Chapter 2

"What are you doing here?" I exclaimed in shock.

For some reason, the moment I saw her, I felt neither overwhelming hatred nor blind affection like I had felt in my last life.

No. The only feeling I had was relief.

It had been so long since I had seen her, and her face was as young and pretty as I remembered it to be. She would not be dull in comparison even in the company of star celebrities, and it was not surprising that I had been so obsessed with her in my last life.

Even if I had died once for it, I still liked that face.

However, my heart was not pounding for it.

Nonetheless, Ivy was studying me from head to toe, and then at the table, annoyance showed on her face.

As she strode toward me menacingly, my heart skipped a beat and I stumbled backward, staring at her warily.

I was still taller than her despite her wearing high heels, but it felt like I was looking upward instead.

"What do you want?" I demanded.

I then remembered—she had yet to awaken to her one true love in the first year of our marriage. As such, she would not bother me that much, since I had not done anything wrong.

But even as I stumbled backward, I realized that I could not help distancing myself from her.

When I decided to give up, I no longer yearned to be near her—if anything, I felt repulsed.

And seeing me back away, Ivy lifted her pretty brows, though she was soon sneering. "You deceived me just so that I'd come back, and now this? Well, aren't you a drama queen?"

Confused, I asked, "What are you talking about?"

Deceive her? I would rather she never come back!

Her brown creased and she suddenly reached out, grabbing my collar.

Her pretty visage was ice-cold, and she was so close I could feel her breath all over my face.

"You're still pretending?" She snorted. "Weren't you staging an act with your cousin, just so that I'd come back to you?"

As she was clenching very tightly, it hurt my neck, and I felt like I could suffocate.

However, I did not hesitate to push her off either. "I wasn't staging anything, and I didn't even know that happened. He must've decided on everything on his own."

Even as I spoke, I remembered how I used to bend myself over backward for her.

Be it birthdays, anniversaries, or anything else in between, I would never demand that she come home to spend the day with me—not even as I died.

Still, Ivy laughed coolly. "You and your cousin were inseparable, and you're saying you didn't know?"

I was equally annoyed even as I met her glare, and I could not help dissing myself inwardly.

In my last life, we had been reasonably polite to each other, and I could not stop myself from fawning all over her, even if she constantly gave me the cold shoulder. When I found out that she had another man and that they loved each other, I did everything I could to make her stay, and that only made her hate me more.

I told myself that it was my fault for making her hate me.

But now, I had not done anything wrong. It might be our anniversary, but since I fell sick anyway, I came home to cook myself a proper meal.

Even so, she hated that anyway—it was clear that she despised me just for the sake of it.

As such, I straightened my spine, looking downward at her, and suddenly said, "I want a divorce."

That left Ivy stunned as she never expected that, though she soon pursed her lips in contempt.

"Do you even know what you're saying?" she asked.

I certainly did.

In fact, if I could have it my way, I would rather be reborn before I married her.

I looked down at the calluses growing all over my palms.

I used to be a rich kid myself, ready to inherit the family business.

But because I loved her, I willingly reduced myself to a househusband whose world revolved around her.

But after all that self-sacrifice and sycophancy, the only person it had an effect on was me.

Shrugging, I told her, "It was an arranged marriage, and I understand now that you have no love for me. What's not to like since we're setting each other free?"

That only left Ivy glowering—a rare moment of rage.

Even as she forced me to look down into her eyes, she snapped, "You're the one who pestered my grandfather endlessly, forcing me into this marriage, and you're now demanding a divorce? What do you take me for? A fling?!"

My heart skipped a beat.

Our marriage might have been arranged, but Ivy's family wealth and fortune far eclipsed ours. If it was not for our respective grandfathers' close friendship and the engagement that had been decided since we were kids, I would not even have the right to propose.

Ivy had hated the idea too, and if her grandfather had not strong-armed her with his illness, we would not be married.

From that perspective, asking for a divorce now did seem to challenge her pride.

"You're not a fling," I replied, shrugging. "I'm dead serious—I've met that doctor, your one true love. He's handsome and he's got style, but his family is nothing to brag about. You don't even have to worry about your elders once I'm gone, since you have every reason to chase after him."

That man would be going abroad soon. And once he did, Ivy would realize that she really loved him, so much so that she could not bear to be apart from him, and would start to chase after him relentlessly.

Even so, although I had been the obsessive background character in some dollar store novel in my past life, I was not about to save myself for an unconsummated marriage yet again, doing something wicked on occasion to get attention.

Before the female lead started chasing after her ideal love, I was bugging out to avoid the tragedy in my last life.

Nonetheless, Ivy's expression darkened, and she somehow seemed nervous. "So, you've met him? So that explains why you're a changed man, and you even know that his family is nothing to brag about. What, are you trying to threaten me?"

As she closed in on me, I kept stumbling backward in fear until my back was against the wall and had nowhere to run.

Still, was she not under the impression that I was warning her? Just because I mentioned her one true love, I appeared to be holding leverage against her?

Cringing inwardly, I promptly denied it. "It's been a year since we got married. Have I ever threatened you before? All I'm asking for is a divorce.

"You're always leaving early and coming home late, making me look like some recluse. Sure, I have feelings for you, but I can't just stay a virgin as I reach my eighties, can I?

"Moreover, if you can't get what you want, don't bother the one you don't want either—it's taxing for me just watching you, even if it's not the case for you."

As Ivy continued to hold my gaze, she suddenly stood on her toes, her red lips brushing past my collar.

I could kiss her if I just leaned down slightly!

The previous me would have lost my mind from excitement, but now, I only felt a boundless pressure bearing down on me.

That was when her lips parted as she scoffed. "Recluse? So you're just getting lonely because I don't let you touch me."

I paused for a moment before flushing as I gritted my teeth. "That's not what I mean!"

In our last life, she hounded me relentlessly for a divorce as she wanted me gone.

Hell, she hung up on me even when I was about to die!

As such, she should be agreeing to this divorce quickly and happily. So why was her imagination running wild while she refused to cooperate at all?

Then, scratching my chin with her freshly polished red nails, she moved closer, her eyes fixed on my face.

As I stiffened in reflex, she smiled. "I don't care what you want. You're the one who called for this marriage—you don't get to call it off.

"If you're feeling pent-up, I'd even allow you to hook up with someone else. Do anything you like, as long as you don't hurt my reputation…"