Chapter 2

Caleb's fingers trembled. He hung up the phone in a daze. When he turned around, he saw Elena standing in the doorway, her expression faltering for a moment.

He opened his mouth. The word "us" was just about to leave his lips when Jake emerged from behind Elena, chewing gum.

A mocking smile played at the corners of his lips as he swept his gaze around the room. "Pfft! This setup is so cheesy. Aunt Elena doesn't like this kind of thing. Next time you want to cosplay, I can give you some pointers."

The ridicule in his eyes was impossible to miss.

Caleb's face flushed, then quickly turned pale.

Elena remained where she was. A faint blush colored her cheeks, and she completely forgot what she'd just heard. She didn't even notice the divorce agreement in Caleb's hand.

In the end, she lowered her voice and said, "Get rid of all this unnecessary stuff. Clean everything up and come back out. I have something to tell you."

Then the door closed again.

A sharp pain pierced Caleb's heart. He looked around the room he'd spent the entire afternoon carefully decorating and felt like a complete clown.

'Ridiculous and pathetic.' He tugged at the corner of his lips and swallowed every word he'd been about to say, along with the bitterness in his heart. Then he turned around and began taking everything down.

He had just finished cleaning the room when a message from his friend came through.

Alex: [Why do you suddenly want a divorce? It took you so long to finally open your heart. Didn't you say you were happy now? Don't tell me even Elena couldn't resist temptation and fell for someone else?]

That's right. He'd thought he'd finally found happiness. But after only three short years, it had all turned out to be nothing more than a beautiful dream.

His eyes reddened again at the thought. His fingers hovered over the keyboard as tears dripped onto the screen. Only after a long while did he finally type a reply:

Caleb: [She didn't fall for someone else. Her heart was never with me in the first place. I just didn't realize it. Please handle the divorce as soon as you can.]

Alex: [Okay. As long as you're happy, I'll support you whether you stay married or get divorced! I'll have everything taken care of within a week.]

A week would pass quickly.

Caleb composed himself and finally walked out of the room as though nothing had happened. When he reached the first floor, he saw Elena emerge from the kitchen.

She carried a bowl of soup. The heat had reddened her slender hands, a sight strangely at odds with her usually immaculate appearance. Somehow, it made her seem all the more gentle and attentive.

Caleb stared at her in a daze. After three years of marriage, he hadn't even known the woman beside him could cook.

"Mmm, that smells so good!" Jake walked over with an unrestrained grin and eagerly took a sip.

The soup was so hot that he puffed out his cheeks and blew on it, but the happiness on his face was unmistakable. "I haven't had your homemade soup in so long. Remember when I was always getting sick in high school?

"You even flew all the way south to study medicine under an expert physician. You made soup for me yourself for three whole years before you finally got me as strong and healthy as I am now."

The corners of Elena's lips lifted slightly. She gently wiped the soup from the corner of his mouth. "Slow down."

That small, instinctive gesture brimmed with affection.

The sight pierced Caleb's heart.

Once, he'd come down with a high fever in the middle of the night and wanted some soup. The housekeeper had been away visiting family, so Elena had simply hired a delivery driver to buy some for him. By the time it arrived, most of the soup had already gone cold.

At the time, he hadn't thought there was anything wrong with it. He had assumed Elena had been pampered all her life, so naturally, she wouldn't know how to make soup.

He had never realized that he simply wasn't worth the effort.

For Jake, she could travel hundreds of miles to study medicine and personally make soup for three years.

For him, she couldn't even be bothered to make a single bowl.

'Love and indifference…' Now that Caleb saw the truth, the difference was painfully obvious.

Jake spotted him and draped an arm around Elena's shoulders. "Hi, Uncle Caleb!"

The smugness in his eyes was practically a silent declaration of ownership.

At the sound of his voice, Elena turned around calmly.

She let Jake keep his arm around her shoulders as if there were nothing unusual about it. "This is Jake. Grandpa's birthday is next week, so he came back early. He'll be staying here for a while."

Caleb clenched his fists. It was a perfectly reasonable explanation. If he hadn't witnessed everything himself, he probably would've believed it without question.

Jake flashed him a raised-eyebrow smile before saying pointedly, "Sorry to trouble you, Uncle Caleb. Actually, I didn't come back just to celebrate Grandpa's birthday. I also came to congratulate Aunt Elena.

"According to the Colemans' rules, once the successor has been married for three years, they can officially take control of the family. Once Aunt Elena becomes the head of the family, she won't have to worry about anything anymore. She'll finally be able to do whatever she wants."

Another blow struck Caleb's chest. He dug his fingernails so deeply into his palms that they drew blood, but the pain was nothing compared to the agony inside him. 'So Elena didn't marry me just to hide the truth. There was another reason!'

Her love for Jake wasn't merely something she'd restrained and suppressed. She'd planned everything so carefully, and Caleb had been completely oblivious. He'd even been foolish enough to offer his genuine love in return for her false affection.

"The thing she wants to do..." Caleb let out a soft laugh. When he raised his eyes, they held nothing but mockery. "Is it to divorce me and openly marry you?"