Chapter 1

Isabel's POV

When I walked out of the law firm, it was still pouring. I carried the cardboard that housed the belongings that once sat on my work desk. Absent-minded, I returned home.

The door was left ajar. Mason Chapman and Tiffany Auburn's giggles occasionally drifted through the gap from the inside.

I walked in and looked around the living room. Scattered on the floor were clothes, undergarments, and a dirtied carpet. The TV was ironically playing the fiasco at the law firm on a loop.

At my return, Mason's smile faded a little. His sarcastic voice drilled into my ears. "You've got some nerve to come back here."

Tiffany giggled as she kissed the corners of his lips. "Hey, be nice. You guys have been together for seven years, after all."

She then turned to me and raised an eyebrow, her smile ambiguous. "Mason said he missed me, so I came. You wouldn't be bothered, would you?"

Raindrops slid from my hair and dripped to the floor. Another wave of fatigue enveloped me.

I paid no attention to the two naked bodies on the couch and turned into my bedroom. When I opened the door, I was frozen.

"Oh. I forgot to tell you," Mason piped up casually. "This place belongs to my mom, so it has nothing to do with you. I threw all your stuff out. They should probably still be by the public trash can."

He leaned against the wall, looking at me with a taunting smirk, as though my humiliation was the single most entertaining show in the world.

My chest tightened with a cramp. My soaked clothes sent a chill down my spine.

"You paid for the topic to go viral today," I said. "We're already divorced. Did you have to make me lose my job, too?"

Faced with my questioning, Mason reached out and knocked the box out of my hands. The documents and files inside spilled across the floor. They were the result of nearly seven years of my hard work.

"You refused to leave me alone for three years. How about that?" he snapped. "Even if we did have a history, I've lost all memories of it. The fact that I conveniently forgot you probably means you were nothing to me."

I couldn't lie that his words struck that same old wound again.

Three years ago, Mason suffered from amnesia and forgot everything about me.

Just a day before that happened, he had pulled me around excitedly as we decorated the nursery, wondering whether we would have a boy or a girl.

Then, he forgot all of it. The only person he remembered was his ex-wife, Tiffany.

Anger and resentment nearly drove me mad. "You just can't remember it! You have no idea what Tiffany did back then—"

Mason's face turned grim. He grabbed my wrist and shoved me out of the door. Once again, the pouring rain soaked me through.

"I don't care what Tiffany did. All I remember is that I love her. That's all that matters."

I parted my lips, ready to argue and spill my guts, but it all felt meaningless all of a sudden.

Mason dodged my gaze in irritation and pulled the wedding ring from his finger. The edge of the ring sliced into his skin. He threw it at my feet, then slammed the door shut behind him.

Before he did, he left me with one last remark. "Stop humiliating yourself by begging me to remarry you."

I stood there for a long time. Eventually, I crouched down and picked up the ring. Mason had designed it himself before we got married. He had worn it for seven years and never once taken it off.

By the public trash can lay the wedding photos he had smashed, the scarf he had knitted for me, and every photo album filled with our memories.

It was then that my phone rang. Seeing the caller ID, I answered. Mason's mother, Elaine Duncan, sounded excited.

"Isabel, I just got Mason's latest medical report. The doctor says his memories are starting to come back. If he continues treatment, there's an 80% chance he'll fully recover!"

My knuckles turned white as I gripped my phone. I was about to say, "Okay," but I ultimately decided against it.

"I don't think that's necessary, Mom. I'm fine with being forgotten."