All Chapters of No Room for Forgiveness: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

I had the worst argument to date with Elliot.It ended with him swiping everything off the table and shouting at me, “Anne, quit suspecting me! Nothing is going on between me and Zelda!”I silently put away the lipstick I found inside his shirt pocket. It was a limited-edition lipstick from a luxury brand, which was very difficult to find. I could tell someone had used it. I sighed desolately. “Could you at least control yourself in front of our child?”He slapped my wrist and made me drop the lipstick to the ground. His strike left a bright red imprint of his palm on my skin.“I’m sick of living like this. You can do whatever you want from now on.”With that, he grabbed his coat and walked out, slamming the door behind him as he left. The sound of the door slamming shut was so loud that it made my ears throb.I squatted meekly on the ground to clean up the mess he left behind.That was when my daughter, who was only five years old, ran out of the bedroom. She gently hugged me a

I was disgusted by the sight of how smug Zelda and her son looked.At this point, I was done with seeing them affectionate with each other. Besides, I was still worried about Ava, who was at home.When I got back home again, Ava was still next to my body. Her eyes were red like she had just cried. She even brought her favorite bunny plushie to my side. The bunny was made of cheap material that caught dust, and I had always forbade her from sleeping with it because of hygiene concerns.To convince her to give it to me, I would tell her that I liked the bunny too so that she would hand it over. It was usually not very effective. She would cry and throw a round of tantrums before finally relenting.And now, she lifted my arm that had turned stiff and stuffed her most precious bunny into my hands.She then murmured, “Mommy, you can have Bunny. I don’t want it anymore. Please don’t be angry at me.”She then wrapped herself around my arms. “Mommy, you can sleep with Bunny. Will you for

Ava's fever was getting worse by the minute. She hugged my arm and mumbled while dozing off.“Mommy, why doesn't Daddy care about us? Does he not want us anymore?”I wouldn’t manage to answer the question even if I was still alive. I wanted to tell her that none of this was her fault. The only reason her father was being so cruel was that he did not love Mommy anymore.He had fallen for Zelda. Even if Max was not from his flesh, he still doted on him. His problem was not with Ava specifically, but only with the fact that she was a child he had with me.Ava curled herself into a ball, appearing frail. Despite that, she was very headstrong and stayed by my side.Around midday, a gleam of sunlight shone into the room. Several beads of sweat glistened on her forehead. She held my hand which had gone cold for a long time, then she started to cry.“Mommy, I'm so hungry. I feel terrible. Mommy, please wake up. I miss you.”She was suffering from the terrible heat sweltering inside her

Eliott pulled Max so close to him that the stubble of his beard scratched against the boy’s face. He told him off, “You little brat, did you think I taught you how to use the toy gun so you can shoot me with it?”Max turned away, refusing to look at him, and huffed, “Anyone who makes my mommy cry is my enemy!”Eliott was humored by how headstrong the boy was and suddenly chuckled. He playfully pinched Max’s nose before announcing, “Alright, I will take you two on a trip.”Now that Zelda and Max had finally extracted the answer they wanted from Eliott, they went back to their room to pack their luggage.Meanwhile, Eliott who stayed on the balcony reached for his phone. His fingers hovered across his message logs with me. Apart from Ava’s call, it had been three days since I last contacted him.In the past, I was always the first to make peace with him no matter how severe our argument. I did it for Ava's sake. Even if Eliott was the one in the wrong, he made a show of graciously fo

Eliott put on his windbreaker and rushed back to town.As soon as he was gone, Zelda revealed her true colors. She collapsed on the floor in the hotel room and yelled hysterically, “Anne, I hate you! I hope you die a miserable death!”While Eliott was in the taxi on the way to the airport, he finally took the initiative to call me for the first time in days.Other than being earthquake-proof, fortunately, our home was not located in the epicenter of the earthquake, thus it was not hit very hard.Ava was still passed out and could not sense the faint vibration of the phone ringing.When nobody picked up his call, Eliott began to panic. He called again and again, his fingers beginning to tremble.Finally, Ava was awakened by the continuous buzzing of the phone. When she read the name of the caller on the screen, the look in her eyes remained as dim as ever. In the past, this was the person she regarded as her dearest. Eliott used to be a central pillar in her life. She had always