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Unlearning You
Unlearning You
Author: Washing Wheat

Chapter 1

Author: Washing Wheat
The painless abortion did not hurt at all.

The moment the anesthetic took effect and I was laid on the operating table, exhaustion pulled me under. Within seconds, I slipped into a heavy, dreamless sleep.

Just before consciousness faded completely, I heard the doctor sigh.

"She looks so glamorous on the surface, but she's actually pitiful."

A nurse let out a dismissive laugh.

"Pitiful? What's there to pity? The person who isn't loved in a marriage is the real mistress. Annie stole Lilian's love. She's getting exactly what she deserves."

Deserves it?

Maybe I did.

After all, what had happened the night before was no longer a secret.

By now, everyone in Liberty City knew.

Everyone knew that I, Annie, was the wife Raymond Lowe had never truly loved.

Everyone knew I was the obstacle standing between Raymond and Lilian Smith's great love story.

Last night, Raymond had made sure no one would ever forget it.

In front of an entire ballroom filled with Liberty City's elite, he humiliated me in the cruelest way possible.

Yesterday had been our fifth wedding anniversary. It had also marked the ninetieth day of my pregnancy.

For weeks, Raymond had personally arranged every detail of the celebration. In the five years of our marriage, it was the first time he had ever gone to such lengths for me and, for a while, I had foolishly allowed myself to believe things were changing.

The banquet was lavish.

The guest list included nearly every influential figure in Liberty City.

Dressed in a custom-made gown, I entered the ballroom holding Raymond's arm. Beside me stood the man everyone admired — handsome, polished and effortlessly distinguished.

A towering ten-tier wedding cake was wheeled into the center of the hall as champagne flowed freely and the orchestra filled the room with music. The atmosphere was perfect, every detail unfolding exactly as planned.

At least, it was until Lilian arrived.

The moment I saw her walk through the ballroom doors, I knew the celebration was over.

Lilian was my cousin.

Five years before this, she had been the woman everyone expected Raymond to marry.

Back then, they had been the golden couple of the University of Liberty City. Raymond was the campus heartthrob, while Lilian was the undisputed beauty queen. Their relationship had been public, passionate and impossible to ignore.

Raymond had done countless outrageous things for her. He once lit up the tallest skyscraper in Liberty City with a declaration of love. For her birthday, he arranged an entire drone fireworks show.

Once, simply because she wanted to see them, he spent an entire night catching a thousand fireflies by hand.

Their romance had been the kind people talked about for years. To everyone around them, they were inevitable. No one had ever doubted that they would end up together.

Then, five years ago, everything fell apart without warning.

They broke up. Lilian left the country and, not long afterward, Raymond married me.

Me.

The ugly duckling no one had expected him to choose.

Now, after all those years, she was back.

Wearing a dress identical to mine and balancing effortlessly on eight-inch heels, Lilian walked toward us with the confidence of someone who had never once doubted she belonged.

A glass of wine rested loosely in her hand and a brilliant smile illuminated her breathtaking face.

"Happy fifth wedding anniversary, Mr. Lowe and Annie," she said warmly. "And congratulations on the baby."

As soon as she spoke, I felt Raymond's hand tighten around my arm.

The movement was subtle, almost imperceptible to anyone watching. The message behind it, however, was impossible to miss.

Lilian simply smiled and lifted her glass as if nothing had happened. Just as the rim touched her lips, Raymond suddenly let go of my arm and stepped forward.

"Lilian." His voice carried an urgency I had never heard him use for me. "You're not well. You can't drink."

Without hesitation, he took the glass from her hand.

The next second, Lilian swayed. As though losing her balance, she stumbled neatly into his arms.

I stood beside the enormous wedding cake, watching the scene unfold.

Watching my husband hold another woman as if she were the only person in the room.

The ballroom had fallen silent and every guest was staring, yet Raymond seemed completely unaware, or perhaps he simply did not care.

Lowering his head, he spoke to Lilian in a voice so gentle that it made my chest ache.

As he looked at her, there was a tenderness in his eyes I knew all too well. It was the look of a man protecting something precious, something fragile, something he cherished above all else.

Lilian pouted and leaned closer, whispering something into his ear.

After a brief exchange, Raymond finally looked up and walked toward me.

"Annie," he said, "I'm taking Lilian home. I'll be back soon."

A faint smile touched my lips. Whether I agreed or not no longer mattered. The intimacy between them had already humiliated me far more thoroughly than any slap ever could.

The banquet was over and so was my dignity.

Raymond wrapped an arm around Lilian's waist and guided her toward the exit.

They almost reached the door, then Lilian suddenly stopped.

After a brief pause, she turned around and walked back toward me.

"Annie," she said softly, guilt filling her expression, "I'm sorry for interrupting your party."

She lowered her gaze. "I'm really sorry."

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  • Unlearning You   Chapter 11

    Raymond mobilized every resource at his disposal.For two full months, search teams combed the coastline looking for me.Eventually, my car was recovered from the ocean. However, my body was not.Two months later, Raymond finally called off the search. Not long afterward, he received an anonymous phone call. The moment the call ended, he drove straight to the hospital where I had undergone the procedure.According to what I later learned, he tracked down both the doctor and the nurse who had been involved in my case.That was when he learned the truth.The abortion had been entirely my decision. The ultrasound showed that the baby had been healthy. There had been nothing wrong with the pregnancy.I simply did not want the child anymore.When Raymond walked out of that hospital, he was no longer the same man.Rumors spread quickly. People said the president of the Lowe Group had gone mad after losing his wife.What they did not know was that his madness had nothing to do with

  • Unlearning You   Chapter 10

    Because I had unrestricted access to Raymond's money, I used it to hire a private investigator to look into Lilian.What he uncovered shocked me.Lilian had never been pregnant.The fragile health, the pregnancy scare, the constant concern she demanded from everyone around her — it had all been an act. From the very beginning, the pregnancy had been nothing more than a lie designed to drive a wedge between Raymond and me.The most ridiculous part was that Raymond had believed every word without question.Lilian had manipulated him effortlessly and he had never once suspected a thing.The investigator uncovered something else as well.He managed to track down the cement truck driver responsible for my father's accident.I never learned exactly how he got the man to talk, but eventually the driver confessed.The accident had not been an accident at all.Someone had paid him a substantial amount of money to make it happen.Although he did not know who had hired him, he remember

  • Unlearning You   Chapter 9

    I stared at Lilian's messages over and over again, rereading every word.Lilian was not the type to say things without a reason.Did that mean there had been something suspicious about my father's accident all those years ago?The more I thought about it, the more pieces seemed to fall into place.At the time, my father had been running the Smith Group. My uncle had been forced to step aside despite his resentment because he simply could not compete with my father. The shareholders trusted my father and had little confidence in my uncle.Then, one day, while driving to a meeting, my father was hit by a cement truck.Even back then, I had struggled to believe it was an accident.However, my grandparents had insisted otherwise. There was no evidence, no witnesses and no way to prove foul play.As such, the matter was buried, and my father spent the next ten years on a hospital bed.After he fell into a vegetative state, control of the Smith Group passed directly to my uncle.I

  • Unlearning You   Chapter 8

    How ridiculous.So, Raymond actually remembered that we had a child together.For years, I had assumed the only baby he truly cared about was the one growing inside Lilian.The desperation in his eyes caught me completely off guard.For one brief moment, a question surfaced in my mind. Had he actually looked forward to our child? The thought disappeared almost as quickly as it came.Impossible.If he had cared even a little, he never would have treated me the way he did throughout my pregnancy. He never would have missed every appointment, never would have left me alone again and again, never would have spent more time worrying about Lilian's baby than his own.His fingers tightened around my throat, sending a sharp pain through my neck.Instinctively, I clawed at his hand, desperately trying to force him to let go as breathing became more and more difficult.For one terrifying moment, I genuinely thought Raymond might kill me.The irony was almost laughable.This was a chil

  • Unlearning You   Chapter 7

    So, in the end, I was the only person left in this world who remembered my father.At his funeral, I was probably the only mourner.I did not publish an obituary nor did I not notify distant relatives. I certainly did not tell Raymond that my father had passed away.There seemed to be no point in that.For years, my father had existed quietly on the edge of everyone's lives.Eventually, even his absence became invisible.I spent several peaceful hours at the funeral home.There was no crowd, no flowers sent by business associates, and no endless stream of condolences. There was only my father, myself, and the silence that had accompanied us for the past ten years.It was a simple farewell ceremony.A final goodbye.Then, I watched as his body disappeared behind the crematorium doors.Hours later, I carried his ashes to the cemetery myself.My mother had been waiting there for ten years, and now they could finally be together again.After placing his urn beside my mother's

  • Unlearning You   Chapter 6

    "I've neglected you lately. I told you I'd make it up to you. After your prenatal checkup today, let's take a vacation together.""No thanks."I cut him off before he could continue."You're busy. There's no need to waste your time on me."Then I added quietly, "And honestly, I have no interest in going on a vacation with you."For a moment, surprise flashed across Raymond's face, quickly followed by disbelief and then unmistakable embarrassment.I had never turned him down so directly before.Not once."What exactly is your problem, Annie? The doctor said you haven't gone to a single prenatal appointment. Aren't you worried about the baby?"I'm telling you right now. You're going for a checkup today and I'll go with you."We're leaving now."I looked at him for a long moment.Then nodded."Fine. If that'll make you happy."The truth could not remain hidden forever. Part of me wanted to see his reaction when he finally learned our child was gone.Since he insisted on com

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