Jett furrowed his eyebrows. His voice was marked with hesitance when he said, “Uh, Mr. Smith, he didn’t—”She cut into his sentence before he could finish. “No, it’s all right. Doesn’t matter anymore.”Jett held back any words he might have wanted to say, turned around, and left.It was surprisingly toilsome work to remove Alejandro’s shirt from his sleeping body. Her eyes were glued to the lipstick stain on its collar, her body slumped into a defeated seat by his bedside. She gravely wanted to discuss their divorce, and for that, she braved through long, drawn-out hours waiting for him to come home. He, on the other hand, had a woman in his arm while drinking himself stupid out there.Even a somber moment like this did not dull his mood, did it…?Another imperceptibly long period of inertia later, Melanie washed the shirt by hand, making sure it was spotless before airing it outside. It was wet and a little warm—and not at all enough to thaw her icy heart and her determination to

Mark cocked his brow. “Melanie Lark? Hmph, who’s surprised that she’s finally had enough of you and wants to part with you? You mistreat her. And of course, the whole trial of being bound to a man who doesn’t love you—must be hell. Maybe you should learn how to love someone first before thinking you’re viable for marriage, punk, so don’t keep her and waste her away. I mean, haven’t we been here before? You messed Tiffany up, and now you mess Melanie up. Seriously, can you ever act like a decent human being?”He did not upset Alejandro—in fact, the latter had made enough mental preparations for the sort of mockeries Mark would definitely cast at him, so Alejandro could take them. “Yo, I’m here to ask you for solutions; I’m not here to be ‘educated’. I mean, pop’s gone, so maybe your big brother instincts compel you to be the fill-in, but eh, hard pass on the lectures. You claim I didn’t treat Melanie good enough, but what’s good, then? I bought her a limited edition sports car, gave he

Melanie drew a deep breath. “Well, then, Arianne. Do you actually believe that all a man needs to do to make a woman stay is to gift her a car, some fancy jewellery, some chic designer bags, what-have-you? Is that all what love amounts to? Oh, no… No. Men do that so that you’d wanna stay with them. Once you’ve gotten all pleased and charmed by their bait, he’ll revert to how he’s always been. Why? Because you’re just an objective, and he’s achieved it. Why even waste energy coddling you now? …Don’t you see? There’s not a scintilla of genuine affection in it.“I can tell, you know, if he loves me or not. I’m not seduced by all these materialistic trappings. I only ever wanted him, as a human being—be it Alejandro or Ethan. And yet, it doesn’t matter who he is; he simply isn’t mine. You don’t know the half of all those days and nights I’ve spent since I was bound to him by marriage, do you? I have had suitors—throngs of them, and I’ve never needed to lower myself to such submission, nev

“Have you really thought this through?” Alejandro asked suddenly.“Yes. I hope that we can live our separate lives from now on,” Melanie replied placidly. “I’ve been thinking… when my single life is finally back on track, I wanna come back and take Millie away, okay? She’s all I have. Everything else I can let go, but not Millie. She… She is my life.”The air was gelled by deafening silence. A few moments later, Alejandro looked up at the nightly dome above and drew in a deep breath.“It’s true that I’ve taken too much from you. I agree with your proposal, but on one condition: we don’t divorce right away… Because I want to try again. Do it from the start once more, I don’t care; just let me try again. A hundred days is all I’m asking, okay? If I don’t succeed in changing your mind—if you’re still dead-set on your decision—then I’ll agree to your conditions. All of them. I’ll sign the divorce agreement with not a moment to lose. We’ve been together despite the odds for so long… What

Melissa was a timid child, so her instinct compelled her to slap away Lil’ P’s hand before diving even harder into Melanie’s embrace.“Millie… What’s the matter?” Melanie intoned helplessly. “This is Lil’ P. Go on, Big Brother Lil’ P has a lot of stuff to show you for playtime. Why are you such a scaredy-cat?”The frightened Melissa continued to balk silently at Lil’ P, her expression betraying reluctance.Lil’ P was not the type to give up so soon. Quickly, he pulled out every single delicacy, snack, and toy he had been hoarding in secret. “Ooh, look! Do you want to play? I’ll let you have all these tasty snacks!”That succeeded in seducing Melissa for quite a bit. She briskly turned to Melanie with eyes inquiring for her opinion. Melanie placed her on the floor. “Go on. Have fun with Lil’ P.”At first, Melissa was still too timid to indulge, but it did not take a long time before she became accustomed enough that her inner predilection for rough and tumble play surfaced. Suddenl