Learning Love From Goodbye

"Can you have the divorce draft ready by today, Mr. Chastain?" Carina Sherwood asked her divorce attorney, Leo Chastain.She was unable to put up with the sounds of Aster Ducant and Stella Winters happily chatting with each other in the mansion anymore.The night breeze was very cold that night, but it couldn't even compare to the loneliness in Carina's heart.This was her home too, and today was supposed to be her fifth wedding anniversary with Aster. And yet, her own husband had chased her out of the mansion so that Stella, his secretary, wouldn't feel awkward about being there.There was a sigh on the other end of the line. "Ms. Sherwood, let's talk in person instead."…An hour ago, Carina had just reached home, feeling thoroughly exhausted, as she sat down at the dinner table. She looked at the colorful dishes on the table—a full 12-course meal—and sighed quietly."Aster, you know that I can't eat spicy food…"Carina wasn't picky with her food, but there wasn't much she co

It started drizzling, and the night wind was cold and harsh. Leaves rustled noisily on the trees on either side of the road.However, even the wind didn't manage to change Carina's mind.She made a call and then headed right for a lawyer's office. She got into the building, pressed the elevator button, and entered the office. From how familiar she seemed with everything, it seemed as if it wasn't the first time she'd been there."Can you have the divorce draft ready by today, Mr. Chastain?"Leo, seated opposite her, frowned and flipped through his records in his notebook."It's already half-completed. I might be able to finish it if I work overtime today. However, I had noted down beforehand that you only planned on starting the divorce process next month. Why did you suddenly decide to bring it forward?" he asked.Carina smiled slightly. "It's going to happen anyway, so there's no point in dragging it out."She stayed at the lawyer's office until late at night. When she finally

Carina contacted Leo first thing in the afternoon."There's nothing much to do after both parties have signed the agreement. However, there's a waiting period of 30 days for the divorce to be finalized, and the divorce can be annulled and further discussed if either party changes their mind."Of course, Carina had long known about the divorce laws in her state.She went back to the mansion and started packing. She was planning to hide the divorce from him.Come to think of it, she had been living in this mansion for five years, and it seemed to be filled with traces of her in every corner. But when she gathered all her belongings, she realized that she didn't own a lot of things after all.That was further proof that Aster had basically been forced into marriage with her back then. Otherwise, their five-year-long marriage wouldn't have been unhappy and full of frustrations.When Aster came home, Carina was in the midst of putting away her towel in the suitcase with a bitter smile

The weekend arrived in the blink of an eye.There were only 24 days left until the divorce could be finalized.Over the past few days, Aster had been staying at the mansion for longer and longer periods of time. However, he was also getting increasingly distracted. He never noticed anything amiss throughout the mansion, especially with Carina hiding the truth from him and pretending that nothing had changed.The suitcase full of clothes had been at the front door for a few days, and nobody said a word about it.Today was the day that Carina and Delphine had agreed upon to go house-hunting. However, Aster kept tagging along, as if he was planning to dutifully fulfill his promise to her.Carina had no other choice but to go to the mall with him.Plenty of things were on sale at the mall, but neither Carina nor Aster were in the mood to actually go shopping.Carina kept thinking of ways to flee. Meanwhile, Aster kept looking at trendy clothes in styles that would only fit someone

Aster kept calling Carina over and over, but he kept getting the dial tone.Every phone call he made automatically hung up after a couple of rings. Carina never picked up any of them.Each cold beep of the dial tone sent Aster's heart sinking deeper and deeper into his stomach. This was the first time he wasn't able to get a hold of Carina since getting married to her.Even if Carina didn't pick up in the past, a robotic voice would tell him that Carina's phone had been turned off. It never continued ringing like this with nobody picking up at all.Aster kept calling Carina over and over until his phone ran out of battery and turned off, but he still never got through to her.He started thinking of every possibility that might have happened. Had Carina lost her phone? Had she left it inside her bag on silent mode?More and more thoughts popped up. However, he still refused to accept the fact that Carina would disappear from his life and leave him for good.He sat next to the tab