Chapter 3

Outside, thunder rumbled, and soon heavy rain began to fall. This downpour was as heavy as the rain on the night Roger knelt outside his family home. The sky darkened considerably, the sound of car horns piercing the air. People came and went near the hospital, many looking in our direction. Roger pulled me aside, speaking low. "The rain's too heavy. Let's talk in the car. Be good, standing here you'll catch a cold. It's gotten very cold lately." Roger's tone sounded gentle, but the hand gripping my arm was forceful. If I didn't get in the car with him today, he wouldn't let me leave. I slowly exhaled. "Let's go back. The divorce papers are on the coffee table." Roger's face stiffened, pain in his eyes. "Are you so eager to separate? What good will it do you? Haven't I given enough for you all these years? For you, I was thrown out by my parents, groveled like a dog to others just to get investments." "Did I make you grovel? Or did I force you to marry me?" He was the one who pursued me, he was the one who confessed, he was even the one who proposed in the end. I suddenly felt exhausted. I opened the car door and got in. "Drive. After you drop me off, you still need to go back to accompany your mistress for her checkup." Roger drove in silence. We didn't speak the whole way. He held an umbrella for me. Before I entered the house, he asked me. "Nora, do we have to come to divorce?" "Otherwise? Wait until Harper's child is born and we all sit happily around a table for a meal?" I looked at the drizzling rain outside the umbrella, my voice calm. "It will soon be my father's death anniversary. I don't want to take you to my parents' graves anymore. Let's part amicably." "Give me a few days to think. Divorce is a big deal, I can't just..." "Whatever. But I'm determined to get this divorce." For the next few days, I didn't see Roger at all. I had collected all my evidence and stopped deliberately seeking information about Roger's life. I had even booked a ticket to the North City, planning to leave as soon as the divorce papers were signed. My parents were in the North City. After they passed, they were buried there. But just the day after I booked the ticket, something unexpected happened. Roger's mother had actually acknowledged the unborn child in Harper's belly. So, Roger keeping a mistress outside was something she had condoned. When I got the lawyer's call and rushed over, I heard Harper's sharp voice just as I arrived. I gripped the door handle, hesitated for a moment, and then opened my phone to record. "I disagree with the property division. Nora didn't work after marriage, didn't bear a single child. I'm carrying a son! Why should half of the Caspar family assets be given to her?" "Besides, the Caspar family never accepted Nora. The child in my belly is the true Caspar bloodline." "Roger, you'd better think carefully. The world doesn't offer so many good things. You can't have it all." "You want the Moore family's shares to help you secure your footing in the Caspar family? Then divorce Nora White now, and make sure she doesn't get a single cent!" Actually, Roger and I had once had a child. Back then, his career was on the rise. He was extremely busy, often coming home around two or three in the morning, reeking of alcohol. Feeling sorry for him working so hard, doing all the socializing while I couldn't help, I went to all the prenatal checkups alone. In the third month of my pregnancy, I was hit by a car. The driver later admitted fault and apologized, but I lost the baby. I grieved for a whole year, blaming myself for trying to cross at the last few seconds of the green light that day. Roger comforted me every day, saying we would have another child later. That this unborn child would become the next one, reappearing in my womb.