Chapter 2
+ 5 Points
Chapter 2
Archer bristled like a cat with its tail stepped on.
“I’ve told you countless times, there’s nothing between Ruby and me. I’m just taking care. of her. Can you stop making unfounded
accusations?”
I laughed, the taste of blood lingering in my throat, feeling nauseous.
“Taking care of her to the extent of sharing a bed?”
My words were sharp and unrelenting.
Archer didn’t realize that when he lies, he has a
subconscious habit.
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His eyes instinctively look downward.
watched him fabricate lies to deceive me.
I believe our relationship has come to its end.
I cannot waste any more of my limited time and energy on him.
My Paige.
She is still so young.
After Archer left, I dragged my aching body around the house, tidying up the mess.
Paige would be home from school soon.
I couldn’t let her see this,
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Paige was picked up by the nanny.
The moment she arrived, she rushed to hug me.
“Mommy, I missed you so much~”
“Mommy, Mommy, I was so good at
kindergarten today~”
“Mommy, the teacher gave me this little star, and I want to give it to you~”
Paige has always been closer to me, and with Archer’s minimal presence over the past two years, she has become even more attached to
- me.
Holding Paige, my eyes welled up, nearly spilling tears.
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Paige, my Paige.
I cannot even begin to imagine what will become of Paige after I’m gone.
I’m so reluctant to leave my Paige.
I need to make sure everything is arranged for her.
After soothing Paige to sleep that night, I called a lawyer I had worked with before.
She had handled numerous divorce cases and was quite experienced in this area.
After scheduling a meeting with her, I returned to my room to watch over Paige.
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The little girl was sleeping soundly.
I gazed at Paige’s face with longing, wishing I could spend more time with her.
Despite it being the early hours, I couldn’t sleep.
My phone buzzed with a message alert.
I opened it to find an unknown text.
The content was a picture.
Archer was asleep at a desk.
But the background wasn’t an office.
It looked more like the cozy home of a single girl.
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[“Sister, Mr. Rogers drank too much tonight and won’t be coming home.”]
It was from Ruby.
I expressionlessly turned off my phone, my abdominal discomfort and pain intensifying.
I got up to retrieve the painkillers I had kept in the drawer and swallowed a few.
After a while, perhaps the medication began to
take effect.
The pain gradually subsided.
My body was drenched in cold sweat, feeling sticky on my clothes.
Since the diagnosis, the previously subtle
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C
symptoms had become more pronounced.
These days felt ethereal, like a dream.
I wished it were just a dream.
But this is reality.
A harsh reality.
The countdown to death looms over me.
I feel like a condemned prisoner awaiting execution.
The bullet that will eventually pierce my skull and bring me down feels imminent.
Only now do I realize, with a delayed awareness,
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Chapter 2
* 5 Points
That I am truly nearing the end.
Lying in bed, unable to sleep,
A seemingly insignificant memory from about a year ago suddenly resurfaced.
At that time, Archer and I were still quite affectionate.
Ruby had just started working with Archer as his new assistant.
She was said to be a top graduate from Hopskin.
My impression of Ruby was simply that lively young girl who sweetly called me “sister–in–law.”
Archer’s company had found its footing.
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He would always ask me to pick him up for the monthly company gatherings.
He called it asserting his claim.
I laughed at his childishness but still went to pick him up each time.
