Novel & Cerita Love Found Me After Divorce

“Emily seems close to your family.” He looked up from his cup. “She is.” “She’s a family friend,” he said. “Our parents have known each other for years.” “Were you always close?” “No.” He shook his head slightly. “Not really.” I looked up at that. “I actually only started seeing her again… about a month after the divorce.” The word landed between us. Divorce. I kept my expression neutral. “Oh.” “She came back from abroad around that time,” he continued. “Our families reconnected. Dinners. Events. The usual.”

I looked at him and asked slowly, "You paid off all your debts a long time ago, didn't you? You want to break up with me, don't you?" He hesitated, eyes darting away, like the words were hard to say. I let out a soft laugh and said it for him. "I know you do. I saw your post." As if a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders, he let out a long breath. "Yes. I want to break up." He looked at me with a mix of relief and cruelty. "Amanda, every day I spend with you is torture." Torture. Twenty-two-year-old Keith had once looked at me with love filling his eyes and said, "Amanda, every day with you is wonderful."

Chuck's reputation hit rock bottom. As for me, I traveled to Glacier Island right after our divorce was finalized. I drove alone in the snowy land as I pursued the northern lights. The bright lights danced in the night sky, but I felt neither excitement nor relief. All I felt was calmness, much like a lake covered in ice. Nothing caused a ripple in me. This revenge exhausted all of my energy. I had won, but I also felt like I had lost. I had wasted ten years of my youth and love.

Not only that, I stopped smoking. What happened between Luna and I made me realize how important self-love was. Hence, from the moment the divorce was finalized, I decided to truly love myself. Sometimes, I would still think of Luna and the past. However, I no longer felt my heart aching, and I no longer struggled against it. I only felt a faint sense of acceptance. I also heard from my friends that after Luna married Julian, she also left the research center. It turned out that their marriage life was not as happy as they had imagined.

"Nolan, you've had your fun. Now come home! "I tore up the divorce papers. Let's just pretend this never happened. "How dare you hang up on me! You're getting bold, aren't you?" The last text, sent 30 minutes ago, read. "If you don't come back right now, don't ever come back!" I immediately blocked her. I found a small apartment to rent. Once I was done cleaning it up, I started job hunting. After we got married, Maeve had insisted I quit my job to be a stay-at-home husband and a supporting actor in her pointless role-playing games.

"Just give me one more chance. One more chance to prove I can be the man you deserve." "There is no us, Julian. The divorce was just finalized. It's over." "It doesn't have to be! We can start fresh. I'm not the same person I was. My mother's gone, the money's gone, all the pressure and expectations—it's all gone. I can be who you need me to be now." "I don't need you to be anyone." Lia's voice was firm. "I need you to accept that we're done and move on." "I can't." Tears spilled down his face. "Don't you understand? I can't just stop loving you because a judge signed a paper. I can't erase five years of my life. You were my wife—"

I pick up my phone and call him, and I get his voicemail again. “Hi, I guess by this point I should just learn my lesson and move on. You got what you wanted from me and I guess that was enough for you. You didn’t have to make me fall in love with you, though. Goodbye, Jace. I will always love you I think, I hope you find everything you’ve been searching for and more.” I end the call and decide to call my dad. It rings once before he picks up. “Hi baby girl, how’s the other side of the pond treating you? How’s that new boyfriend of yours?” He asks with a laugh. But I can’t bring myself to even smile.

The next day, we brought the necessary documents to the court. The room was quite crowded. I was as excited as I was on the day I registered my marriage. Back then, I was ecstatic because I was getting married for the first time. Now, I felt thrilled because I was finally going to be free. Once our documents were processed and the divorce was finalized, I let out a sigh of relief. "Goodbye, Willow Lockwood. Let's never contact each other ever again." Before she could say anything, I walked off and left her behind.

I could feel every eye in the gallery on my back, and I made myself breathe once, slowly, before I began. “Your Honor,” I said, my voice shaking at first, then steadying as I kept going. “I am not afraid of Dominic Hartley. I was married to him for four years. I filed for divorce. I built a life without him afterward, a real one, with a job I earned and an apartment I chose and friends who watched me do it.” I turned slightly, just enough to look at Reyes without fully facing him. He kept his eyes fixed on the table in front of him, jaw tight.

I had loved him for 11 years, and I was too unwilling to let go. Nonetheless, I was not planning on loving him anymore. I wanted to love myself instead. Getting divorced over a bracelet probably sounded ridiculous to anyone who heard it. However, this was simply the final straw.