Chapter 2

Before I could say anything, Laura glanced at her phone and urged Sharon again in Aurelian, "Come on, stop dragging your feet. Hurry up. Your precious brother is already calling you in the group chat. Today's important. Don't keep him waiting."

Sharon froze for a second. She set the soup bowl down, leaned over, and kissed my lips before speaking with visible hesitation.

"Honey, have the maid clean up the dishes and go to bed early, okay? My girlfriends invited me for a night out. Can I go?"

Seeing her like this, I couldn't help letting out a soft laugh.

"Sure. Go ahead. But you'd better not do anything that betrays me. If I ever find out, I won't hesitate to leave you."

She froze, panic and unease flashing through her eyes.

Her phone was ringing nonstop. She eventually picked it up, stood, and reached for her coat.

As she walked out, she coaxed me seriously, "Don't worry, honey. In this life, I'm yours. Till death do us part, remember? You'll be the only husband I ever have. Tasha, listen to your dad while I'm gone. Don't make him angry, or I'll spank you when I get back."

Once the door fully closed between us, I finally came back to myself.

I let out a long sigh, my eyes burning.

Tasha shot me another look of disgust and cursed me in Aurelian, thinking I couldn't understand.

"Ugly freak. A grown man crying. No wonder Mom doesn't like you. How useless!"

I gave a self-mocking smile and wiped the corner of my eye.

I knew I should let it go.

But I couldn't.

Seven years. Even a block of ice should've melted by now.

I wasn't clinging to them. I was just unwilling to accept this for myself.

Tasha was six this year. Since the day she was born, she had never been apart from me.

I poured almost all my love into her and Sharon.

For seven years, I was a husband and a father.

I just never got to be myself.

But Tasha, just like her mother, had forgotten something: I had taught her Aurelian.

For three days straight, Sharon didn't come home.

She sent messages every day, gentle check-ins, saying her legs had only just recovered, and she had gotten a little carried away.

I read the texts, saying nothing as I packed in silence.

I planned my exit.

On the seventh day she didn't come home, I pulled that agreement back out of my email trash, opened the link, and signed my name carefully.

I had already taken 99 steps toward Tasha and her.

This last step, I wanted to take toward my own life.

I had just bought a plane ticket for three days later and was about to turn off my phone when I saw Tasha standing there, stiff-faced, glaring at me.

For once, I didn't go over to hug her.

I simply stood up and walked away.

She flared up immediately, stormed past me, and cursed me in the Aurelian I taught her.

"Ugly freak! All you do is make my mom miserable. A junk plane ticket doesn't scare anyone. If you've got any backbone, pack up and get out for good!"