He Drove Her To The Exam, Left Our Daughter In The Flood Chapter 02

He Drove Her To The Exam, Left Our Daughter In The Flood Chapter 02

After being out in the rain for so long, Hope developed a fever as soon as we got home.

I hurriedly applied warm compresses and searched the house for medicine.

She was drifting in and out of consciousness, but she refused to let go of that folder.

Looking at her flushed face, I was consumed by guilt.

Hope had always been top of her class in the city.

From middle school through high school, year after year, she never gave me a reason to worry.

Her counselor told me more than once that her potential was limitless—that a school like St. Sterling University was well within her reach.

But today, she hadn’t even made it through the door of the testing center.

I sat by the bed, a single thought circling in my mind.

If I hadn’t married Arthur, if I had been firm about a divorce when Arthur started wavering.

Hope wouldn’t have had to suffer today’s humiliation.

Actually, Arthur wasn’t always like this.

We met through a setup; he was honest and hardworking, a good husband after we married.

After Hope was born, he did his best to be a good father.

He worked long hours driving, but the first thing he did when he got home was hold Hope.

Back then, he said nothing in the world was more important than his little girl.

But ever since Sienna Brooks appeared, everything changed.

Sienna was an old colleague of mine who got divorced three years ago, raising her daughter Madison alone.

I felt sorry for her struggles and often helped her with childcare or brought her meals.

But I didn’t know when it started—she began coming over more and more frequently, eventually bypassing me to contact Arthur directly.

Leaking pipes, broken lightbulbs, moving furniture—she called him for everything.

Arthur was soft-hearted and never said no, thinking that helping a divorced woman was just being a good neighbor.

Then Sienna said Madison lacked a sense of security and wanted Madison to call Arthur “Dad.”

To my face, Arthur firmly refused.

But once, during a parent-teacher night.

Hope overheard Madison calling Arthur “Dad.” Hope threw a fit, crying that Madison was stealing her father.

In front of Sienna and her daughter, Arthur raised his hand and slapped Hope.

From then on, Madison became even more emboldened. She didn’t just call Arthur “Dad”; she started bullying Hope at school.

Every time I tried to confront Sienna, Arthur would play the peacemaker, saying kids will be kids and telling me to be the bigger person.

Thinking of the past, that bitter ache rose in my chest again.

I pulled out my ID and documents, planning to file for divorce once the testing season was over.

That was when Arthur returned.

He froze when he saw me.

“Is there no afternoon session?”

I said tonelessly, “She has a fever.”

He paused, then grabbed my hand with eyes full of guilt:

“Honey, I was wrong this time. I’ll make it up to you both, I promise.”

“I didn’t expect Sienna to get sick. Madison is just a kid, a girl, and with the storm, she felt lost. I only helped her out, I actually…”

“Isn’t Hope a kid? Isn’t Hope a girl?”

I pulled my hand away.

“You know how hard Hope worked for these exams all these years.”

“But because of you, ten years of her hard work went down the drain.”

“It won’t be like that,” Arthur shook his head repeatedly. “Hope has great grades. Even if she missed a section or two, she can still get into a decent state college.”

I stared into his eyes, finding him both pathetic and disgusting.

Hope was the top student in the city, a candidate for a full ride.

She wasn’t a slacker like Madison who’d be lucky to get into any college at all.

Arthur kept babbling apologies and vows.

I interrupted him impatiently, “Stop the nonsense. We’re out of fever reducers. Go buy some.”

Arthur’s eyes lit up. “Right, right. I’m going now.”

Before he could finish, his phone rang.

I didn’t even need to look to know who it was.

“Arthur,” Sienna’s weak voice came through. “The pipes burst at home. There’s water everywhere, and I don’t know what to do. Could you please come over?”

Arthur was immediately worried. He glanced at the daughter’s bedroom door and instructed me:

“I’ll get the medicine, you look after Hope.”

Did he take me for a fool?

I laughed out of sheer rage.

I walked to the door, pulled it open, and pointed at the clock.

“The pharmacy is less than five minutes away. Ten minutes round trip. If you aren’t back in thirty minutes, we are getting a divorce.”

Arthur was stunned, panic in his eyes.

But a moment later, he reverted to his usual dismissive certainty.

“Clara, stop talking out of anger. Hope already missed one section; missing another won’t make a difference.”

“I have to go out anyway, I’ll just swing by Sienna’s. It won’t take long.”

Swing by, swing by—it was always “on the way!”

Whenever Sienna needed him, he was always “nearby” or it was “convenient!”

Yet whenever Hope and I needed him, he was always busy!

As the elevator doors closed, a voice rose from the bottom of my heart.

“This family is finished.”

I sat down at the computer and typed out two words: Divorce Agreement.