Chapter 3

With the evidence right in front of him, Jules could no longer deny it. Perhaps due to the unease of having his lies exposed, his attitude softened a bit. "Alright, I originally wanted to go with you, but Maddie said she wanted to go to Coachella and couldn't get the wristband. You know Maddie and I grew up together; I couldn't refuse her. How about I attend with you next time?"

Jules explained while gently pulling my hand and rubbing it.

This was already a rare concession from him, but I only felt sick.

I shook off his hand and turned to walk toward the guest room.

Behind me, Jules' angry voice came. "Sophie! Have you had enough? No one can stand your foul temper!"

With a click, he locked the main bedroom door.

In the past, I was most afraid of him locking the door. No matter how angry I was, I would humbly knock on the door and beg him to let me in.

Tonight, I simply lay calmly on the guest room bed, looking at the divorce agreement sent by my lawyer friend, Jessica Jaye, and slept until dawn.

Early the next morning, I was woken up by a loud bang from the door.

When I slowly walked out of the guest room, Jules had already left for work.

Not having to prepare breakfast for him anymore, I made myself a plate of delicious avocado toast and made a large cup of oat milk latte.

Jules only drank fruit and vegetable juice with egg whites for breakfast; he always thought avocado toast was "pretentious millennial stuff." To accommodate him, I had not had avocado toast in ages.

After my satisfying meal, I went to the study to print out the divorce agreement, put it in my bag, and went to Jules' company.

When I arrived, the receptionist said I could not enter without an appointment.

Having been married for five years, Jules and I had never publicly appeared at the company together, and he never let me come here. Occasionally, when he left a document at home, his assistant, Emily Alton, would come down to get them. Hence, nobody at the company knew me.

I had no choice but to call Jules.

As soon as he answered, I heard him snort contemptuously. "What? You're here to apologize?"

I was silent for a moment before replying, "I'm downstairs at the company. I need to see you."

Jules hung up and sent me his location and private room number.

Pushing open the door, I found Jules, Maddie, and their group of childhood friends inside.

Trippe scoffed at me. "Why is she here? She's always checking up on you. What a bummer."

Chase nudged him with his elbow, signaling for him to be careful.

Jules and Maddie grew up in the same Upper East Side circle, and their friends naturally assumed they would end up together.

In their opinion, I would never have been Jules' wife if Maddie had not gone to Europe after high school. Thus, their attitude toward me had always been lukewarm.

When we first got married, I tried to please them and fit into their circle. However, the atmosphere would turn awkward every time I opened my mouth.

Gradually, I stopped trying to embarrass myself and just silently drank at parties.

Later, my situation became even more awkward when Maddie returned from Paris.

That was when I realized that they had always considered me the other woman. I suffered for a long time because of this. I did not understand; Jules and I had a normal relationship and got married. Why did they see me as the other woman? I tried to confide in Jules, but all his attention was already on Maddie, who had returned home; he had no patience to comfort me. However, it did not matter anymore.

Anyway, I was about to divorce Jules, so what these people thought of me was none of my business anymore.