In The Summer, Where Cicadas Buzz

When we arrived at the courthouse, I didn’t expect to see Millie.

“Ms. Ellis, thank you for letting go,” she said.

I didn’t respond. I simply turned to look at Ethan instead.

Over the past three years, rumors about him and Millie had circulated nonstop, but none of it had ever been shoved in my face. Now that we were getting divorced, there was no way he would be so tasteless as to bring her here himself.

“Who told you to come? Why are you here?” As expected, Ethan lowered his voice and questioned her sharply.

Millie instinctively shrank back, but boldness had always been her nature. Almost immediately, she laughed again and teased him like nothing was wrong.

“If I didn’t come, how would you find your next option?”

His expression darkened even further the moment she said that.

People around us began to look over with open disdain. I couldn’t help but wonder how someone already in their thirties could be this careless and ignorant. Did she not know that there was a mandatory cooling-off period for the divorce?

The crowd kept growing. I had no interest in being put on display like a spectacle, so I turned and walked away first. Millie was Ethan’s responsibility, not mine.

In the past, no matter how much she dragged him into rebellion and chaos, she had never come directly to provoke me. Likewise, I had never gone looking for her. Today, though, she probably felt she was close to achieving her goal and couldn’t hold herself back anymore.

While waiting in line, my thoughts drifted.

James hadn’t been wrong. When Ethan was with me, he had always been composed and mature, never letting his emotions spill out so openly as he had just now. Even in the confession video I saw yesterday, he had remained restrained and reserved.

By the time I walked out of the courthouse, Millie was already gone.

Ethan explained awkwardly, “I didn’t tell her to come.”

I didn’t say anything. I simply nodded to show that I understood.

“Ethan,” I said, “see you in a month.”

This time, I was the one who said goodbye first and left in front of him.

I moved back into my own apartment. Everything had been packed up the night before. A same-city courier had delivered all my belongings earlier that day.

After marrying Ethan, my mother had been terrified that I’d be looked down on because of the gap between our families. So, she drained her savings to buy me a place of my own.

After putting everything away, exhaustion finally caught up with me, and I lay on the couch to rest. Without realizing it, I fell asleep. In my dream, I relived the first time I ever met Ethan.

My father had died when I was young. Timid and fearful, I lived like an invisible person at school. Thick bangs that covered half my face, glasses that hid my eyes, and dull clothing were my shields.

Then, in my freshman year of high school, a basketball flew out of nowhere and hit me on the head. I was stunned, sitting on the ground, unable to get up.

A boy’s clear, gentle voice sounded beside my ear.

“Hey, are you okay?” He helped me up and smiled as he spoke. “You have beautiful eyes.”

Meeting his concerned gaze, I came back to my senses, snatched up my shattered glasses, and fled in panic. However, that day, the sound of cicadas buzzing in the trees beside the school field lingered in my ears for a very, very long time.