Chapter 4

My gaze swept over Renee, who was wearing an apron and holding a spatula.

In all the time we'd been married, she'd never once stepped foot in the kitchen. She used to tell me that her rhinitis made her unable to tolerate the fumes in the kitchen. She also told me that she was a university lecturer, and her hands were only meant for holding a pen.

Yet now, for the sake of her beloved student, she was holding a spatula in one hand and a greasy rag in the other. So much for her rhinitis and "lecturer airs". They seemed to have all magically cured.

And yet, even now, she still believed that I was the one who'd done something wrong.

I didn't have the energy to argue with her anymore. I just shook my head and turned to leave.

She grabbed my arm at once, looking at me earnestly. "I told Aspen about our relationship. He knows that you're my husband."

I stopped for a moment and looked at her without a stir of emotion.

"And?"

Renee furrowed her brows, seemingly struggling to find the words to my question.

Aspen stepped forward just then, his eyes red-rimmed.

"Jerry, I think you've misunderstood the relationship between Dr. Hickman and me. She's just helping me out because she knows that I'm in a rough spot…

"Also, you passed the civil exam for the teaching position in the university, and your name is published on the notice board for everyone to see. I was just wondering…"

He glanced at me timidly despite the vicious glint in his eyes.

"I was just wondering if you would issue a statement saying that you voluntarily gave up the position to me? That way, it would make my hiring seem more legitimate."

The moment the words left his lips, Renee looked away in embarrassment. She didn't dare meet my eyes or ask me herself. But the fact that she'd brought Aspen into our home already made her stance perfectly clear.

I smiled and turned to Renee.

"Sure. I'll issue the notice if you'll sign something for me."

"What is it?" Renee asked, setting down the rag and wiping her hand against her apron.

I retrieved the divorce agreement from my bag and handed it to her.

The moment she saw it, she was completely stunned. Her brown eyes quivered for a moment, and she looked like she was frozen to the ground.

Aspen looked at the document in my hands, and his eyes lit up in glee at once. However, he quickly said in an aggrieved tone, "No, wait. It's fine if you don't want to give up your spot, Jerry! It's no big deal that I give up this TA job and go back to my odd jobs! There's no need for you to threaten Dr. Hickman with divorce!"

Renee seemed to have snapped back to her senses by his outbursts. After a few seconds of shock, she flew into a rage and yelled, "Are you done making a fuss like this, Jerry Larsen? Do you really want to divorce me that much?"

"Yes," I said, meeting her eyes without looking away. "Since he likes you, and you also like him back, I'll give up my spot to him instead as your husband. You won't have to throw my slippers away anymore, and you won't have to stash his slippers into my safe anymore either! It's disgusting!"

Renee's expression froze.

I stuffed the agreement into her hands and turned to leave. Seconds later, a loud metallic crash sounded.

She flung the spatula against the wall, her face dark with anger and her eyes blazing with fury.

"I am the one keeping the lights on in this household! Who gave you the audacity to think that you could just leave whenever you wanted? Did you think that you were the only one suffering? Did you know that Aspen—"

"Dr. Hickman! Please, calm down! Don't say anything more."

Aspen kept playing the nice guy while shoving the divorce agreement in her face, showing her my resolute signature on the last page. The fury in Renee's eyes ignited again.

She gritted out, "I'm pregnant with his child, but he was the one who told me to abort it! He never wanted to steal anything from you! All he wanted was that TA job! And he even personally came here today to thank you, but you chose to threaten me with a divorce instead?

"He's younger than you, more talented than you, and way better in bed than you'll ever be! You'll never be able to compare to him! How dare you look down on him like this!

"I'm telling you, Jerry Larsen, that I'll be far better off without you anyway!"

She took another step forward, glaring at me as though she wanted to kill me with her piercing gaze.

"Fine! We'll go through with the divorce! And don't you dare regret your decision!"

I didn't look at Aspen's gleeful expression. I didn't look at Renee's slightly bulging stomach either. I just stared straight back into her eyes.

This was the woman who once carried me for miles through heavy snow, half-conscious herself, yet refusing to abandon me even as her own strength and energy rapidly faded. This was also the woman who secretly used her TA salary to cover my tuition and living expenses for four years.

She was so broke that she lived on nothing but stale bread and cheese for years, but she never breathed a single word of it to me.

And the night after I received my degree, she stood at the top of the mountain, yelling into the hills, "Jerry Larsen! Just wait for me for another three more years—no, just a year until I get promoted to associate professor, and we'll go public with our relationship!

"I want the whole world to know that you're my husband! And I can't wait to have your babies!"

However, she'd made me wait year after year. And now, she had already been promoted to full professor, only to tell me that she was pregnant with another man's child.

The bitterness gnawed at my heart.

Still, I held my tears back and chuckled lightly.

"Congratulations."

"Don't you have anything else to say to me?" she demanded coldly. The hostile look in her eyes was something I'd never seen before.

I shook my head and said in a voice as faint as a whisper, "Just let me know once you've signed the agreement."

Then, I didn't even bother grabbing my suitcase anymore and rushed out of the apartment building, ignoring Renee's red, angry face.

I dashed out of the building, hopped into a cab, and changed my flight to the next immediate one available before checking in.

Just as the cabin door was closing, my phone buzzed violently in my pocket. They were all voice messages from Renee.

"Check your phone, Jerry. I'm going public with our relationship…"