Chapter 5

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 on her face.

He frowned and asked, "Carina? Why are you packing? Where are you planning to go?"

Carina didn't expect Aster to come home so early today. Still, she steadied herself and continued packing casually.

"I'm not going anywhere. It's just that some of my clothes have gotten old and moldy, and I was planning to donate them."

"Donate them? Why?"

Carina smiled and looked up at Aster. "Have I never told you before? From a young age, I grew up in a—"

She couldn't finish her sentence because Aster interrupted her. That was because his phone just started ringing then, and he was immediately too distracted to continue listening to Carina.

Carina caught sight of the caller ID on Aster's phone screen just as he lifted the phone to his ear. The contact was saved as "Kitty".

Wow, such a specific, intimate, and cute little nickname for Stella.

Meanwhile, she was only saved as "Carina Sherwood" in his contacts list—her full name.

"I've already reached home. Wait at your place, okay? I'll be there at once."

Aster hung up after that with a smile on his face. He then looked up and realized that Carina had heard everything he said on the phone.

"Was that Stella looking for you?" Carina asked.

Aster immediately began explaining himself. "Don't get the wrong idea, Carina. It's just that the electricity went out in Stella's apartment again. It's not safe for her to be alone at home. Also, it's very dark, and she's scared of the dark, so—"

Carina quickly interrupted Aster's babbling with a smile and a nod. "I understand."

However, her response made Aster feel uneasy and insecure.

Carina had been acting weirdly lately, and he felt more and more perplexed about it.

It felt as though there was a thin sheet of paper right in front of him. The paper would tear easily if he poked through it, but for some reason, he just couldn't reach it. He couldn't find the answers to his questions.

He watched as Carina packed up everything into her suitcase. Then, he took a look around the mansion and saw that everything was still how it looked before. Nothing seemed to have changed.

His work shirts were all steamed and neatly hung up in the closet as usual. Even his vests, suits, and ties were all arranged neatly and laid out on the side.

Aster couldn't find the answer he was looking for. He began suspecting that he was simply too busy with work lately, that he was starting to hallucinate and make things up about Carina.

"What were you saying just now, Carina? Shall we head over to Stella's place together?"

Carina went silent for a few seconds.

She had meant to tell Aster that she'd grown up in an orphanage, and the few times she left the mansion were when she returned to the orphanage to visit the director and the other kids there.

But now, it didn't seem necessary for her to tell him about it anymore.

As for the invitation to Stella's apartment, Carina rejected it immediately. She smacked the suitcase full of her stuff and said, "I won't be coming with you. I still need to find a place that will take these donations."

Aster didn't manage to find anything wrong with Carina's excuse. However, he didn't let up this time.

"Then let me come with you instead. It's more convenient for us to take the car."

He gave Carina a deep look, as if he was trying to see right through her. This time, however, Carina kept her head down and didn't reject his offer.

She knew Aster like the back of her hand. She knew that he was getting suspicious of her.

She had 30 days left to wait, and she really didn't want any of her previous efforts to go to waste. So, she got into his car with him.

Just as Carina was trying to come up with a way to escape from Aster, Stella sent him a text message, and suddenly, Aster had to excuse himself.

He looked at Carina apologetically and said, "I'm sorry, Carina, but I can't come with you to donate the clothes after all. Something came up at the office and I need to deal with it now."

Carina nodded and agreed. After all, Aster still thought that he'd successfully hidden everything from her.

While getting out of the car, Carina suddenly asked Aster, "You wouldn't have married me if I had never saved your mother six years ago, would you?"

Her question didn't seem to get much of a response from Aster. He was already thoroughly distracted by Stella and probably wanted nothing more than to teleport to her side at once.

"Of course I still would have done that! We got married because I love you."

"Really? It's that simple?"

"It's that simple!"

Carina suddenly laughed and decided to give up on Aster, who wasn't paying her much attention anymore anyway.

She was going to give up on the man who couldn't even be bothered to focus while having a conversation with her.

Tears fell from Carina's reddened eyes when Aster's car finally disappeared into the dark of the night.

"Liar."