Chapter 2

That night, after finishing all the funeral matters, I went home.

I found that Jason still hadn’t returned, and his phone still wouldn’t connect.

The empty house carried a quiet chill, devoid of any trace of warmth.

I didn’t know where Jason was at that moment.

He hadn’t told me, either.

I remembered that right after we got married, Jason reported his whereabouts like any ordinary couple in love—his “boy-ethics” were textbook perfect.

Even though his hospital work kept him busy,

He still never tired of it; he would even text me right after an overnight surgery to check on me.

But it seemed everything changed after Ava returned to the country.

Ava had also studied medicine abroad. This time she came back because both her parents had died; she had no choice but to return and build her life here.

And Jason was her only contact in our city.

Just like that, she slipped naturally into Jason’s hospital.

From the moment Ava joined Jason’s hospital, the two of them began going in and out together every day—

From attending surgical conferences side by side to eating together in the hospital cafeteria.

Jason shifted from texting me whenever he had a spare moment to spending every spare moment stuck to Ava.

I had questioned him because of the change.

But he only looked at me calmly, his tone offering a small dose of comfort:

“Ava and I are childhood friends. Her parents died; she came back alone. She just joined our hospital—I’m her senior, of course I should look out for her.”

That explanation couldn’t smooth me at all.

In the end, he fed me a few sweet words and bought me a couple of small gifts.

Only then did I choose to believe him and forgive him.

When we got married, he cried as he said he would be good to me and love me all his life, and he bowed his head to my father to swear it.

That gesture moved the guests to tears.

I remember it vividly to this day.

But ever since Ava returned, everything changed.

He gradually stopped addressing my spiraling fears.

What began as me waiting again and again for his explanations turned into disappointment now.

This disappointment was also the result of him choosing Ava over me, time after time.

At this point, I think that disappointment is enough to support ending this relationship.

I picked up my phone and called a relative who’s an attorney.

“Grace, why are you talking about divorce right after your father passed?”

Her concerned voice came through the line.

My throat tightened; for a moment I didn’t know how to reply.

“I’m a little tired.”

She heard the evasiveness in my tone and seemed to understand.

But she couldn’t ask more.

In the end she only raised her voice a little to offer the standard advice:

“What matters most is that you two can live well together. If it’s nothing that violates core principles, think carefully before divorcing.”

I understood her advice.

To our relatives and friends, Jason is the perfect husband—

Not only a “good-career” doctor in parents’ eyes, but also my father’s attending physician.

And when we got married, the way he bowed to my father and vowed to love me for a lifetime was nothing short of grand.

But only I know that the grandeur of that moment has vanished without a trace.

One-sided companionship wears a person down to exhaustion.

I don’t want to be the one doing the chasing anymore.

If being together leaves us both physically and mentally exhausted, I’d rather be alone and unburdened.

I understood that from the moment I couldn’t reach him by phone.

“I’ve made up my mind. I want a divorce.”

Dad is gone—the person who loved me most has left.

I think…it’s time I became my own support and stopped relying on anyone.