Chapter 2

It was getting late, but Cassian still hadn't come home. I instinctively pulled out my phone to call him. It wasn't until I heard the cold, automated voice that I came to my senses. He'd blocked me again. He'd always blocked me whenever he pretended to have amnesia.

Left with no options, I ended up begging his friends and business associates to help me get in touch with him. I'd humbled myself and pleaded with them too many times, so much so that everyone in his social circle instantly saw me as a laughingstock.

Cassian's friends would even help him deceive me. They'd tell me that he was in the south when he was out with Nadine in the north of the city.

I'd rush all the way there, only to find that he'd never been there, while he was already back home, comfortably sipping his coffee. He could always come up with a reasonable explanation—he'd lost his memory, he'd forgotten, and he'd only just remembered.

I had been such a fool, completely taken in by him.

I went ahead and blocked Cassian too. Nadine's latest social media post showed him watching an opera with her. If we were each going to do our own thing, then so would I. I contacted a few friends and went to a bar with them.

It wasn't until the middle of the night that I received a call from an unknown number. "Where the hell are you? Why did you block me? What the hell are you trying to do, Maeve?"

He bombarded me with questions, one coming right after another. He had never taken the initiative to contact me for the very first time.

I said flatly, "I'm hanging out at a bar right now. Is there something you need?"

Cassian asked, "Which bar?"

He showed up in less than 30 minutes after I gave him the address. He grabbed the drink out of my hand, hauled me up by the waist, and carried me out to his car. He opened the door, tossed me onto the seat, and slammed it shut.

I was so dizzy in the passenger seat that I grabbed at whatever was near me, accidentally ripping down the whole cluster of decorative flowers off the dashboard.

Cassian got even angrier when he saw the flowers. "Why did you rip off Nadine's flowers? She's going to make a fuss when she sees them."

I wanted to toss the flowers into the back seat, but when I turned to look, I found that it was already packed with Nadine's belongings.

Cassian roughly pulled me back and said, "You don't usually drink. What the hell is wrong with you today?"

I said indifferently, "You don't usually bother contacting me, either. What is wrong with you today, Cassian?"

Cassian choked back a response, turned his face away, and went silent for the rest of the drive.

There was a faint citrus scent in the car, which belonged to Nadine. Cassian had never used car fragrances, so I couldn't help wondering how many times she'd sat in his car for the smell to linger in the car like that.

I opened the glove compartment to look for something to sober me up, only to find a bunch of Nadine's things packed inside.

I noticed that there were hair clips, hair ties, and even a pair of her worn socks sitting right next to Cassian's electric razor. His usual germaphobia seemed to magically disappear whenever it came to her.

"I was the one who bought you this car, wasn't I?" I asked as I glanced around the interior, which had changed completely since back then. "How did it end up becoming Nadine's car?"

Cassian opened all the car windows and allowed the night wind to blow straight in, making my head throb. He then said sternly, "You'd better sober up and stop throwing these tantrums, Maeve."

I rolled the passenger-side window back up myself and looked toward Cassian. I suddenly realized he wasn't quite the same as he used to be—from the way his brows were now constantly furrowed instead of relaxed to how his tone had shifted from gentle to perpetually impatient.

"Nadine doesn't know how to drive, so I pick her up and drop her off on my way to work. What's wrong with that? You're at home all day and don't need the car anyway. What's the harm in letting her use it?" Cassian asked, his voice fading into the wind.

I caught only fragments of what he said, but they still hurt. I suddenly wanted to cry so badly. I closed my eyes and leaned against the window, letting the wind hit me from every side.

I still couldn't stop my eyes from welling up with tears while my heart beat rapidly in my chest. It seemed like my heart had been the same when I had decided to marry Cassian, and it was still the same now that I had decided to leave him. But none of this mattered anymore as he continued to berate me.

I took a deep breath just as the wind blew my tears away and said, "Let's get a divorce, Cassian."