Chapter 122
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Back in the city, the divorce proceedings moved at lightning speed. Ethan didn’t dare see me again.
He delegated full authority to his lawyer, lowering his stance to the dust. House, money, cars, shares. He offered sky-high compensation, as if trying to buy back a sliver of peace of mind with money, or perhaps trying to buy back the Summer who once had eyes only for him.
Unfortunately, that Summer was already dead. I accepted it all without any pretentious refusal. This was what I was owed. Three years of my life, hollowed out. A price, however inadequate, for my father life that
couldn’t be returned.
The day after receiving the property deed, I listed the mansion that held three years of nightmares on a second-hand platform, along with all the furniture inside, everything Ethan had given, hadn’t given, everything Sophie had used. Sold it all.
That pink diamond ring fetched a good price. That yellowing white T-shirt, I cut into pieces, used it as a rag to wipe the floor one last time, then threw it in the trash.
Ethan’s assistant delivered the final check.
Through the car window, I saw Ethan sitting in the back seat. In just one month, he’d become gaunt, half his hair grey, withered like a ghost.
He looked at me, his lips moving slightly as if wanting to say something. But in the end, he said nothing. The
car drove away.
I took the check, flicked it against the setting sun. “It’s settled, then. I’ll make sure this goes where it should, Dad. No more waiting on someone else’s signature p>
Just as I was about to start my new life, news broke of a major scandal.
After being released on bail, Sophie had a mental breakdown. She couldn’t handle falling from the clouds into the mud.
She sneaked into the not-yet-sold mansion and set a fire. The blaze reddened half the sky. Reportedly, Ethan’ happened to return to retrieve something, to rescue an old photo album. He rushed into the inferno and was severely burned.
That photo album was actually trash I didn’t want, containing the only few photos of us from university. I’d left it gathering dust in the storage room long ago.
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And to think he clung to that album like a lifeline. The irony was almost too perfect. He never valued the person standing in front of him, but now that I was gone, he held onto shadows. That kind of love isn’t love,
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it’s just regret dressed up as devotion, and it’s worth less than dirt.
I went to the hospital to see Ethan exactly once. It wasn’t out of sympathy. Professor Sterling had said some things need a clear ending, a final look, a quiet closure before you can truly walk away.
Outside the ICU glass, Ethan was wrapped in bandages head to toe, like a mummy. Only one eye was visible between the bandages. When he saw me, it fixed on my face, bright, almost startlingly alive, swimming with a naked, pleading wetness. He was begging for my forgiveness, begging me to go in and see him, begging
me for a chance.
A nurse came out and said, “He’s asking for you. He’s had all his assets transferred to your name. All he
wants is to hear you say something… anything p>
I shook my head. “There’s no need. The transfer is enough. Tell him to focus on getting better, he’ll need the time. Years, preferably. Enough to learn what regret really means p>
With that, I turned and left without the slightest hesitation.
At the end of the corridor, sunlight was blinding. Professor Sterling and my research team colleagues were
waiting for me.
*Dr. Langford, welcome back to the team! The new project is approved! A national key project! This time
we’re going to Antarctica. You up for it p>
I smiled, a bright, free smile. “Why wouldn’t I be? Let’s go p>
I walked out without looking back, leaving behind the sterile scent of antiseptic, the man wrapped in
bandages, and the gilded, suffocating years that had already begun to decay in my memory.
In that moment, the version of me who had been Ethan’s wife finally dissolved. What remained was Summer
Langford, the scientist.
The path ahead was open, unwritten, bright. Whatever smoldered in the ruins behind me was no longer my
business.
– The End –
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Chefe amaldiçoado, fique longe de mim!
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