All Chapters of Married to the man who despised me : Chapter 11 - Chapter 18

The yacht slipped away from the marina as the first light of dawn brushed the horizon, turning the sea into liquid silver. Alex had told no one the full plan, not even Elena. He simply informed Rosa and Lucas the night before with a single, quiet sentence over dinner: “I’m taking my wife out for a few days.” The word “wife” hung in the air like a new note in an old song. Rosa’s fork paused mid-motion. Lucas’s eyebrows lifted. Neither questioned him. The silence that followed was louder than any argument. Elena had expected a short escape, perhaps an afternoon on the water to clear their heads. She had not expected this, a week. Alex had arranged everything without fanfare, simple linen dresses for her, lightweight shirts for him, books, a small stack of board games, and a crew instructed to stay discreet. No itinerary.Just open sea and time. She stood at the bow as they left the harbor, bare feet on warm teak, white sundress catching the breeze. The city shrank behind them until it

The art gallery opening was one of those events Yunshan pretended mattered more than it did. White walls, soft lighting, waiters carrying champagne flutes on silver trays, people murmuring about brushstrokes and meaning as if they understood either. Elena had come because Alex asked her to. Not in the pleading way he used to avoid, but in the quiet way that had started after the yacht. He had simply said, “I’d like you to come with me,” and she had nodded. She still didn’t know what the nod meant, only that refusing felt like closing a door she wasn’t ready to shut. Alex wore a charcoal suit, no tie, collar open. He looked handsome in a way that made people glance twice, but Elena noticed the tension at the corners of his eyes. He kept her hand in his as they moved through the crowd, thumb brushing her knuckles every few minutes like a reminder she was there. They stopped in front of a large canvas: deep blues and violent reds swirling into something that looked like anger trapped u

Dawn found Alex still walking. The city had begun to stir: delivery bikes cutting through alleys, street vendors setting up carts, the first buses groaning awake. His shoes were heavy with water from the night’s rain, socks soaked, but he didn’t stop. Every block felt like punishment he deserved. Every step away from Sophia’s loft was a step toward the house he wasn’t sure he still belonged in.He paused once, around four in the morning, on a bridge overlooking the river. The water was black and still. He leaned on the railing, breath fogging in the cold, and tried to remember the exact moment he had decided to marry again. The words had come out of his mouth at the dinner table like they belonged there. Second wife. Sophia. Simple. Clean. As if love could be rewritten like a contract clause. He stayed on the bridge until the sky turned pale blue. Then he started walking again.By eight thirty he was only a few streets from home. His legs ached. His shirt clung to his back wit

Elena had been living in the small rented room above the tailor’s shop for nearly three weeks. The space was narrow, the walls thin enough to hear the sewing machines buzzing all day, but it was hers. No Rosa. No Alex. No echoing hallways filled with judgment. She spent her mornings reading on the tiny balcony, afternoons walking the market, evenings cooking simple meals on a single burner. It wasn’t freedom exactly, but it was breathing room, and she clung to it.The phone rang on a Tuesday afternoon while she was boiling rice. She almost ignored it. The number was her mother’s. She stared at the screen until it stopped, then it rang again. She answered.“Elena.”“Mom.”A pause. Then the familiar sharp tone. “You need to come home tomorrow. Bring your husband.”Elena set the spoon down. “Why?”“Your father’s sick. The doctors want family here. All of us. Including him.”Elena closed her eyes. “He’s not going to come.”“He has to. This is family. You’re still married, aren’t you?”Ele