Chapter 2

Sophia's POV

Jonathan's assistant, Timothy Rivers, stood awkwardly in the doorway.

"Mr. Shaw, Ms. Lawson is looking for you," he said.

Jonathan immediately put his phone away and said, "I only changed my profile picture for now. It was just to make Irene happy. Don't think too much about it. I'll change it back later."

With that, he hurried out.

I watched quietly until he disappeared.

Then, I looked down and changed the matching profile picture I'd had with him for the past ten years. I also unpinned our chat.

He didn't know that I had already submitted the divorce agreement through my lawyer.

In one month, our divorce would be final.

There wasn't going to be a "later".

After handing over my work to a colleague, I returned to my hospital room.

A bouquet of lisianthus sat on the bedside table.

The caregiver smiled at me when she saw me come in.

"Your husband's so thoughtful. He sends you flowers every single day without fail."

I looked at her unfamiliar face and smiled back. "You must be new here."

Everyone in this hospital knew that I had delivered all of my husband's mistresses' babies. I had been the subject of gossip for years.

Was that what she meant by love?

The "husband" the caregiver was talking about wasn't Jonathan either; it was his assistant.

Jonathan had always been meticulous about things.

Even while he was busy with his mistress giving birth, he never forgot to have someone send me flowers for comfort.

Before the caregiver could respond, I handed her the bouquet. "Throw these away. I'm allergic to pollen."

The smile vanished from her face. She took the flowers and left.

A moment later, I got a message from Jonathan. "Did you get today's flowers? I picked them out myself."

My fingers paused over the screen. I was reminded of the day he proposed. The entire venue had been covered in flowers.

Every single bloom had its stamens carefully removed.

As he slipped the ring onto my finger, I saw cuts covering his hands and burst into tears.

He just laughed it off.

"So? I told you I'd give you a proposal you'd never forget. I wasn't lying, was I?"

I knew what it looked like when Jonathan loved me. That was why I knew better than anyone what it looked like when he didn't.

Yet I kept refusing to let go. I watched him father illegitimate child after illegitimate child with other women, and still, I couldn't bring myself to leave.

I was tired now.

If he wanted to have children with other women, he could have as many as he liked.

I didn't reply.

That night, I actually managed to sleep, but the nightmares never stopped.

When I opened my eyes the next afternoon, Jonathan was beside my bed.

He was holding my phone and frowning.

"Why did you change your passcode?"

I ignored his question. "What are you doing here?"

A milky scent clung to his clothes. I instinctively turned my head away.

Jonathan caught the look of disgust on my face. He furrowed his brows, but controlled his temper.

"You didn't reply to my message," he said with a trace of grievance in his voice.

I looked at him in silence. We had promised each other that no matter when a message came in, we would reply as soon as we saw it.

Somewhere along the way, our chat had become nothing but me talking to myself.

If I remembered correctly, the last time he had replied was a month ago.

He even used his alternate account for it.

"I was asleep," I said casually. "I didn't see it."

He hesitated, looking unsure of how to begin.

Then, he finally said, "Irene wants a wedding. Sophia… could you give her the one you've been planning?"

I froze.

After seven years of marriage, we'd never had a wedding because his family refused to accept me.

He promised that on our seventh anniversary, he'd finally give me one.

I spent months planning every detail.

But our anniversary had come and gone. The wedding had been repeatedly postponed.

The first time he postponed it, he told me he had to leave on a business trip.

In reality, he was taking his first mistress to a prenatal appointment.

It had only been three months since we had lost our first child.

On the very day the doctor told us that our genes were incompatible and that we would never have a healthy child together, Jonathan started having an affair.