I Understand His Regret, So I Replaced Him Too Chapter 13

I Understand His Regret, So I Replaced Him Too Chapter 13

A month slipped by. Sullivan’s baby was about to turn one month old.

I figured Sullivan would show up for the party, but in the morning he asked if I could leave work

early.

“We’ll see.”

Maybe he was planning to celebrate the kid’s birthday by giving its mother a ring.

There was a time when I desperately wanted out. I couldn’t stand this broken marriage.

But Sullivan said no.

The divorce proceedings dragged on for six months, and eventually fell apart because we couldn’t

reach a settlement.

Our finances were too tangled. I wasn’t walking away with nothing.

And Sullivan knew full well that as long as he dug his heels in and refused to budge, the divorce

would never go through.

But people adapt. These days, I didn’t care either way.

If he wanted a divorce, he’d better come correct.

Tristan seemed off that day too. Spacey. Zoned out in meetings. I had to call his name sharply

several times to snap him back to focus.

At the end of the day, At the end of the day, he asked me tentatively if I could come to the hospital

with him.

“Not feeling great,” he said.

“I’ve got stuff tonight.” I gave him a number. “This hospital’s partnered with our company. Call

them. They’ll handle it.”

He looked disappointed. But he let it go.

When I got home and opened the door, I wasn’t met with divorce papers.

Balloons and flowers filled every corner of the room.

My face stayed blank, and my first thought was to turn right around and leave.

Then Sullivan came out of the kitchen in an apron, carrying a plate of steak. His face lit up.

“Elara!” He walked over, gaze steady. “Seven years. Happy anniversary.”

I felt nauseous for no reason.

He pulled out a chair. Sat me down.

The whole place was decorated. Intimate. He was nervous. Kept taking deep breaths.

Then he took my hand and dropped to one knee.

“Elara. Fourteen years since we met. Seven since we said I do.”

“We’ve been through so much. I know we can’t go back.”

“But can you… can you give me a chance? Let us start over?”

His hands shook as he pulled out a ring box. Opened it.

It was a diamond ring, so dazzling it almost hurt to look at.

When he first proposed to me, he’d bent a soda can tab into a makeshift ring. In a rented room with peeling paint.

Back then we had nothing to our names, but we felt like we had everything.

Now we had everything. And I felt nothing. Just a cold wind blowing through the empty spaces

inside me.

“You said you finally understood me back then.”

“But I think I finally understand you now.”

“Elara. We love each other. We just loved each other out of sync, at different times. Now we can fix

it.”

“Tristan is a copy. I’m the real one. The one who’s stood by you through every storm.”

I studied his face. Searched for any trace of the man I’d loved.

Nothing. It was all gone.

My phone rang. I reached for it.

Sullivan clamped his hand over mine, a flicker of restrained desperation in his eyes. “Don’t answer

Please.”
I peeled his fingers off one by one and answered.

“Hello, this is Oakhaven General. The owner of this phone was in an accident. You’re listed as his emergency contact. Are you his wife? Can you come to the hospital?”

“She’s not!” Sullivan broke. Snatched the phone. “Elara Vance is my wife! She’s mine! He’s nothing! I hope he rots in hell!”

He hung up. Looked like he was about to throw my phone across the room.

But he looked at me first.

I was calm. I held out my hand.

Trembling with resentment and despair, he handed the phone back to me.

“Don’t go.” His voice cracked. “Elara. You have to be fair.”

“All these years. Every holiday. Every anniversary. I never left you for her.”

“Today is our seventh anniversary. It matters.”

“So you can’t leave me either.”

“You’re not going, right?”