One Goodbye Is Enough

I took my son to his room to sleep. After that, I returned to the guest room to open my laptop and start drafting the divorce agreement.This year marked the seventh year of my marriage to Henry.It was also the seventh year of us living apart.Now, I had finally decided to let go of him.Knock knock.I opened the door to see my seven-year-old son holding a toy airplane.“Mommy, are we really going to move away?”He looked at me, his eyes full of reluctance.“But Uncle Parker hugged me tonight. Does that mean he likes me now?”I froze for a moment, a little dazed.Even after seven years of marriage, Henry never allowed our son to call him ‘Daddy’.When our son was two, Henry took him to the supermarket. On the way, they ran into an acquaintance.When our son accidentally called him ‘Daddy’, Henry put him down and made him walk home.By the time they got home, our son had fallen countless times, and his knees and palms were scraped raw.When our son was four, he begged Hen

I froze for a moment before instinctively getting up and walking outside.That was when I saw Henry reaching out to gently fix Evelyn’s hair.Not far away, my son stood at the elevator.His backpack was slung over his tiny shoulders as he stared blankly at his father tenderly caring for a woman he had never met before.Henry’s gentleness and patience. My son and I had never seen it before.I was about to take him away when Henry finally noticed him.His body stiffened briefly, and he quickly withdrew his hand.However, in the next moment, he straightened up and continued walking past our son, shielding Evelyn with quiet determination.It was as though he did not even know the little boy standing there.A sharp pain stabbed through my heart. I quickly took my son's hand and led him back to my desk.Before I could say anything, his eyes turned red, and he asked in a soft voice, “Mommy, is that the person Uncle likes?”At that moment, I lost all ability to speak. I could only

“Uncle Parker, Mommy and I are leaving now.”All the sadness in the world was lodged in my chest at that moment.As I turned around, Henry suddenly grabbed my arm.…“What did Lyle just say?”Henry looked at our son in shock as though he wanted to confirm something.Was it because the child he always pushed away had learned to distance himself?I forced a smile, feeling a sharp sting of irony.“He didn’t say anything, Mr. Parker. The meeting is about to start.”I pulled my arm away from his and led my son to the seats up front.Even as I sat down, I could still feel the burning gaze from behind. However, no matter how hot that gaze was, it could not warm my heart.The meeting started on time.I held my son close, wishing for the first time that the teacher's voice would be sterner.I wanted it to drown out the intimate conversation between the family of three behind us.As expected, the teacher called Lyle up. They announced that he had been chosen as the class monitor

The more he acted like he did not love me, the more insignificant I became.He used this tactic for seven years.A gleam of sharpness flashed across Henry's eyes as the green light flashed, and he drove away from the intersection.…Back at the company, just as Henry was about to lie down, his phone lit up.This time, it was a text message: [Be happy.]Sender: Serena Clarke.Bang!Henry kicked the coffee table next to him with a gloomy expression.[Serena, what do you mean by this?!][Are you crazy?!][Who gave you the guts to say something like this?!]No one replied.Henry stood up, quickly heading toward the parking lot, dialing my number as he walked.“Beep... The number you have dialed is unavailable.”“Damn it!”He cursed under his breath, yanking open the car door.“Serena, pick up the damn phone!”Still no reply.The wind was strong at night, but it could not blow away the fear in Henry's heart.It had been half an hour, and I still had not responded.This

I had to be honest.Before coming to Irisco, I thought that getting a divorce was a huge deal.I thought that leaving Henry would break my heart and leave me in agony.However, I suddenly realized something after arriving here.It turned out that not waiting for a man to come home was so freeing and relaxing.I no longer had to wake up early to make breakfast for Henry or endure his cold words.I did not have to smell the lingering scent of perfume on his clothes, getting angry while throwing them into the washing machine with a cold expression.I realized that divorce was actually quite exhilarating.Even my son, who always wanted to get closer to Henry, could not help but exclaim when he saw the steaming food on the table, “Mommy, I wish we had left Uncle Parker earlier!”I could not help but laugh when I heard that, but my heart felt bitter.Henry was a jerk and a real piece of trash.He never took any responsibility as a father, yet he always used his fatherly title to b