From his point of view, him taking the initiative by voluntarily explaining that he never intended to go back to Mariah was the equivalent of begging her to stay by. He couldn’t find any fault in himself.‘But no, she just had to be greedy. She just had to ask if I love her or not! How could I not be angry?’‘Fine, then. If that’s how she wants to play it, I won’t let her off easy either.’ He dialed a number and gave out some orders. “Contact her lawyer for me. Tell them that I’d be coming by tomorrow.”‘Let’s see how she’s going to take me to court when she doesn’t even have a lawyer to begin with.’Ditching her old car, Silvia called a cab back to Rosaline’s place.Rosaline had previously allowed her to stay at her place temporarily. Her apartment was a small unit containing two bedrooms, which was just enough for the two of them. It used to be her and her ex-husband’s property, and Silvia was the one who helped Rosaline hire a lawyer to fight for the ownership of this place.
Ryan seemed disgusted as he tugged on her shirt gently, chuckling. “Let me give you some advice while we’re at it. Not just any man out there can provide the life I gave you!”Silvia found his expression extremely distasteful. He was basically telling her she couldn’t survive in this world without him. He suggested that it was best to stop her ‘tantrum’ and to stay in her lane; to stay as Mrs. Pierce.His arrogance and false sense of superiority definitely stemmed from her obsession with him in the past. However, seeing and hearing all of this now just made her so furious that she began trembling; she even felt her vision blurring out for a second.‘Does he think I’m that useless?’‘I was a valedictorian back in university! I graduated with first honors as a Chinese Mandarin major! And I had been quite active in other school activities as the head of the art department within the student council!’‘If I hadn’t married him, I would’ve been a bright young white-collar woman by now!
“Nope, just these! I don’t feel cold, though. I swear!” In face of her mother’s questioning, Autumn insisted on saying she wasn’t cold. Just then, a gust of wind breezed through, causing her to wrap her chubby arms around herself. She quickly lowered her head out of guilt from lying.Autumn then admitted that she wanted to wear this outfit for quite some time, but her mother had always made her wear that coat with every outfit she wore. She thought the coat was ugly, so she just wore whatever she wanted when her mother wasn’t home.Silvia was fuming. She lectured Ryan as soon as he was near. “Pierce, would it kill you to give Autumn an extra coat during cold weather?!”Ryan, however, was already in a bad mood. The sudden scolding irked him even more, and he snapped, “She wanted to wear this, so what does that have to do with me? How could she not know if she’s cold or not?”Silvia was so angry that tears formed in her eyes. “She’s three years old, for pity’s sake! How could she e
Autumn blinked her big doe eyes, not thinking much as she said, “Mama said she’s not going home anymore. My classmate Jamie told us his parents don’t live together, and he said it’s because they’re divorced.”Silvia didn’t know if she should feel sad after hearing this from her daughter.The divorce rate had been increasing rapidly throughout the years, so much so that little children are used to the topic at this point. They might not understand the concept of divorce, but somehow, the word had already been added into the dictionary in their minds.Ryan, however, was narrowing his eyes. It was clear he was shocked by his daughter’s unexpected explanation as well, as she shouldn’t have had to learn something like this at such an early age.The two adults couldn’t bring themselves to say anything when faced with their naive daughter’s words. Before they could come up with an appropriate answer, the little girl spoke up once more. “I know you’ll ask me who I’d choose to stay with,
For some inexplicable reason, Ryan felt a dull ache in his heart as he watched Silvia carrying her daughter away from the rearview mirror.He felt especially suffocated as he watched Autumn putting her head against Silvia's shoulder, while repeatedly looking back at his car with a sad, disappointed gaze. She looked exceedingly lonely, yet was considerate enough to not throw a tantrum over her current plight.Not long after Silvia left with her daughter, she heard Ryan's phone chiming from behind once more. She was absolutely sure that it was the mistress urging him to see her right away.Her instinct told her that Mariah knew about Ryan's plans on picking up their daughter, as well as the fact that they would bump into each other. Hence, the mistress had likely thought of an excuse to have him leave.'I think Sommers was crying during the call. Hah! I cried in front of him earlier too, but it was nothing to him. Rather, her tears are his kryptonite.''We can all see who he priorit
After her call with her parents, Silvia received a notification that five thousand dollars had been transferred into her bank account. It was from her mother. Right after that, she received a text.[Use this money for the divorce proceedings. It's best not to use Ryan’s money anymore, especially when you've already made your final decision.]Clutching to her phone as she stared at her mother's message, Silvia bit her lips as tears silently fell down her cheeks.Her parents’ enthusiasm regarding her divorce showed that they had long recognized the problems within her marriage. Yet, Silvia was still foolishly trying to stay with Ryan.When Rosaline returned, Silvia informed the former that she needed to go back to Ryan's place to pack some things. Being a good friend, Rosaline happily agreed to look after Autumn while Silvia was away.Before heading out, Silvia checked on her daughter, only to realize that Autumn’s cheeks were flushed and that her body was burning up quickly. Realiz
Her lawyer sounded quite apologetic as he said, "I'm so sorry, Mrs. Pierce. I've been way too busy with work lately, and I have to go on a business trip soon. I don't think I can take on your divorce case with Mr. Pierce. Please hire someone else instead."Hearing him call her Mrs. Pierce made Silvia wince in disgust. She wondered to herself, 'He clearly knows I'm going to divorce with Pierce. What does he even mean by calling me that?''He had always referred to me as Miss Alberich when he contacted me in the past.'Silvia was never one to nitpick on someone else's behavior, so she didn't express her discomfort about it. Instead, she tried to persuade the lawyer in hopes he would change his mind, as it would be too tedious to change lawyers at this point."Mr. Smith-"Before she could say anything further, the lawyer quickly hung up after apologizing once more. This confused Silvia somewhat, and it killed her drowsiness completely.Mr. Smith was actually the lawyer Silvia hire
"You've been living together for five years. You even have a daughter together. So tell me, have you fallen in love with Silvia?"Hearing this made Ryan freeze up for a brief moment. He turned away, avoiding his mother's question. "Mom, we're talking about you and Dad…"He thought to himself, ‘Does it really matter if I love her or not? I never intended to end the relationship after we got married, anyway.’Ophelia continued to stare at her son for a few seconds, then sighed. "Ryan, I don't know why Silvia made the decision to file for a divorce. But I want to say…you should just let her go if you don't love her."Ryan didn't expect his mother to encourage his own divorce. Yet he could understand his mother's intentions, as she too was a victim of a loveless marriage. It was natural for her to stand by Silvia's decision.Ophelia continued as she smiled softly, "She's still young, so just let go of her. Let her find her own happiness. Don't hold her back…and don't hold yourself bac