Starting Anew

That message left me devastated, and my emotions were all over the place.

My first love was my ex, and I came clean to my husband, Jake Payton, about it before we got married.

Back then, Jake said he did not mind. He hugged me and said meaningfully, "Your future is with me, Mindy. I'll always be by your side."

After glancing at the chat, I realized he was averse to my 'impurity'—a fact I made perfectly clear before we even dated. Although he could look past it then, he must have begun to loathe me at some point during our marriage.

I clenched my fists and shelved the doctor's report.

"Mindy, I have a headache. Did you make any soup for my hangover?"

I got up as soon as I heard his mumbling and fed him some soup. I placed my hand on his forehead, and he clung tightly to me as if desperate for the warmth of my palm.

"Thank you for taking care of me, Mindy."

I felt relieved when I saw that he did not forget about me even when he was drunk, but I ventured with a question.

"Are you disgusted with me? Why won't you have a baby with me?"

Jake sighed and laughed. "Mindy! You're a good woman, but I… I'm not interested in having a baby with you! I get sick to my stomach when I think about how many times you slept with your ex!"

Seeing the hurtful message that he sent to his friend was nothing compared to the sinking pain that I felt when I heard his words with my own ears.

I took a deep breath, helped him onto the bed, and went to the guest room.

As I lay in bed, I wondered whether I should just leave him. If he could harbor such prejudice against me then, I dreaded to think of how much worse he would treat me once I was old and ugly. I was not going to put up with that for the rest of my life.

It must have been hard for Jake to endure three years of marriage to me.

My character was always firm and direct. It would go against my principles to force someone to accept something they clearly could not.

The next morning, I had already prepared the divorce papers.

Jake received a phone call and left quickly, explaining, "A client requested to meet. Looks like I'll have a packed day today!"

My mind went blank momentarily, but I answered immediately, "You can go ahead and settle that first, but make some time for me at noon. There's something I want to talk to you about."

I was unsure if he heard me since he was already rushing out when I spoke. I decided to send him a message just to be safe.

Jake did not reply. I looked through my chat history with him, realizing that—at some point—our conversation had been rather one-sided.

From saying 'good morning' to checking in with each other during lunch, I was always the one starting the conversation. His standard excuse was that he had too much work to do.

He had a hectic professional life as a lawyer, but he always remembered to send me gifts on holidays and anniversaries.

The gifts were never really sincere.

After some thought, I tidied things up at home and made a reservation at a restaurant. With the location sent to Jake, I arrived there ten minutes before noon.

Jake eventually showed up—with another woman.

She had striking good looks and even took the initiative to greet me when she saw me.

"Hello, Ms. Bridgerton. My name is Sonia Selby, Jake's assistant. Sorry for being an uninvited guest, but I hope you don't mind me joining today!"

Jake smiled faintly and asked, "Why did you tag along if you knew you'd be an uninvited guest?"

"Well, you've been talking about your wife so much that I'm curious to meet her in person!"

Sonia had a playful demeanor. She had a habit of sticking out her tongue while talking. If anyone were to do the same, they would look rather disgusting. However, that habit was somehow lively and endearing on her.

I noticed how Jake gazed at her and immediately knew that he liked Sonia. More accurately, he liked her innocence and youthful beauty.

That was not my first time seeing Sonia. Her social media profile was public, so I occasionally encountered her posts when she tagged a location I was searching for.

Jake occasionally appeared in the frame, and their closeness with each other left many netizens gushing for them. His face lit up on the rare occasion he mentioned her to me, but he probably never even noticed.

I nodded with a smile and ordered some food.

Without being prompted, Sonia told me, "Jake's been feeling under the weather recently, so he should avoid anything spicy. You should order something with less spice, Ms. Bridgerton!"

First, she called him Jake and addressed me as Ms. Bridgerton. She even reminded me that Jake was unwell.

Those who did not know better might be under the impression that Sonia was his wife!