He Traded My Trauma for Her Redemption

That feeling was like a lake deep enough to drown me—bottomless, silent, and still.

I took a deep breath and locked the door behind me before starting to pack my things.

From outside came a knock, followed by the sound of someone turning the doorknob—I’d almost forgotten Jayden had keys to every room in the house.

When he saw me packing, he didn’t look surprised. But his voice softened slightly.

“Cordelia, please listen to me.”

“Ivy said the wrong thing during a livestream and offended someone. The place she’s staying at isn’t safe now. She and I grew up together—I can’t just stand by and do nothing.”

“You’ve always been kind and understanding. Even if you can’t forgive her, surely you can understand me, can’t you?”

My eyes reddened.

“Jayden. Do you really think everything that happened back then can just be erased?”

He paused for a moment and lowered his head.

“I believe you were truly hurt by her…” he answered. “But I also believe she must’ve had her reasons.”

He looked at me then, trying to reason it all away. “You’re doing better than she is now. You’re my wife. You’ve already won.”

His expectant gaze lingered on me. “So please, don’t bring it up again, okay?”

The room fell into absolute silence.

I could hear the sound of my tears hitting the floor—and with it, I lost all will to talk to him.

Seeing me remain quiet as I continued to pack, he let out a sigh.

“I have to go to work now. I hope when I get back… you’ll still be here waiting for me.”

With that, he left the room.

I closed my eyes, sealing away my tears—and along with them, the question I’d been holding in my heart.

‘Jayden, what do you really see me as? A proper, dignified, legal wife—someone I should be grateful to become?’

There was a time when I found it hard to believe people like Jayden and Ivy could even be friends.

He was like a rainbow—how could someone like that grow up hand-in-hand with a girl who could dull someone’s peace?

Now I think I understand. They’re so close because there’s something the same in them.

Kindred spirits, connected at the soul.

I called a moving company.

I had everything that belonged to me packed up and taken away.

The noise must’ve been loud because it disturbed Ivy, who had been resting.

Not far off, she leaned against the second-floor railing, a sultry smile on her face, one hand holding a lit cigarette.

She looked nothing like she had the day before when she stood quietly by Jayden’s side.

“Giving up already?” She scoffed. “I haven’t even done anything yet.”

She was wearing a low-cut, high-slit camisole nightdress that made the movers steal glances at her again and again.

When I ignored her, she only grew more smug.

“I just said someone threatened me, and he got all worked up,” she remarked with a shrug.

A grin tugged at her lips. “I mean seriously, Cordelia, you’re so pathetic. I gave you that man for years, and you still couldn’t keep him? That’s honestly hilarious.”

She glanced at the movers collecting my things. Then, she rolled her eyes at me. “You think if you leave, Jayden’s heart will go with you?”

“Please,” she added with a laugh, her tone thick with contempt. “This is the best you can do.”

I looked at her coldly.

“If you’re so capable,” I retorted, “why didn’t Jayden marry you back then?”

Her smile twisted ever so slightly.

And I smiled too—I knew, deep down, Jayden would never marry her.

A woman with a criminal record and nothing but looks to her name?

Jayden was a rational, ambitious man. I knew that better than anyone.

He might throw himself into the fire for her—but make her his wife? Not in a million years.

I stopped paying attention to her. I watched as the movers loaded the last of my belongings onto the truck.

Just as I was about to leave, something heavy struck the back of my head.

A loud shattering followed—the sound of a vase hitting the floor.

A wave of buzzing and blinding pain overtook me. Stunned, I turned around.

There she was, standing upstairs.

A porcelain vase that had been placed in the hallway now lay in shards at my feet.

“Oh no, I’m so sorry, Cordelia!” Ivy exclaimed. “I didn’t mean to knock over the vase and hit you. You’re not mad, are you?”

“Oh my god!” She gasped. “You’re bleeding!”

She came down the stairs, lifting the hem of her dress, and stood in front of me, frowning with exaggerated concern.

“Oh right,” she drawled, “I forgot to ask earlier. Do the wounds still hurt? Do you still remember the smell of the toilet water in the girls’ restroom back in our second year of high school—”

My whole body trembled as I used all my strength to slap her across the face, the sound echoing.

She didn’t even flinch. Just a flash of triumph flickered in her eyes.

I couldn’t stop shaking—part of it was fear, the rest was fury.

In the end, the moving truck never left; Jayden came home.

The look in his eyes was full of disappointment.

Even the blood trickling from the back of my neck didn’t stir the slightest trace of sympathy from him.

“You’re being completely unreasonable, Cordelia!” he snapped.

“If you really want to leave, then go,” he continued flatly. “I won’t stop you anymore.”

My vision dimmed slightly.

“Jayden,” I said, “I want a divorce.”