He Watched the Stars With Her, So I Signed the Divorce Chapter 07

He Watched the Stars With Her, So I Signed the Divorce Chapter 07

Ryan began trying frantically to make amends.

The deliveries started arriving at my parents’ home.

There was a birthday cake, a cashmere scarf, an ocean-themed puzzle, and a camera I had once

wanted.

There was even a ceramic whale lamp I had mentioned exactly once.

The delivery driver called and asked me to come downstairs.

“The packages are addressed to Emma, and the sender requested a direct signature from the

recipient.”

I stood beside the window and looked down at more than a dozen boxes piled outside the building.

“Refuse them all. Put down ‘unwanted junk’ as the reason.”

The driver sounded uncomfortable, but eventually agreed.

The following day, Ryan came in person carrying a box.

My father refused to let him inside.

Ryan set the box on the floor outside the door.

“Emma, I bought everything I should have given you over the years. I know it’s all coming too late, but I’m trying to make up for what I failed to do.”

I remained on the other side of the door without looking up.

“You can’t make up for it.”

His voice grew urgent.

“I can learn. I didn’t know how to be a husband before, but I do now. Give me one more chance.”

I was at my computer, organizing my application materials for an international exchange program.

For a moment, it went quiet outside the door.

Through the narrow opening, Ryan caught sight of the documents on my desk.

“You’re leaving the country?”

I did not hide it from him.

“Yes. It’s a six-month international exchange project in marine archival conservation”

His tone changed immediately.

“Is this because of Daniel? He helped you file for divorce, and now you’re leaving with him?”

I opened the door and held out the application form.

The date on it was earlier than the day I had first contacted Daniel.

“I’m not leaving because of anyone. I just don’t want to keep building my life around your voyages.”

Ryan stared at the form, and the light in his eyes dimmed.

“What about our home?”

“That was never really a home. It was just the place where I waited for you.”

He pulled a small box from his pocket.

Inside was a new wedding band.

“I couldn’t find my old one, so I bought a better one. Can we start over?”

I looked at the ring and remembered all those late nights.

Whenever Ryan was on a video call with Claire, he kept his left hand out of frame.

In every screenshot Claire posted, his ring finger was bare, as though he had never been married.

“Your old ring didn’t simply disappear. You took it off before every video call with Claire.”

Ryan’s fingers tightened around the box.

After a long silence, he finally spoke.

“She said seeing the ring upset her. I didn’t want to trigger her.”

The moment the words left his mouth, even he seemed shocked by what he had admitted.

I smiled faintly.

“You see? You always knew exactly what you were doing.”

I took my own wedding ring from the drawer.

I had worn it for two years, and our initials were engraved inside the band.

I placed it in a new evidence bag.

“What you just admitted will be useful at the final hearing.”

Ryan’s eyes turned red.

“Emma, I never meant to hurt you. I just thought you would understand.”

“I’ve spent long enough trying to understand you.”

As Ryan sank to his knees, my father rose from the living room.

“Ryan, don’t kneel at my door. Emma doesn’t owe you anything just because you’re on your knees.

Ryan stayed on his knees.

“I know I was wrong.”

I closed the door.

His voice came through from the other side, low and subdued.

“I really do know I was wrong.”

I returned to my desk and continued filling out the emergency-contact section of my program

application.

My father was one contact.

My mother was the other.

Ryan was not listed.

That evening, Daniel sent me a message confirming the evidence for the final hearing.

Daniel: [The gifts he brought today, the wedding ring, and the recording of his admission can all be

submitted.]

A second later, another message appeared.

Ryan: [Emma, if the divorce is finalized, does that mean I’ll never have another chance?]

I stared at the notification without opening it.