Chapter 5
Liam, who had come out to get water for Chloe, spotted me and called out. “Aurora Hayes!”
I instinctively stopped. He walked towards me, holding the kettle, and started to speak but then noticed my hands, wrapped in bandages. He frowned, a rare flicker of concern in his eyes.
“Aurora, what happened to your hands?”
He reached out to touch them, but I instinctively pulled away. “It’s nothing. You should go back and care for your little darling in the hospital room, Liam.”
Hearing my deliberately distant tone, his outstretched hand froze in the air, and a rare hint of disappointment crossed his features.
“Aurora, stop playing games, okay? Chloe is pregnant and her emotions are unstable right now. As her sister-in-law, you should be more generous.”
“Didn’t you always want to travel? After the baby is born, we can go together, okay?”
Watching his self-righteous demeanor, I couldn’t help but smile bitterly. In the past, whatever I did or said, he would agree without question. But ever since Chloe joined the company, he’d stood me up countless times. His promises, I no longer dared to hope for. As he spoke, his fingers were still busy replying to Chloe’s messages.
I clenched my fists and looked up, meeting his cold eyes. “Liam Hayes, let’s get a divorce.”
He was still engrossed in his chat with Chloe. When he finally registered my words, he froze. He lifted his eyelids, looking at me. “Aurora, what did you just say?”
I repeated myself, word for word, enunciating even more clearly than before. “I said, Liam Hayes, let’s get a divorce.”
Upon hearing this, he slammed the kettle to the ground. He paced wildly like a madman, hands on his hips, his bloodshot eyes fixed on me.
“Aurora, do you even know what you’re saying?”
“You’re overdoing this hard-to-get act, aren’t you? So what if Chloe got pregnant? Why are you sulking so much?”
“You always said you loved me, but now, when our love is truly tested, you’re backing down? Do you think I’d still be a man if I let Chloe go and terminate the pregnancy? Do you want Chloe to end up like you, unable to bear children?”
…He practically tore his throat screaming. Passing patients stopped to watch the spectacle of his madness.
So, in his eyes, I had always been useless, a woman who couldn’t bear children. I bit my lip, trying my best to keep the salty tears from falling. My throat aching, I looked at him.
“I’m not making her get rid of the baby, Liam. Listen carefully: this time, I’m leaving you.”
A message popped up on my phone from Julian: “I’m in the parking lot. Come over.”
I turned to leave, Liam’s furious voice echoing behind me. He ripped his throat screaming, “Aurora Hayes, go! If you leave, don’t ever come back!”
“Divorce then, divorce! See how everyone will mock you, how you’ll become an abandoned woman everyone can whisper about behind your back in our social circle.”
“Don’t come crying back to me for charity later.”
No, Liam. From the moment you hurt me again and again for Chloe, I should have known I needed to leave.
The hospital layout was unfamiliar, and I searched for a while but couldn’t find the parking lot Julian mentioned. Just as I spotted a parking sign and started walking towards it, a large hand suddenly grabbed me. A furious face appeared before me.