All Chapters of Our Ten Years End Here: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

During the thirty-day reconciliation period, I visited every place my husband, Declan James, and I had ever been to, sat in the spots we used to share, ordered his favorite food, and relived the memories we had made together.I sent the photos and videos to him over and over again."Declan, look at how things used to be, please?"He never replied.On the very last day, I stayed in and dug out my old college phone.The further up I scrolled through our chat history, the more deeply Declan had loved me. No matter how trivial my questions were, he answered every single one with care. Even when I sent him a random photograph of a cloud, he'd reply: [Wish I could see it with you.]Until I scrolled all the way back to the very first day we got together.That night, he had sent me a picture of the night view outside his window, saying he was already home.I began to smile, but the moment I tapped on the photo, I froze solid.In the bottom corner of the glass reflection, a woman was

By the time I got back home, dawn was just beginning to break.The apartment was a total disaster.The coffee table was still littered with restaurant receipts and printed photos I had dragged back from all over the place during the last month. Every single one of them looked like a sick joke, mocking the thirty days I had spent lying to myself.I dropped to my knees, yanked the filing cabinet drawer all the way out, and rummaged through its contents to the very bottom.Inside sat the medical records from three years ago.The paper had yellowed around the edges, and the top line of the diagnosis was brutal and clear: severe depressive tendencies.Dilation and curettage following a miscarriage.My finger froze over those words as the bloody nightmare of that day came rushing back to me.I had just found out I was pregnant back then. The doctor had handed me the lab results with a smile, explaining that I was still in the early stages of pregnancy and warning me not to overexert

The hospital hallway was bathed in a harsh, blinding white light. Everyone crowded around Emma. Declan was holding her hand, my mom was pouring her water, Henry was running back and forth to handle the bills, and my dad stood by the doorway of the hospital room, glaring at me with a grim warning."Stop provoking a pregnant woman."I stood at the far end of the corridor, my wrist still throbbing with pain. The fresh wound from my recent discharge had torn open again from the rush of travel, soaking the white gauze in a patch of glaring red.Yet nobody noticed.I suddenly thought back to the day of my miscarriage three years ago. Back then, the hospital room held only a bowl of cold soup and the suffocating stench of antiseptic. Declan had stood outside the door refusing to step inside. My mom had cried herself to sleep slumped over the edge of the bed, and Emma had held my hand, repeating over and over that she would stay by my side.Back then, I thought I had hit rock bottom

Declan didn't leave right away.He checked into the only hotel in town. When Sylvia served me breakfast, she whispered, "That guy downstairs has been waiting all morning."I kept my head down, quietly eating my breakfast without a word. Sylvia watched me for a moment and let out a soft sigh."If you don't want to see him, then don't. You've come all this way. You shouldn't have to keep putting yourself through more pain."My fingertips froze, my eyes stinging with sudden heat.In the past, everyone had always urged me to be sensible, to lower my head, and to keep from making a scene. Yet here was a total stranger, someone I'd known for only a few days, telling me it was okay to say no.At ten in the morning, I walked to the clinic to get my bandages changed.The local clinic was small, run by an American doctor named Lucas Carter. When he saw the wound on my wrist, his hands paused for half a second, though he didn't pry.He just asked softly, "Does it still hurt?"I shook my

Declan came looking for me again a week later.That day, when I stepped out of the clinic, I saw him standing under a streetlight holding a thick document envelope.He had lost a significant amount of weight, his eyes bloodshot and webbed with red veins. He looked like he hadn't slept in days."Harper."I came to a halt.He held the envelope out to me."I've signed the divorce papers. The house, the savings, the company shares—they're all yours."I didn't take it."I don't want them."A look of deep anguish flashed across Declan's eyes."This is what I owe you.""What you owe me isn't any of this."I looked straight at him, my voice level."Declan, what you owe me is a chance to be treated right. But those things are something you can never give back."His hand remained suspended in mid-air.After a long silence, he spoke in a low voice, "Emma and I are completely over."I lifted my eyes to look at him.He acted as if desperate to prove something."When she found out