The Last Straw

I'd never brought up divorce, no matter how fiercely we fought in the past, so this clearly took him off guard. He immediately came close and wrapped me in his arms, moving away my hand gently to check on my face. "Does it hurt? I'm so sorry, Mel… I-I just got worked up, I didn't mean it… Let me take you to the hospital."Without missing a beat, I moved away from him and walked into the bedroom wordlessly, closing it in his face. This, clearly, didn't go well with him, and he started shouting outside the door. "I wouldn't have slapped you if you weren't being unreasonable, Melanie! Stephanie and I only had each other growing up, so you know how important she is to me! How could you say that to hurt me?"How laughable. Did he forget that I was there for him in his most trying times too? I was even the one who paid for his sister's university tuition!I was his lawfully wedded wife, yet he was fine with Jenny making rumors about me being with another man? How could he have allow

My gaze didn't so much as flicker away from the screen. "I forgot."Steven came up and wrapped an arm around my shoulder, shaking a pack of food in front of me almost proudly. "You haven't eaten either, huh? Well, Jenny told me to bring you something to eat!"You're always so mean to Jenny, but she's always been nice to you in return! You embarrassed her in front of her relatives, but she still remembered to bring you food. You'd better apologize to her later when she and her family arrive, and be a good hostess!"I glanced at the words 'Jemma's Kitchen' printed on the packaging, and moved my body away from Steven. "It's fine. I've already eaten." Besides, I didn't eat leftovers.Just an hour ago, Jenny flaunted how she was eating dinner with Steven on social media. "Woah, I almost died in that accident! Steven and I are having dinner to recover from the shock!" The location? Jemma's Kitchen, of course.Steven didn't seem to hear what I said and started to lay out the food i

I drifted awake to the sweet, wondrous sound of Stephanie giving Steven a verbal lashing. "Did you fall and hurt your damn head? How could you let the brother of that witch touch Mel?!"How did you not know that Mel was pregnant, huh? Now, she had a miscarriage because of you! That's your own flesh and blood, you idiot! What kind of husband—what kind of father—does that? Dammit, what sins did I commit in a past life to have a brother like you?!"Oh, don't even get me started on that witch Jenny! She's been a manipulative snake ever since we were kids! Brother this, brother that, when I'm your damned sister, not her! She probably satisfied your savior complex real good, huh? You always gave her everything she asked for, after all!"All that's fine and dandy, but did you forget that she was the one who tattled on us when we were being pursued by debt collectors? I don't get it! Why in the world would you choose to protect a woman like her instead of Mel? "If anything happens to her,

"Melanie, do you really have to be this ruthless? Jenny’s brother is just a fool who doesn’t know anything! Your fall was just an accident. What would Jenny do if he got arrested?"It had been three days since my brother threw Steven out. Now he was back, but only to plead for Jenny.I handed him the divorce agreement calmly. "Sign it."Steven froze, his face turning red with anger. "Are you being serious right now? You're getting a divorce over something so trivial? Just for getting you to make an idiot happy? "Does our relationship mean nothing to you?"After that, he grabbed the divorce papers from my hand and ripped them to shreds.I looked at him calmly, inwardly breathing a sigh of relief that our child had left this world. They deserved a better father than Steven. Suddenly, I smiled. "If you agree to the divorce, I can agree to not press charges against Jeremy."Steven's face twisted with rage. "Melanie, are you threatening me right now? Do you really think they'd rea

After running around for a few days, my brother finally finished collecting the documents I needed for the divorce. When I placed the photos of him and Jenny entering a hotel together in front of him, his face turned pale, then red, then pale again. Panicked, he stammered, "Melanie, I was just drunk that night! N-Nothing happened! You know you're the only one I love…"I-I just see her as a little sister…"His voice grew weaker and weaker.I let out a cold laugh. "Steven, can't you at least man up and admit to what you did? Is it really that hard to admit that you were cheating on me?"In hindsight, the truth was in plain sight the whole time. The date he started arguing with me more and more was clear—it was the day I asked him directly if he liked Jenny.That was the first time he'd gotten in such a fit of rage towards me, but now it was clear that he was acting on a guilty conscience. I'd hit the nail straight on the head. To cover up his affair, he had to shift the blame on