I Spent Six Christmas Eves Waiting For Nothing Chapter 07

I Spent Six Christmas Eves Waiting For Nothing Chapter 07

The shuttle arrived.

I slid into the backseat, gave the driver the hotel address, and finally let all the tension drain from my body as I collapsed against the seat.

The European breeze drifted in through the window, carrying a strange, unfamiliar scent.

At least it wasn’t biting and bitter like a winter night back in New Richmond.

Suddenly, my phone buzzed again.

It was a text from my mother-in-law, Mrs. Henderson.

[Mrs. Henderson: Elena, what on earth is the meaning of this? Throwing a tantrum and demanding a divorce right in the middle of the Christmas holidays? Do you have any idea how bad this looks to the rest of the family?]

[Mrs. Henderson: Has Garrett not been good enough to you? He buys you whatever you ask for! The house, the car—in what possible way have you been mistreated?]

[Mrs. Henderson: Tear up those papers right now, apologize to Garrett, and we will consider this matter dropped.]

Staring at the screen, I suddenly burst out laughing.

Garrett couldn’t handle me on his own, so he went running to his mother.

It was exactly the same six years ago, and nothing had changed six years later.

Back when we were planning the wedding, his mother looked down on my ordinary background, claiming I wasn’t refined enough to join the Henderson family.

Furious, I walked away. Out of sheer spite, I called off the wedding entirely.

Garrett spent days begging me to change my mind, promising he would never let his mother treat me like that again. When I still refused to budge, he went straight to his mother out of sheer desperation.

Through threats, pleading, and playing good cop, bad cop, he finally forced a compromise.

Only because of my deep feelings for Garrett did I back down and go through with the ceremony.

“Elena, since Garrett loves you so much, you better behave yourself and make sure you don’t disappoint us,” she had told me coldly.

And for the past six years, I had done exactly that.

I bought them thoughtful gifts for every holiday, took time off work to care for his mother whenever she was sick, and handled all the family gatherings flawlessly.

Yet in the end, Chloe was the one sitting in my seat, locking arms with my mother-in-law, while not a single person at that table batted an eye.

And now that I was finally leaving, I was somehow the one in the wrong.

I typed out a massive paragraph in the chat box, but just as I was about to hit send, my thumb hovered over the screen. One by one, I deleted every single word.

Ultimately, I sent nothing, tossing the phone back into my bag.

It was completely pointless. Trying to explain anything to that family was like talking to a brick wall.

By the time I checked into the hotel, it was already two in the morning.

I took a shower, but as I lay in bed, I found myself tossing and turning, unable to sleep.

Out of habit, I reached for my phone to see how the family chat was reacting to my disappearance, only to remember I had already left the group.

What did it look like in there right now?

The relatives were probably gossiping about how ungrateful and difficult I was.

Chloe was likely playing the saint, pretending to defend me.

And his mother was undoubtedly sighing, praising Chloe for being the one who actually possessed true class.

The mere thought of it made me sick to my stomach.

I shut off the phone entirely and forced myself to close my eyes.

The next morning at eight, the alarm woke me up. The moment I powered on my phone, another massive wave of notifications flooded the screen.

Garrett’s side had finally gone quiet; he was likely still throwing a fit out of sheer pride.

Chloe, however, had left several texts:

[Chloe: Elena, please don’t get the wrong idea. I have absolutely no intention of taking your place.]

[Chloe: Garrett is only good to me because we grew up together. He literally just sees me as a little sister.]

[Chloe: If you’re seriously divorcing him just because of me, what does that make me look like? If it’s that big of a deal, I’ll just leave.]

I didn’t bother replying.

After washing up and changing into fresh clothes, I headed out to the office.

The new environment was far better than I had expected. Most of my coworkers were also expats on overseas assignments, meaning there were none of the messy, toxic corporate politics I was used to.

The director took the team out for a welcoming lunch.

In the afternoon, I completed my onboarding, picking up my ID badge and company laptop.

By the time I made it back to the hotel, it was already seven in the evening.

Collapsing onto the sofa, I tentatively pulled up Garrett’s contact and shot him a quick text, realizing he had finally unblocked me.

[Did you sign the papers?]

This time, his reply came instantly.

[Garrett: Absolutely not.]

[Garrett: Where are you? I’m coming to get you.]