Chapter 5

Roxanne never expected Andre to return.

Fortunately, Erica happened to come in at that moment. Roxanne quickly forced down her panic and raised her hand to point.

"Erica. She's the one getting a divorce."

Erica glanced at the two of them and immediately caught on, nodding with quick understanding. "Uh... Yes, I'm the one planning to get divorced. The process is already underway."

Andre was not particularly close with Roxanne, so he naturally had little interaction with her friends.

Although he had met Erica once or twice, he knew nothing about her personal circumstances. Upon hearing this, he frowned. "If you wanted to divorce, why didn't you come to me first?"

Erica could not keep up the lie. Her words stumbled from her mouth, unsure and fragmented.

Seeing this, Roxanne quickly stepped in to take over the conversation. "You were busy handling Caitlin's divorce case at the time. I was afraid you'd be overwhelmed, so I didn't want to disturb you."

The moment she mentioned Caitlin, Andre immediately became uneasy. Flustered, he chose not to press further. "If there are any problems later on, you can come to me."

Though they managed to cover everything with just a few words, Roxanne felt no relief in her heart.

Given Andre's professional instincts and sharpness, there was no way he would not detect the strangeness behind this series of events. Yet the moment anything involved Caitlin, he seemed to lose all sense of reason and judgment. He would cast everything aside without a second thought.

People often said love made one blind. Roxanne finally understood what that meant.

She watched as Andre tapped rapidly on his phone, his whole body tense and restless. She silently counted the seconds in her mind until he would leave. When she counted down from ten to one, he indeed stood up and found an excuse to leave.

"Roxy, something came up at the firm. I need to handle it for a while. When are you being discharged? I'll come pick you up."

Roxanne knew he was lying, but she no longer cared. "Five days from now."

…

On the day of her discharge, Roxanne waited from morning until night, but Andre never appeared.

The moment she opened her social media app and saw the beach photo that Caitlin had posted, showing her in a swimsuit, Roxanne seemed to understand everything. She made a call to Andre.

Before she could say a single word, the sound of waves crashing through the speaker had already betrayed him completely. However, Andre remained unaware and offered the usual excuse.

"Roxy, I'm on a business trip in another city right now. Is something wrong?"

He had truly forgotten about his promise to pick Roxanne up from the hospital. No matter how many times something like this happened, Caitlin was always the one who mattered.

As for Roxanne, she was always the second choice, the one he could never quite love.

Fortunately, Roxanne had finally woken up. She no longer wished to stand in the background, waiting for him like a fool.

Roxanne did not remind him, nor did she expose his lie. She responded with the same gentle concern as always. "When did you leave? How many days will you be gone?"

"I left two days ago. I should be back tomorrow."

Roxanne gave a quiet hum of acknowledgment. After casually reminding him to take care of himself, she ended the call.

She hailed a ride on her own and stood by the roadside, opening her calendar and counting down the days until the divorce would be finalized.

Ten days—only ten days until complete freedom.

By then, the sky would be vast, the road would be open, and she would be free to live as she pleased.

No one came to pick her up from the hospital, but such a small thing hardly mattered anymore. There was no reason to dwell on it.