CHAPTER 2

Sophia’s POV

The divorce agreement was written after I accidentally lost my baby. During that time, I couldn’t even look at Elijah’s face without thinking about our baby. The pain was unbearable, so I believed divorce was my salvation. Looking back, preparing the divorce agreement was not a mistake, now that leaving was my only option.

My hands shook as I held the papers in my hand. I could hear Morgana’s voice outside. “Sophia!” she called in a sharp tone. She probably heard me come in and was now wondering where I was. 

Quickly, I hid the divorce agreement and washed my face in the bathroom. That’s when the door swung open. I dried my face with a towel and looked at my mother-in-law. 

She responded with a cold gaze. She immediately instructed me to do the housework, her tone full of disdain. 

As I began my chores, she stood there taunting me. “Elijah told me not to ask you to deliver things in the future,” she said with a scoff. “You can’t even be relied on for such a simple task.”

Her words cut deep. “When you first came to our house pregnant, it was okay that you couldn't do anything,” she continued. “Then you had lost your baby and you had to spend months recovering and regaining your health. Now you can't even deliver a document, so what's the meaning for Elijah of having you as a wife?"

Her words were like daggers, each one piercing my heart. And then, in a cruel twist, she added, “My son would be better off with Serena. She's prettier, smarter, and she even managed to land a job at his company! Unlike you... You can't even perform simple housework that well.”

Sure enough, she already knew that Serena worked at Elijah's company. She asked me to deliver the papers today just to make a fool of me.

The room felt suffocating, the burden of her words pressing down on me. I felt utterly alone, realizing that no one had ever been on my side.

I clenched my fists, struggling against the wave of tears threatening to spill. Sweeping the floor became a mechanical task, a facade to hide my turmoil. The repeated humiliations and frustrations drained me of the energy to fight back or explain myself yet again.

I don’t deserve this, I thought sourly. It’s time for me to escape, to save myself. 

With bitter tears streaming down my cheeks, I rushed to my room and grabbed the papers I’d hidden. Staring at me from the front page were the words: Divorce Agreement.

I’ve had enough. Flashbacks of how Elijah and Morgana had been treating me filled my mind. Despite my efforts to be the dutiful wife and daughter-in-law, I’d always seemed invisible to them. 

I’ve been obedient, helpful, and hardworking… But no one cares. Not even my own husband. 

I’m nothing to him. He doesn’t love me and he never learned to. That’s the most painful of all. 

My heart tightened. His indifference cut deeper than any overt cruelty could. And now, with Serena back in the picture, their attention gravitated toward her. I felt more isolated than ever. 

This is the last straw! I must get out of here, or I’ll lose my sanity!

That evening, I hadn’t realized I’d already fallen asleep when I heard the bedroom door open. Something made a loud, clattering noise. I quickly sat up and saw Elijah staggering toward me. He mumbled something about a dinner party as he plopped on the bed and started sliding his fingers down my bare arm. 

I hastily moved backward, giving him a look of disbelief. He reeked of alcohol and was obviously drunk. If he wasn’t, he would have just ignored me and gone straight to bed. 

“Hey, playing hard to get, aren’t you?” he said in a slurred manner, his bloodshot eyes becoming more intense. Then without warning, he leaned forward and kissed me on the lips.

I didn’t have time to react, though, because he suddenly started unbuttoning my oversized nightshirt. 

“When did Serena start working at your company?” I asked him coldly. 

He shrugged, but didn’t stop what he was doing. “Not sure. Probably recruited by HR.” His lips traveled down my neck, accompanied by his tongue, as he went to unbutton the last one on my shirt. 

“Serena is such a talented addition to our team,” he remarked with admiration.

Jealousy and pain gripped my chest. I couldn’t believe he was saying all this while undressing me! I knew then that he still had feelings for her. 

“You know,” he said, oblivious to my disappointment, “she's even outperforming many of the senior colleagues who've been with the company for years.”

Even as we locked eyes, there was something in his gaze—a kind of infatuation—that he never seemed to exhibit when it came to me.

He’s probably picturing me as her! I thought with disgust. I was so disappointed in him, and didn’t want him anywhere near me.

But when I pulled away, he threw me an irritated look. “What’s wrong with you?” he asked, taken aback that I was saying no to his advances unlike before. 

I didn’t answer. He narrowed his eyes at me. “You’ve been down in the dumps for months now! I thought you’d snap out of it, but you’ve only gotten worse. It’s depressing to even see you.”

I cringed at his words, the searing pain crushing my heart. He couldn’t even see how my spirit was being shattered because of him. 

“Maybe it’s because of the baby we lost…” he mused. Sliding his fingers down the surface of my cheek and then my neck, he added in a drunken slur, “Why don’t we just make another baby?”

I couldn’t believe my ears. I knew that whenever he was drunk, he spoke without inhibitions. He was often brutally honest in this state. Hence, he meant every word and that only showed how much he didn’t understand me or the problem we had in this marriage. 

My whole body was shaking as the misery and fury I’ve been keeping inside rose to the surface. He doesn’t get it. Or maybe he just doesn’t give a damn. 

I was totally pissed off. And that’s when I blurted it out. 

“I want to divorce you.”