Chapter 1 Chapter 1 Pregnant

"Congratulations, you're four weeks pregnant." My period was one week late, so I decided to have a checkup, only to be told I was pregnant. This baby was very much an accident. I got out of the consultation room and stood quietly in the corridor, my hand on my belly. I was spacing out, wondering if I should keep it. I had always been frail. If I aborted the baby, I might never get pregnant again. Then, a commotion broke out in the crowd. "Whoa, that's Melissa and her boyfriend! They're the perfect match, aren't they?""He's always there for every prenatal checkup. They're so in love.""Their baby will be gorgeous. I mean, look at the parents!" Without thinking, I looked at the crowd and saw Melissa Lichten and Lawrence Nielsen. Melissa went everywhere with her alleged boyfriend for nearly seven years, and everyone thought they were a couple. We had gone out for dinner on Valentine's Day, all three of us. Some paparazzi found us and took a lot of pictures. The netizens cursed me, calling me a homewrecker. Of course, they had no idea I was Lawrence's wife. I didn't want to stay around, or I'd be humiliated. Melissa, however, called out to me, "Melissa? Why are you here? Are you following me and Lawrence?" Man, this was unbelievable. I had wrapped myself up so tightly, but she still recognized me. Not even the paparazzi had noticed me. Before I could answer, Lawrence frowned. He had determined I was stalking them. "You'd better not do this again." The crowd looked at me weirdly, obviously thinking I was a stalker and homewrecker. This wasn't my first time running into something like this, but I still felt like crying. Lawrence didn't even try to get me out of this mess. He led Melissa into the blood collection room. Of course, he wasn't going to tell everyone I was his wife, not when his true love would be lambasted if that were to happen. It was funny that I was even considering keeping the baby. A man like Lawrence had no good genes to pass down anyway, not when he was a cold, unfeeling man. His child could be every bit as uncaring as his father, and who would take the brunt of it? Me. I registered for the abortion that very day. On my way home, I called my lawyer. "Draft up the divorce papers and send them to me as soon as possible.""But we haven't collected enough evidence of Mr. Nielsen's infidelity. If we can get the results of Melissa's amniocentesis and prove that her child is Mr. Nielsen's, you can get more of his money." It was a shame, but I didn't want to wait anymore. "I'm fine with just half." This marriage was only intact because I endured every single humiliation thrown at me. Even one more day was torture for me. I'd rather give up some money in exchange for freedom. I was unwell, so I went home to rest, but not too long after that, Lawrence came back. He was always cool and calm, no matter what he did. Sometimes, it felt like nothing could stir him, but he came back running this time, and his eyes were bloodshot. He gripped my hand. "I saw the trending topic." His grip was iron, and pain shot up my arm. I pulled my hand away. "And?" I didn't check the trending search. After all, I bet Melissa's PR team bought all the top spots just to show off how much Lawrence loved her. Either that, or the articles would be calling me an idiot who was simping for Lawrence. Not like it was the first time, anyway. Her fans had also called me a homewrecker before. Lawrence, however, seemed more agitated than ever. Through clenched teeth, he said, "The news said you had an abortion?"

Chapter 2 Chapter 2 Confrontation

Oh, so we were talking about two different things. Still, I had no idea why he was so mad. "Yep." Lawrence wanted to blow up, but he held his anger back. "I know you're annoyed about the award ceremony, but you shouldn't have taken it out on the baby." Well, now I was annoyed. I had been an actress for eight years and was nominated for best actress five times. Just when the committee had agreed that I would win the award this year, Lawrence stole it and gave it to Melissa instead. Her fans called me a clown, and the netizens said I would always be number two. "I'm not annoyed or anything. We're getting divorced anyway, and I see no point in keeping the baby. My lawyer's drafting up the papers. You'll get them tomorrow. Please sign them then." Lawrence never had much patience with me, and now it had run out. "It's just a Best Actress award. You're overreacting. If you want it, I can give it to you next year. We'll talk after you've calmed down." Even when I had aborted the baby and was planning on a divorce, he still didn't apologize. He grabbed his car keys and left. As usual, no matter how much unfairness I suffered, he would toss me aside and let me lick my wounds alone. After all, I would scramble back to his side and ask for reconciliation. Not this time, though. My parents died when I was a kid, and I had no one but my sister. Eventually, my sister's kidneys started malfunctioning. Lawrence's mother paid for her surgery and put me through school. I was grateful for her. To repay the debt, I promised I would keep an eye on Lawrence's studies at school and stay with him after his breakup. That led to marriage. His mother told me that if I still didn't love him after a decade, she wouldn't force us to stay together. Well, ten years had gone by. Time was up. The next day, my lawyer brought me the divorce papers. I called Lawrence, but he didn't pick up, so I simply sent him a soft copy. 'Go through them. Come back and sign the papers if you're fine with it.' I sent the message, but it didn't go through. He had blocked me again. Every time he was upset, he expected me to cheer him up, even when he was at fault. He was used to being the center of my world. I was glad for the existence of the divorce system. "So annoying. Glad I can get a divorce. I can't put up with this any longer." For three days, Lawrence didn't come home. He went shopping with Melissa and attended red carpet events with her, not bothering to be inconspicuous. They even went onto trending news a few times. The netizens said they were getting married soon. The fourth day came, and I had no more patience for him, so I went to his birthday party to make him sign the papers. He had only invited his and Melissa's friends to his birthday party. It was held in a mansion under his name. When I went in, everyone turned their attention to me. Melissa couldn't hold back and scoffed. "Lost your patience?" Everyone else joined in the mockery. "Mel said the woman's threatening Mr. Nielsen with a divorce so that she can get more resources for her career, but Mr. Nielsen ignored her.""Lawrence doesn't deal with threats. She's probably here to reconcile in case he's serious about the divorce.""Lawrence only cares about Mel. Zoe hounds Lawrence all the time, but he only married her because his parents made him. If I were her, I'd lay low instead of starting trouble all the time." Melissa's friends took her side, of course. Lawrence's friends thought I was a joke because of how he treated me. I wasn't one to waste time arguing. "Where's Lawrence?" I asked. "Who said you could come?" Lawrence's icy voice came from behind. A moment later, he was standing with Melissa. Someone jeered. Everyone was waiting for me to embarrass myself. I ignored them and only spoke to Lawrence. "We need to talk." He was the boss of Starlight Entertainment. A scandal would affect his company's value. I was a major shareholder, so I didn't want to make things ugly. If we could, I wanted to settle this with him privately. Lawrence, however, didn't care about my dignity. "You can speak your mind here. If you're trying to reconcile after that tantrum about divorce, save it. I’ll agree not to go through with it, but this is the last time I'll put up with your unreasonable behavior." Well, I gave him a chance, but he spat in my face. "I don't do takebacks." I whipped out the divorce papers from my bag and served them to him. "Sign these." Lawrence didn't take them. Instead, he looked at me darkly. "And then you'll start pulling dirty tricks during the grace period, won't you? Zoe, I don't have time to play house with you." God, his sense of self-importance was really irritating. "Don't worry. You're only basing that on the assumption that I love you. You know what? I only stayed around from high school till now because I owed your mother a debt." I continued, "But the time is up, and my debt is repaid. I want nothing to do with you. You think I'm annoying? Well, I think cheating on your wife is even worse. And you even emotionally abuse me. What makes you think I'd fall in love with a loser like you?" I thought Lawrence would sign the papers if I took the straightforward path. After all, he loved Melissa, and he had told everyone multiple times that he didn't love me. However, the more I spoke, the darker he looked. He seemed to be in disbelief. There was panic and fear in his eyes. At the end of it, he looked like he wanted to eat me alive.