After Ten Years of Marriage, I Decided to Give Up

My dad, Roger Hiddleston, suddenly fell seriously ill and was admitted to the ICU.

Before going in, he held my hand tightly and asked me to make things right with Daniel Moore.

I smiled and promised him, reassuring him.

Alone, I waited outside the ICU, making call after call to Daniel.

Finally, in the early hours of the morning, someone answered the phone, but it was Barbara Lane.

"Daniel's busy. His phone is with me. If you need anything, you can tell me," Barbara said.

I stayed silent for a moment before replying, "Just a divorce."

Unfortunately, Roger did not pull through.

He was transferred from the hospital to the funeral home, and I notified the relatives, his colleagues, friends, and students.

Arranging the funeral was not as difficult as I had imagined.

Each step had clear procedures and requirements.

I felt like a puppeteer, orchestrating everything alone.

The condolence messages and comforting words left me numb.

Those who knew Daniel all expressed their dissatisfaction with him.

He was my dad's most outstanding student and should have come to help.

Moreover, he was my husband and should have been there to handle the affairs.

But Daniel never showed up.

From the updates on his Instagram, it seemed he was still abroad attending academic conferences.

At the meeting, he appeared confident and, indeed, had every reason to be proud.

He was a young associate professor at a top university, leading several national funding projects.

I had messaged Daniel about Roger's passing and his ICU situation in no time, but there was no response whatsoever.

I consoled myself, thinking maybe Daniel's phone had poor reception overseas or perhaps he couldn't receive messages or texts due to the time difference.

However, I couldn't lie to myself anymore when I saw him liking and commenting on Barbara's Instagram posts.

Looking at Roger's picture hanging on the wall, I realized there would never be another person who would be kind to me without expecting anything in return.

In my youth, I fell for Daniel at first sight, silently admiring him for five years and pursuing him ardently for three years until we finally tied the knot.

Chasing after him became a habit.

When we got married three years ago, I thought that I had finally become the only woman in his heart.

On our wedding day, he said to me, "Thank you for silently being by my side."

I held onto those words.

So after we got married, just like before, I never troubled him. I simply stood by him silently.

Roger was a professor at Hensen University and also the vice dean of the college.

Daniel never wanted people to say he was networking, so I never appeared in front of his colleagues.

He was busy, so I waited for him at home every day, making sure he could come back to a meal and relax.

I knew Barbara had returned to the country, and I knew they were working on the same project.

But I trusted him because he promised to be good to me for a lifetime.

But long-term companionship could be exhausting.

I wasn't sure if I had the strength to continue chasing after him.

"Could you look over my divorce agreement for me?"

I handed the printed divorce agreement to my good friend, Bella Dent.

Bella was a lawyer. She had joked before that if I ever got divorced, she would help. Little did I know how true that would become.

This wasn't the first time I had seen this divorce agreement.

I had seen it in Daniel's study before.

We had argued about it for days.

He explained it was a colleague's divorce agreement that he was reviewing.

I made him promise never to show me a divorce agreement again.

I never thought that this time, it would be my own divorce agreement and that I would be seriously considering divorce.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure he leaves with nothing," Bella said confidently as she took the divorce agreement and left in a hurry.

Indeed, I had already lost his heart; I couldn't afford to lose my money as well.

After all, I couldn't afford to be reckless now that Roger was gone.