Ex-wife, I Don’t Need Your Charity for Love!

I shot Rosalie a mocking look. "Fine, let's get a divorce then."

She was caught off guard, clearly not expecting me to agree. Regaining her composure, she retorted, "You want a divorce? Dream on."

Standing tall with an air of arrogance, she declared, "I'm not divorcing you. The only way this ends is with me dumping you."

I chuckled bitterly, wondering why we were even still doing this if the love was gone.

"Why?" I asked.

She handed me a glass of water. "You need to rest."

Then she turned and walked away.

"Rosalie, can we just let each other go?" I called out.

The only answer was the door slamming shut. I felt utterly pathetic.

My thoughts were a chaotic mess, overwhelming me.

Rosalie and I had been in a standoff for days. She hadn't been out with Shawn lately.

Whenever I worked, she sat nearby. Whenever I watched TV, she'd bring over some fruit.

She even moved back into our bedroom from the guest room.

It all looked like she was trying to make amends, but I knew we were past the point of no return.

No matter what she did, it couldn't mask the fact that she didn't love me anymore.

"Don't you get tired?" I asked.

"I'm just peeling some fruit, nothing tiring about that," she answered, pretending not to understand, as she kept peeling the apple.

Sure, one couldn't wake a person who was pretending to be asleep.

Rosalie tried to feed me a slice of apple, but for the first time, I didn't take it. "This apple is just like people. It looks great on the outside, but without its skin, it quickly turns dark and rotten."

She stared at my face, a flash of anger in her eyes, before tossing the apple slices into the trash.

"Grandma says she misses us. She wants us to come over for dinner tonight," she mentioned.

I grunted in acknowledgment, got up, and headed upstairs.

I knew if Rosalie didn't need me to join her at the Griffin residence today, she wouldn't have bothered being nice to me.

Half an hour later, Rosalie and I got to the Griffin residence.

She grabbed my arm as we walked in. I shivered the moment she touched me.

"Do I really make you that sick?" she asked.

I glanced at her. Her eyes misted up, tears pooling.

"No, it's just chilly," I replied, tightening my coat around me.

Regardless of our rocky marriage, we had to appear madly in love at the Griffin residence.

Right as we walked in, I spotted a familiar figure. It was Shawn.

I turned to Rosalie, mouth open to confront her.

She read my look instantly. "I didn't invite him."

Surprisingly, she kept a tight hold on my arm.

Shawn looked grim and quipped, "You seem to really like each other."

He was really making my skin crawl.

"Rosalie, Colton, come here. Let me see you," Catherine Griffin, Rosalie's grandmother, called out.

Rosalie quickly went over to Catherine.

Besides Catherine, I felt like no one else here really cared for me.

Passing Shawn, he hissed in my ear, "You sure play the part of the freeloader son-in-law perfectly. Not only living off others but also charming them."

I'd heard "freeloader" often enough, but hearing it from him still pissed me off.

"Watch yourself," I muttered, forcing my clenched fists to relax. If I got mad, that meant he won.

"Oh, Colton, you've lost quite a bit of weight," Catherine observed with concern, her elegant makeup unable to hide the marks of time. She took Rosalie's and my hands, smiling kindly.

Catherine made small talk with us, half paying attention.

Catching her eye, she leaned in and whispered, "Ignore Shawn. He's just jealous of what you have."

Then, Catherine gently patted my hand, comforting me.

My eyes landed on Rosalie. She was half-heartedly scrolling through her phone, sneaking peeks at Shawn.

"Grandma, I'm going upstairs to see Dad," Rosalie said, leaving under my watchful gaze.

I bent over to help Catherine with the coffee. By the time I looked up, Shawn had vanished.

I frowned slightly. Catherine, noticing my distraction, suggested I head upstairs to rest.

But just as I got to the top of the stairs, I caught Shawn and Rosalie chatting in a room with the door slightly open.

Rosalie was smiling in a way I had never seen. Or maybe I had, but it had been so long that I'd forgotten.

She gently patted Shawn's shoulder in a comforting gesture that seemed to say, "I'm here for you."

Before we were married, she often comforted me with that same gesture, knowing how tough my days were in the Griffin family.

Shawn gazed at Rosalie with deep affection. In a flash, they kissed passionately, completely lost in each other.

"If I hadn't gone abroad, would you have ended up marrying me?" Shawn asked.

Rosalie climbed onto his lap and answered, "Yes."

My hand clenched around the doorknob, veins bulging. It hit me. I'd been the fool all along.

Rage bubbled up inside me again.

I burst through the door. "What the hell are you doing?"

Rosalie went pale, looking guilty.