After His Affair, I Skipped the Drama and Chased Mediterranean Sun Chapter 02

After His Affair, I Skipped the Drama and Chased Mediterranean Sun Chapter 02

My future self called again and told me to go to Gavin’s company and look inside the private lounge off his office.

I rushed there. The moment I opened the door, I froze.

This didn’t look like an office at all. It was an exact replica of the home Gavin and I had set up after our wedding.

The same deep green velvet sofa sat inside, and in the corner stood the floor lamp Gavin had picked out himself.

Even the bouquet on the coffee table was identical to the one we had just set out at home.

The only difference was the wall where our wedding portrait should have hung. Instead, it was covered from end to end with photographs of Natalie.

Some showed her chopping vegetables in the kitchen. In others, she was asleep on the sofa.

Every photograph had been composed and lit with such tenderness that his overwhelming love for her seemed to pour straight through the paper.

A sharp pain twisted through my chest.

I remembered our honeymoon, when I had spent two hours doing my makeup and eagerly begged Gavin to take a picture of me.

He had barely bothered to press the shutter a few times, leaving me blurry and stiff in every shot.

So he didn’t hate taking pictures.

He had simply given all his patience and devotion to Natalie long ago.

Footsteps sounded outside the door.

I snapped out of my daze and ducked into the closet just as the door opened.

“Let go of me!”

Natalie wrenched her hand free, struggling to suppress the sob in her voice.

But Gavin seemed completely out of control. He yanked her into his arms.

“Natalie, I can’t take this anymore!”

“When I saw her holding that knife today, all I could think was that if she actually stabbed herself, maybe we’d finally be free.”

Natalie slapped him hard across the face.

“Gavin, you bastard! She’s your wife!”

“But I don’t love her!”

Gavin’s eyes were red, and despair bled into his voice.

“You have no idea how suffocating it is to lie beside her every night.”

“Natalie, what if I tell her the truth? If she agrees to let me go, I’ll give her everything I have!”

Natalie broke down and shouted, “No! If you tell her now, you’ll drive her to kill herself!”

Gavin buried his face against her neck, pleading like a drowning man.

“What about me? You feel sorry for her, but who feels sorry for me?”

She sobbed as if her heart were breaking.

“When I was ten, Evelyn shoved me out of the path of a truck and took the hit herself. I swore I would protect her with my life, but I still fell in love with her husband.”

“When you made enemies over that business deal, Evelyn was the one they cornered in the parking garage instead of you.”

“If it weren’t for us, Evelyn would never have gotten sick. How could we betray her like this?”

Gavin trembled as he kissed away her tears.

Inside the closet, my fingernails dug deep into the cut on my palm.

Blood began flowing again, but I couldn’t feel any pain.

So that was it.

How touching.

One of them was nobly giving up the man she loved to repay a life debt. The other was stoically enduring his misery out of guilt.

In their grand tragedy of forbidden love, what did that make me?

I had no idea how much time passed before everything outside finally went silent.

I crawled out of the closet and staggered out of the building.

The winter wind scraped across my face like a blade, drying my tears.

I suddenly remembered the day Gavin had thrown divorce papers at me, determined to leave me even if it cost him everything.

Then, without warning, he had stopped mentioning divorce altogether.

Now I understood. He didn’t want my death on his conscience, and he was afraid Natalie would never be able to live with herself.

If they were suffering so much, I would set them free.

I pulled out my phone and numbly called my attorney.

“Mr. Mercer, I need you to draw up divorce papers for me. As soon as possible.”

There was a long silence on the other end.

“Ms. Brooks, are you joking?”

His voice was filled with pity.

“There’s no marriage license or certificate under your name in the county records.”

“Ms. Brooks, legally, you’re single.”