Chapter 2

My phone chimed with two different notification sounds simultaneously.

One indicated that the email had been sent successfully while the other notified me that I'd received a report of Jade from the hospital, which read, "Pregnancy confirmed. Five weeks along."

I stared dazedly at the screen for a long while.

A second later, I received a text message from Jade.

"Wait for me at the library at noon."

Jade didn't come to see me alone.

The male student she gave special treatment to, Nicholas Dion, was following closely behind her.

He was wearing a limited-edition pair of leather shoes, and he was smiling openly. He nodded to me in thanks when he saw me.

"Thank you, Ms. Quinn and Mr. Shaw, for generously giving me an apartment unit and also paying all my university expenses for the next three years."

My hands shook, and the books stacked up in my arms went tumbling to the floor, but I hardly cared about the pain right now.

"Three years' worth of university expenses?" I blurted out reflexively.

Nicholas replied in confirmation, "That's right. It totals up to about 50 thousand dollars. Thank you, Ms. Quinn and Mr. Shaw."

Wind rushed in through the library door, making my eyes sting.

Jade simply smiled at me. "Stop freaking out. I'm just making an educated investment. On one side, you have two elderly people with a foot in the grave; on the other, you have a top student in his early 20s. Anyone can tell which investment is more worthwhile. Am I wrong?"

I didn't reply or even look at her.

I merely asked quietly, "Have you signed it?"

Jade's smile stiffened on her lips.

She dragged me into a corner before asking in a low voice, "Are you doing this just because I didn't lend you the money?"

I looked straight into her eyes. "That's right. You wouldn't lend me any money, yet you transferred money to his bank account marked as a voluntary gift. You're always on my back about sunk costs and rational investments. Jade Quinn, is it that hard to admit that you're cheating on me?"

Jade's expression visibly darkened. "Aiden! That's an invasion of privacy!"

I scoffed and handed her my phone. "Go on. Call 911. That suits me just fine. I'll ask the police to be the judge of things."

"You—"

Jade pointed an accusing finger at me, her lips pursed tightly.

Seeing more and more people gathering around us, she scoffed and said, "You're not thinking clearly right now, so we're getting nowhere with this conversation. I understand that you're angry and anxious over your grandparents' issue, so you're spouting nonsense, but that's no excuse to randomly demand a divorce."

I grabbed at her sleeve and yelled, "They're your grandparents too! You formally acknowledged them as family back when you married me! Or has the esteemed Ms. Quinn forgotten all about that?"

Jade pulled her hand away uneasily. She glanced at me before softening her tone.

"If push comes to shove, I'll hook you up with a campus loan. I know the campus director, so I can convince them to charge you a little less interest."

I slowly loosened my hold and stared blankly at her.

I was intimately familiar with her face, so why did the very sight of her make me nauseous now?

I turned away and closed my eyes.

"Jade, I regret our marriage now. Let's get a divorce."

Jade stared silently at me instead of trying to persuade me any further.

After a short while, she snorted coldly. "Have you thought this through, Aiden? Do you not want your job anymore?"

I felt like my blood had turned to ice and I could barely breathe.

During my senior year, my grandfather, Timothy Shaw, suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and had been clinging to life by a thread. My grandmother, Dorothy Elmer, was so overcome with anxiety that she fainted on the spot.

I'd had no choice but to drop out of school early and head straight to the hospital with my school expenses and savings from working odd jobs in hand.

In the end, Grandpa's life was saved, but I became a dropout who didn't even have a diploma.

Without a diploma, I couldn't get a job.

After marrying Jade, I got a job at the library thanks to her connections.

She knew that my lack of education was my greatest regret in life and my weak spot, yet she used the fact against me time and time again.

When I wanted to buy health supplements for my grandparents on Thanksgiving Day, she confiscated my bank card, claiming that I couldn't afford to toss money down a bottomless pit when I hadn't even paid that month's mortgage yet.

When I wanted to visit my grandparents over the new year, she snatched the phone I was using to book my plane ticket away. Her excuse was that the university frowned upon part-time employees who became unavailable the moment the holidays started.

In her eyes, my grandparents were bottomless pits while I was a useless part-time employee.

Only Nicholas was a top student who deserved to be held in high esteem.

I looked up at her and retorted sarcastically, "That's my business, not yours."