Chapter 2 The Life He Planned Without Me

I returned home in a daze and started packing.

On the bedroom table lay our wedding plan. Whenever I had an episode, Nolan would use that plan to comfort me.

I had asked him before why we had to wait until I got better before getting married.

He only said it was what his family wanted. He asked me to understand.

I knew the Drake family had never approved of me.

Nolan had even been kicked out of his family home for choosing me and had started his own business from nothing.

The heir to the Drake family had once squeezed into a tiny rental apartment with me, eating nothing but instant noodles.

Now that he had finally made something of himself and his relationship with his family had begun to mend, I did not want him to have any more trouble with them because of me.

So I swallowed my hurt.

Looking back now, I realized he had never intended to marry me.

The truth was, I had met the bride before. She was one of my mother's students and worked at Nolan's company.

Once, when I went to visit Nolan at work, I saw him personally guiding her through a proposal. He had never had much patience with his employees, but with her, he was gentle.

A woman's intuition told me there was something more between them.

Nolan and I even had a falling-out over it.

My mother stepped in to smooth things over. "Even if you don't trust Nolan, don't you trust me? Evelyn has a boyfriend. What are you making such a fuss about? You're embarrassing yourself!"

Sasha even texted me to say she had gone out with Evelyn and her friends before, and Evelyn and her boyfriend were very much in love.

Under pressure from my mother, I even apologized to Evelyn.

At the time, Evelyn turned her face away, afraid to meet my eyes. Only now did I realize she had been afraid I would see her laughing.

Everyone closest to me had known. All of them had helped make a fool of me.

It was late into the night when I heard the bedroom door open. A warm embrace wrapped around me, making me flinch.

"Chloe, you're leaving? You really want to go?"

Even though I was already sick enough to be dying, the pain of betrayal swept through me. I shoved him away. "Enough! Are you really going to keep pretending? What, you want me to be your mistress?"

Nolan froze. Then he let out a weary sigh and slumped onto the couch. "Chloe, I've taken care of you for years. Can't you try to understand me? Sometimes, being with you is exhausting. The Drake family needs a respectable Mrs. Drake, not…"

He trailed off.

My hands clenched into fists. I knew what he was going to say.

Not a wife who could have an episode and lose control.

"But Nolan, if you're tired of me, you could have broken up with me sooner. You didn't have to do this—"

"Chloe." He cut me off gently and approached with caution. "How could I be tired of you? You're the person I truly intend to spend the rest of my life with. Don't worry. Evelyn knows about us. She's only there to keep up appearances for me. Once we have a child, I'll divorce her."

"A child?"

"Yeah. There's nothing I can do about your illness. What if our child inherits it?"

I stared at Nolan in disbelief. It was as if I were seeing him for the first time.

Keep up appearances. Not good enough to be the mother of his child.

One by one, Nolan had already erased me from his future.

Suddenly, it felt as though a pair of hands had reached into my stomach and twisted everything inside me.

I turned away, grabbed the trash can, and vomited into it.

"You think I'm disgusting?"

He looked at me with wounded eyes and suddenly pulled up the sleeve covering the arm I had bitten until it was covered in scars.

"But Chloe, how much longer was I supposed to take it? Five years. Five years of this. How many nights have I gotten through after you bit me like this? Is it really too much to ask for a normal wife and a normal child?"

He gasped for breath, finally letting five years of pent-up resentment spill out.

Of course I knew.

On countless nights, I had watched the look in his eyes change—from pity, to helplessness, to exhaustion, and finally, to flashes of disgust.

The things my best friend and my mother had said felt like a tightening band around my head, squeezing until I thought it might split open.

My stomach hurt terribly, but it was nothing compared to the pain in my heart.

I did not dare lift my head.

I was afraid Nolan would see what was in the trash can and accuse me of trying to gain sympathy, just as Sasha had.

I did not know how much time passed.

Nolan closed his eyes for a moment. Then, he grabbed his clothes and left, leaving me with a few final words. "I know you need time to accept this. I'll wait. Chloe, after all these years, we can't just walk away from each other."