Chapter 2
Zoe confessed to Jake not long after enrolling in school. Jake didn’t agree, and Zoe thought it was because Mia was interfering. So she ganged up with several classmates to bully Mia.
At first, Jake always protected Mia. Until the first semester of senior year, Zoe firmly insisted that Mia had drugged her water bottle and stolen her spot in the math competition.
That time, Jake didn’t stand on Mia’s side.
In their senior year of college, Mia refused the Sanders family’s connections and wanted to become a pilot on her own merits.
There was only one spot for female pilots to go for special training in Australia. Mia and Zoe fought tooth and nail for it. But during a break, Zoe fell down the stairs and fractured her right hand.
Zoe insisted that Mia had pushed her. It was a blind spot for the security cameras. Even though Mia firmly maintained that she hadn’t touched Zoe, no one believed her.
Jake didn’t believe her either.
Later, before Richard Sanders passed away, he arranged the marriage between Jake and Mia. Jake wasn’t happy about it, which made Mia feel he didn’t want to marry her. Jake’s mother was even more unwilling, which led to her later making a private marriage contract with Mia.
……
Watching Jake’s car gradually disappear into the distance, the memories also slowly faded from Mia’s mind. Now Mia and Jake were more like strangers than strangers.
“Hello, what’s the matter so late?” Mia called her mother-in-law Evelyn Sanders.
“Mom, I’ll take care of the divorce as soon as possible.” There was silence on the other end for a few seconds before Mia heard Evelyn reply with a faint “Okay.”
A month ago, Evelyn had already called Mia, urging her to initiate divorce proceedings with Jake. “When you first married Jake, we agreed that if you didn’t conceive an heir for the Sanders family within three years, you would initiate divorce after the three-year contract marriage ended. Mia, the Sanders family has raised you for over a decade, what exactly are you delaying for?”
Evelyn’s words had always been like knives stabbing into Mia’s chest.
But Mia could never bring herself to speak up, until Zoe’s return to the country.
Mia slowly began, “Mom…”
The moment she called out “Mom”, Mia choked up. She suddenly felt very tired. She crouched down and took a deep breath. “Mom… I remember all the kindness the Sanders family has shown me over the years. I will… try my best to repay it…” After saying this, Mia hung up the phone and buried her entire head in the crook of her arm.
It started snowing again. Mia crouched on the ground for a long time, letting the snowflakes soak her body until she was shivering from the cold before standing up to call a cab. Of course, it was difficult to get a cab in the snow. Mia waited half an hour but no driver was willing to accept the ride.
She slowly walked back to the villa alone. It was already 11 PM when she got home. Mia turned on her computer and typed out a divorce agreement word by word.
The past decade or so flashed before her eyes - from losing both parents to moving into the Sanders home; from being carefully protected by Jake to Zoe appearing in their lives; from marrying Jake to the two of them becoming completely estranged. Mia was exhausted.
Mia, what are you still hoping for? You should have woken up long ago. All of this should have ended long ago.