No More Chances

"Ms. Beaumont didn't actually die. She changed her name to Evelyn Montrose and is now working as a teaching assistant at Kingsley University…"

The moment the staff member told me the truth, it felt as though all the blood in my body had suddenly run cold.

For years, I had lived beneath the shadow of two things. My son, who had been paralyzed in an accident. And Elara, who had supposedly taken her own life out of guilt.

Every year, I went to her grave to pay my respects, trying to let go of the resentment I carried inside.

I stroked my son's increasingly wasted arm. It felt as though a wire had wrapped tightly around my heart, squeezing until I could barely breathe.

He was still so young, yet he would have to spend the rest of his life confined to a bed.

And his father had casually forgiven the person who had done this to him, all because of a single reconciliation coupon.

I opened Cedric's computer again, and a news link popped up.

"Kingsley University Teaching Assistant Evelyn Montrose Wins Best Teaching Assistant Award, Personally Presented by Her Mentor, Professor Cedric Langley."

Evelyn had changed more than just her name. She looked completely different from the woman I remembered.

At every faculty gathering, she called me "Mrs. Langley," and I had always greeted her warmly in return.

I never imagined my real enemy had been standing right in front of me all along, while I remained completely unaware.

As the camera swept across the room, familiar faces filled the screen.

The person standing below the stage, holding Evelyn's coat, was my own older brother. The same lawyer who had helped me handle the case back then.

And the woman sitting in a wheelchair, wiping away her tears, was Cedric's grandmother, who suffered from dementia.

All these years, he had been off living the life he wanted, while I stayed home and took care of his elderly grandmother, whose mind was no longer clear.

Everyone knew Evelyn was Elara. I was the only one kept in the dark.

I stared at the screen, trembling so violently I could barely hold myself together.

It was not until Cedric called that I finally snapped back to reality. "Why are you taking so long with our son this time? Did something happen?"

I clenched my fist until my palm was bloody, but I did not feel the pain.

I only managed a curt reply. "I'm fine."

Cedric seemed relieved. Then, as he always did, he tried to comfort me. "She's already gone. What she did is in the past now. Stop punishing yourself over it."

I had once naively believed he was telling me to let go. Now I realized he had simply been making excuses for Evelyn's crimes, over and over again.

…

After hanging up, I pulled out the divorce agreement he had signed.

He had once told me that once all one hundred reconciliation coupons were used up, our marriage would automatically be dissolved.

The promises he had once made to me had somehow become my only way out.

I filled in the last blank. Then, I signed my name. Finally, I looked at my sleeping son. "I'll take you away with me. Okay?"