Chapter 4

He didn't notice. Instead, he kept carrying me toward the emergency room.

The speed and the dizzying sense of weightlessness made it impossible to tell how fast we were moving.

All I remembered was the cold and tense look on his face, exactly the same as the day we lost our child.

The only difference was that now, he was finally going to have a child. He should be happy.

After what seemed like an eternity, the steady drip of an IV gradually came into focus beside me.

Slowly, I opened my eyes. The first thing I saw was Ryland sitting beside my bed, peeling an apple.

The moment he noticed I was awake, he immediately set the apple down and hurried over to tuck the blanket around me.

Concern laced his voice, mixed with a trace of reproach.

"You're awake? When are you going to learn how to take care of yourself? You had a fever and didn't even realize it."

Yeah, I was foolish enough that I couldn't even take care of myself.

That's why I lost our child and my husband.

Now, it seemed there was nothing left for me to lose.

My lips parted, and the words finally came out.

"Ryland, let's get divorced."

His hand paused for a moment. Still, he didn't look at me.

"Why are you bringing that up? Aren’t we already divorced? If you're in a hurry to remarry, we can move the date up a few days," he spoke quickly.

Whenever he'd talked about things like this in the past, he'd always been calm and completely certain of himself.

I sighed, a bitter smile playing on my lips. "No need. Let's stick to the original date."

I wouldn't be showing up anyway.

Because of my fever on top of my existing health issues, I ended up staying in the hospital for nearly two weeks.

Ryland visited a few times during that period, just not very often. I no longer expected anything from him. Whether he came or not made no difference to me.

The day I was discharged, Ryland had originally promised to pick me up.

However, after I'd packed my things that morning, he called and said something had come up and he couldn't make it.

I didn't ask where he was going. It wasn't any of my business anymore.

Carrying my belongings, I completed the discharge paperwork and headed for the elevator.

A young woman rushed past me excitedly and accidentally bumped into my shoulder. She was holding a medical report.

Beaming, she said to the man beside her, "Look, honey. The doctor said our baby is perfectly healthy."

The man's face lit up with joy. He pulled her into his arms and held her tightly, as though he were embracing his entire world.

For a moment, I saw my younger self in her, but she wasn't me.

The man standing in front of her, though, was the Ryland I used to know.

Lowering the brim of my hat, I walked past them without stopping, not wanting to have anything to do with them.

Back at home, I packed up all my belongings.

Twenty years of knowing each other and eight years of marriage. In the end, everything I owned fit into two suitcases.

I had wondered before whether I should never have fallen in love with him, but maybe it wouldn't have mattered who I'd loved.

Men were never satisfied.

At last, the dream I'd carried since I was young had finally ended. Only now, like a bird suddenly freed from its cage, I had no idea where I was supposed to fly.

Looking at the plane ticket I'd booked weeks ago, I changed the departure time to the first flight the next morning.

There were still around ten days left before the date Ryland expected us to remarry. He was probably too busy enjoying the prospect of becoming a father to come looking for me.

That meant I could leave without looking back.

Early the next morning, I climbed into a car bound for the airport, suitcase in hand.

Just after we pulled away, a Maybach that had no reason to be anywhere near my house sped past us.

Through the half-open driver's window, the man behind the wheel caught sight of my profile.

A screech of brakes split the air.

The sharply dressed man threw open the door and jumped out, then he started running toward me.

"Cammie! Where are you going?!"

I smiled calmly and turned to the driver. "Could you drive a little faster? I'm in a hurry."