienna’s birthday. It’s just a scrapbook. You can make another one when we get home.”

Sienna hid behind him and said in a soft voice, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.”

Damian handed me a tissue. “She already apologized.”

I did not take it. I simply crouched down and gathered the ruined pages one by one.

“Damian, I want a divorce.”

He stared at me for a few seconds. Then, of all things, he smiled. “Don’t threaten me with divorce. You’re just emotional right now. Get some sleep. You’ll feel better tomorrow.”

“I won’t.”

“Half the house belongs to me, and you don’t have an income. How are you going to live without me?”

I picked up the last movie ticket and slowly stood. “You don’t need to worry about that.”

He clearly did not believe me. He put the room key back on the table. “When you’re done throwing a tantrum, come home. I’ll stay and finish Sienna’s birthday. I’ll come back later.”

I looked at the roses behind him one last time.

For four years of marriage, he had taught me to cut down my desires, lower my expectations, and keep everything simple.

Yet every ounce of passion he had saved by doing so, he had given to someone else.

I walked out of the suite and called a lawyer. “Can gifts given to a third party during a marriage be recovered?”

“If you have evidence.”

I glanced through the screenshots of the transfers on my phone, the hotel bills, and four years of Sienna’s posts. “I have everything. Let’s sue.”