Lahat ng Kabanata ng The Rules Only Applied to Me: Kabanata 1 - Kabanata 8

News of my job transfer reached Rachael Decker that same night.Within half an hour, I heard her footsteps coming down the hall, quick and heavy."Dennis, what do you think you're doing? If you leave, what happens to me and the baby?"She threw the transfer notice onto the coffee table, her eyes dark as ink."Nothing," I said flatly. "I just need some space from the pressure at home."Rachael looked confused for a moment, until she spotted the round-the-world travel booking sitting under the notice. Her expression cleared, and she gave a knowing laugh."So that's what this tantrum is about."For once, she actually explained herself. "Sean's been by my side for two years. He's hardworking and loyal, so I rewarded him and his family. He earned it."My eyes stayed fixed on the number: one hundred and ten thousand dollars.All I'd wanted was a massager that would let me relax a little, and it hadn't even cost fifteen dollars."So I don't deserve a massager?""Dennis." Rachael's

It hit me like a bolt of lightning.That watermelon farm was my grandparents' life's work, built up through a lifetime of hard labor.The moment Rachael got home, I marched straight up to her."You seized my grandparents' watermelon farm?"She took her time peeling off her wool coat, then settled back against the sofa before she finally spoke."That's what fairness looks like. My parents give us two hundred thousand dollars a year. By that same logic, your family should be chipping in something too."Once we flatten the farm, we can build a playground there. The baby can play on it once she's born."Her tone was so light, so breezy, as if flattening the place was nothing worth thinking twice about.My voice shook. "That farm is the work of their entire lives."Rachael shot back, "And my parents' money just fell out of the sky, did it?"A marriage needs equality. Raising a child needs the same. As the baby's great-grandparents, shouldn't they be willing to show a little goodwi

Rachael froze at the front door.The mansion beyond it was heavy with a funeral hush, white flowers and mourning decorations hung everywhere."Who decorated the house like this? Isn't anyone worried about the bad luck?"A maid rushed over, stammering."Sir's grandparents... passed away here. According to custom, this is how it's supposed to be arranged...""What?" Rachael's voice shot up sharply. "How could they have just died, out of the blue?"The maid laid out exactly what had happened. Rachael's brow drew tight."That's impossible. How does someone kill himself over a set of clothes? They weren't children."Where's Dennis? I'll ask him myself."The maid shook her head and said nothing.Rachael didn't have the patience to press further. She went straight upstairs instead."Dennis, your whole family keeps losing whatever manners they had left. First it's threatening divorce, now it's faking your death just to fool me."When she pushed open the bedroom door, what she saw s

The moment I was off the operating table, I dragged my weakened body out of the hospital.The place was full of people Rachael knew. It would take her minutes to track me down. But I never wanted to see her again.I clutched the pocket watch my grandparents had left me. My chest felt as if a knife had gone through it. They had been the only family I had left in this world. And now they were both gone.Worse, it was because I'd chosen the wrong person to marry in the first place that they'd paid the price for it.Once I found somewhere to settle, I contacted a lawyer, Brent Chayet, and filed a lawsuit against Rachael and Sean."Brent, I have the security footage from that day. It'll prove the two of them worked together to drive my grandfather to suicide and frighten my grandmother into a fatal heart attack."And while we're at it, can I use this to get a divorce from Rachael?"Brent nodded."That's right. If the evidence holds up, the court will very likely grant the divorce."