Unreturned When the Fog Cleared Chapter 01

Unreturned When the Fog Cleared Chapter 01: Forcibly Divorced
My husband’s sister threatened to jump off a building for the sixty-third time, forcing me to burn every last photo of her brother and me right in front of her.

I burned them. Including our marriage certificate.

When I went to the Civil Affairs Bureau to replace it, the clerk told me, “Your marital status is listed as divorced.”

But I’d never filed for divorce.

The system showed the paperwork had been finalized days ago.

It was only then that I remembered the “insurance policy” my husband had given me a month ago. As he’d asked for my signature, his sister was in the next room, smashing things and screaming for me to hurry up.

It hadn’t been an insurance policy after all.

It turned out that in our two-year marriage, I was the last person to know the show was over.

They all thought I would cry and beg them to let me stay.

But what they don’t know is that the moment I walk away, I’ll become another man’s bride.

——————

On the 99th-floor rooftop of a luxury high-rise in Aethelgard.

As her husband’s sister threatened to jump off the building for the sixty-third time, Thera Sutherland suddenly felt exhausted.

She even felt the urge to jump with her.

The police officer sounded exasperated on the phone. “Ms. Sutherland, how many times has it been now? Just handle it on your own. Give her whatever she wants.”

That was true. For two years, she had given in every single time.

At first, it was making Thera wash her clothes by hand. Then, it was forcing Thera to slap her own face. She even made her kneel at the community gate for a full day and night…

The unreasonable demands grew crueler with each incident.

“This is all your fault, you bitch! If you hadn’t clung to my brother, would I have ended up with Depression?”

Yara Rhodes stood on the edge of the roof, screaming, “Hurry up! Burn every single photo of you and my brother right in front of me!”

“You’re not going to do it?”

Yara Rhodes abruptly dangled one foot over the edge. “Fine, then I’ll jump! When I’m dead, let’s see how you explain yourself to my brother!”

Thera closed her eyes. “Don’t move. I’ll get them.”

She ran back to their apartment and gathered all her photos with Julian Rhodes, carrying them and their marriage certificate back up to the roof.

Under Yara Rhodes’s watchful eyes, she personally burned everything to ash in a metal drum.

Yara laughed, satisfied, and left.

Thera crouched on the ground, staring at the last remaining corner of the photo from their marriage certificate as silent tears streamed down her face.

She pulled out her phone and messaged Julian Rhodes. “Honey, we really should convince Yara to see a psychiatrist. Today, she…”

The message status changed to “read,” but a reply never came.

Thera stared at the screen for a long time before finally getting up. She would go to the Civil Affairs Bureau to replace the marriage certificate.

The hall of the Civil Affairs Bureau wasn’t crowded. Thera pulled up her digital marriage registration file for the clerk.

After checking the system, the clerk frowned. “Ms. Sutherland, your marital status is listed as divorced.”

“What?”

Thera’s mind went blank, and her voice trembled. “But I’ve never filed for a divorce…”

The clerk turned the monitor toward her. “The system shows the paperwork was finalized just a few days ago.”

Thera clutched her phone, her hand shaking uncontrollably.

Her mind flashed back to a month ago, when Julian Rhodes had handed her a document to sign, telling her it was some kind of insurance policy.

At the time, Yara Rhodes had been smashing things in the next room and screaming for her to come, so she had signed it without a second glance.

The people in line behind her were growing impatient.

“If you can’t do it, then get out of the way! Stop wasting everyone’s time!”

“What an idiot. She didn’t even know she’d been dumped. She deserves it…”

Thera didn’t remember how she got out of the Civil Affairs Bureau.

The July sun baked the asphalt until it sizzled, but she felt a chill seeping from her very bones, so cold her teeth began to chatter.

Thera hailed a cab and went straight to Rhodes Tower.

The door to the president’s office was ajar, and peals of laughter drifted out.

She stopped dead in her tracks, instinctively holding her breath.

Through the crack in the door, she saw Yara Rhodes—the same Yara Rhodes who had supposedly refused to leave the house or see anyone for two years due to her Depression—sitting on the sofa, beaming.

Meanwhile, Sylvia Chevalier was sitting intimately beside Julian Rhodes, placing a piece of braised rib in his bowl.

“Brother, did Thera come tattling to you again? That’s all she’s good for, just crying and whining to you.”

Yara Rhodes said with a spoiled air, “You’d better not go soft on her and take her side!”

Sylvia Chevalier spoke in a gentle tone. “Yara, to be fair… it hasn’t been easy for Thera, taking care of you for the past two years.”

“She deserved it!”

Yara Rhodes’s voice shot up. “If she hadn’t been clinging to my brother, stopping him from picking me up from school, would I have been kidnapped and tortured by our family’s enemies?!”

Thera’s nails dug deep into her palms.

Julian Rhodes frowned, his expression complex, but he said nothing, tacitly condoning Yara Rhodes’s words.

“Brother,” Yara’s tone shifted, “when are you going to tell her about the divorce and kick her out of our house?”

Julian Rhodes’s voice was low. “Yara, she has nowhere else to go. And…”

Yara cut him off, her tone sharp. “Brother, don’t tell me you can’t bear to part with her? Look at Sylvia! She’s gorgeous and capable—a thousand times better than her!”

“Yara.” Julian’s voice was quiet but unusually firm. “Don’t startle her yet. I have other arrangements.”

Yara sneered, her eyes full of malice. “Good. If she doesn’t leave, that just means I have more time. I still have plenty of ideas for tormenting her that I haven’t gotten to use yet.”

“Don’t go too far,” Julian said airily, but it sounded more like permission than a warning.

Thera stumbled backward, tears finally breaking free like pearls from a snapped string.

‘So, not only was I divorced,’ she thought, ‘but I was the last to know.’

Thera walked out of the tower and watched the stream of traffic. A faint, cold smile touched her lips.

‘I’ve been watching this drama for two years. It’s time for the curtain to fall.’

‘Since I’m destined to be the outsider, I’ll be the one to exit the stage.’

Two years ago, for Julian Rhodes’s sake, she had cut all ties with her family. She’d even made a harsh vow that she would die before she ever accepted the marriage her Grandpa had arranged for her as a child.

But now, with the divorce finalized, the timing was perfect.

It was time to go back and go through with the wedding she should have had all along.