Chapter 5

"You think a piece of paper is enough to settle the score between us?" Jason sneered.

"No." Alisha shook her head. "A single agreement could never cover everything you owe me. It's a shame divorce only divides assets and not flesh and blood. Otherwise, you could pay me back with your life."

"Do you have to be so vicious every time you open your mouth?" Jason sulked, his expression darkening further. "After all these years, you still haven't learned how to speak to people like a decent human being."

Alisha remained detached. "I can speak reasonably, provided I'm speaking to an actual human who understands basic decency."

She paused, letting a razor-sharp beat pass before adding, "Are you even human?"

The air between them seemed to freeze.

Alisha knew this kind of silence all too well. It was the volatile, knife-edge tension that came after another vicious exchange, when both of them looked ready to tear each other apart.

Three years ago, after she caught Jason cheating for the first time, venomous arguments had become the rhythm of their marriage.

She had always been the one to strike first, unable to tolerate his betrayal yet somehow unable to find the strength to walk away.

Trapped in that vicious cycle of resentment and misery, she lashed out at Jason again and again while slowly tearing herself apart in the process.

But now, everything was different.

Her love, her hatred, her lingering hope, and the crushing disappointment she had carried for years had all burned themselves out, leaving behind nothing but a cold, hollow emptiness.

"You want a divorce?" Jason gave her a cruel, cutting smile. "Fine. Bear my child, and I'll sign the agreement right this second."

Of course, Alisha knew he wasn't asking for a child. He was twisting the knife, mocking her for being a barren woman who couldn't give him an heir.

For the first two years of their marriage, they had desperately tried to conceive. Only after undergoing a battery of medical tests did they discover that the problem lay with her.

Consumed by guilt, Alisha had subjected herself to every folk remedy, alternative treatment, and hormone regimen imaginable. She endured countless injections until her abdomen was covered in painful bruises and needle marks.

Back then, Jason had pulled her into his arms, his voice gentle as he whispered, "Stop putting yourself through this. We don't need a child. Having just the two of us is enough. We can grow old together, hand in hand."

Alisha had believed every word. Just as she had once believed he meant it when he said he could live without a child, she had later believed his promises of love and loyalty.

"If you want a baby so badly, just sign the divorce agreement," Alisha said flatly. "There are plenty of women out there who would be more than happy to pop out an entire football team for you."

She turned and walked into the breakroom, slamming the door behind her. The sharp click of the latch sounded almost like a final verdict.

...

Over the weekend, Alisha went to her mother's place for dinner.

After the meal, Susan brought out a tightly bound package wrapped in thick brown paper and placed it on the table. Even through the heavy wrapping, the pungent medicinal smell seeped out, making Alisha instinctively hold her breath.

"Take this home," Susan said, sliding a prescription across the table. "Follow the instructions and give trying for a baby with Jason one more shot."

"Jason and I are discussing a divorce." Alisha clenched her jaw. "Why are you giving me this?"

"I know you have a short temper and probably threw out the word 'divorce' in the heat of the moment," Susan said calmly.

"But when you strip away all the details, every problem between you and Jason over the years comes down to one thing: you don't have a child. Once you have a baby, everything will fall into place."

It wasn't the first time Alisha had heard that argument.

Three years ago, when she first discovered Jason's infidelity and sobbed uncontrollably, Susan had told her the same thing. "Things will get better once you have a baby. With a child around, Jason will settle down."

Caught between love and resentment, Alisha had foolishly believed it. Even while screaming at Jason, she had forced herself through another grueling round of fertility treatments.

But after enduring the injections, when Jason reached out to hold her, a wave of revulsion had swept over her, and she instinctively shoved him away.

That was the moment she realized she could no longer stand his touch. The dream of having a child had died with it.

Looking back, the idea of using a baby to tie Jason down seemed like the ultimate irony of their marriage. Two people who had once married because they were passionately in love had eventually reached the point where they needed a child just to hold together the wreckage of their relationship.

That was more than absurd.

"I'm not taking this." Alisha pushed the medicine and prescription back across the table. "Mom, I'm not asking for a divorce because I'm angry. I genuinely don't love Jason anymore. I want to start over."

"Love and marriage are different things." Susan sighed heavily. "One doesn't automatically guarantee the other."

"Then why did you divorce Dad?" Alisha asked sharply.

Susan froze, a flicker of pain cutting across her lined face.

Alisha pressed her lips together, her voice softening. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring that up."

Susan shook her head, staring into space. "Back when your father's business collapsed and we were at our lowest, Jason helped us so much.

"When I needed major surgery, he brought in top specialists from all over the country to treat me. You two were only dating then. Marriage wasn't even on the table yet.

"He was willing to go to the ends of the earth for our family. If you divorce him now, how are you ever going to repay that debt?"

Before she married Jason, Alisha had often heard whispers in high society that no man in their circle stayed faithful. Young and naïve, she had once asked, "What about their wives? Don't they ever get divorced?"

People had simply laughed at her innocence and explained that marriage among the elite was never that simple. Money, power, social standing, reputation—everything had to be weighed on the scale.

A marriage in which husband and wife quietly lived separate lives while maintaining appearances was hardly considered the worst possible outcome.

Alisha hadn't understood it back then. She certainly had never imagined that one day she would become one of those humiliated wives people discussed in hushed voices, the kind who endured one affair after another without ever walking away.

Her decision to let go had come three years too late, but at least it had finally come. Wasn't that something worth celebrating?

...

Alisha stood up and walked toward the front door.

"I'm leaving the details to the lawyers," she said. "If they can't reach an agreement, we'll take it to court. Whatever the judge decides, so be it. Please don't stress yourself over this, Mom."

Susan stepped forward and forced the medicine back into her hands. "Even if you divorce him, your inability to bear children remains a harsh reality. You're almost 30. How do you expect to navigate the rest of your life?"

"What's wrong with turning 30?" Alisha retorted. "And what's wrong with being on my own? Is every 30-year-old woman in the world expected to drop dead?"

Seeing her daughter's unyielding defiance, Susan felt a surge of exasperated disappointment. "Other women at 30 are unmarried and have nothing weighing them down. What about you? You're a divorced, infertile woman."

She spoke without filter, each word cutting through the room.

"I'm telling you as your mother. With a temper like yours, you can't blame Jason for seeking comfort elsewhere. If a woman isn't gentle and accommodating, can she even call herself a woman?"

Alisha remained unfazed. "Let me correct you. Biological sex is determined by sex chromosomes, not by how submissive a person acts."

Susan lost her tongue, and Alisha added firmly, "I am getting a divorce. So, save your breath."

She stepped out, closed the door behind her, and headed straight back to the hospital for her shift.

After finishing her charts, she suddenly felt a heavy, groggy exhaustion settle over her. She took her temperature and discovered that she was running a high fever.

The lead surgeon had several complex craniotomies scheduled over the next two days. Although she was only assisting, Alisha refused to miss them because of a fever.

Determined to bring her temperature down as quickly as possible, she prescribed herself an IV infusion. But when she reached the infusion room, it was packed, without any seats available.

She took a chair in the hallway instead. Her arm was hooked up to the IV, the clear line running to a fluid bag hanging from the tall metal pole beside her.

Rory had just finished visiting his mother upstairs in Psychiatry. When he stepped into the hallway, his gaze fell on Alisha sitting alone outside the infusion room.