Chapter 3: A Choice Between Past and Present

I didn’t expect Zachary to come to see me.

"Are you here to finalize the divorce?" I asked him in the hospital garden.

He looked at me deeply, his eyes as bright as ever.

"I’m here to take you home," he replied.

"My home is here, where my parents and Frank are," I said calmly.

"Erik needs you," he insisted.

"No. He needed me before, but not anymore. His biological mother has returned. He likes her more, doesn’t he?"

Charlee posted about her daily life with Erik on Instagram every single day.

"I met a little boy at my crush’s house. We like each other so much."

"When he called me Mom, his voice was so soft and sweet. My heart melted."

"His mother abandoned him. I seem to have become the mother he always dreamed of."

It was utterly ridiculous.

Erik was her biological son, yet she pretended she had never met him.

Perhaps she was trying to maintain her flawless public image.

She had millions of followers online.

Beautiful, highly educated, wealthy, and independent—she represented the perfect modern woman.

In a world where independence and feminism were trending, she stood at the top.

Yet her fans didn’t know the truth.

They didn’t know she had given birth at nineteen.

They didn’t know she had abandoned her autistic child.

"Charlee is inexperienced. She can’t take care of Erik," Zachary said flatly. "Come back with me. I’ll give you money."

I didn’t want to go back.

Fifty thousand dollars a month was a lot, but I cherished the peaceful life I had now.

I had a job.

I could support myself and stay with my family.

The doctor had already warned me.

Frank’s condition had worsened.

His organs could fail at any moment.

He might only have two years left.

"I’ll give you one hundred thousand dollars a month," Zachary said.

I shook my head.

"Two hundred thousand? Three hundred thousand? Five hundred thousand..." he continued.

But no matter how much he offered, it didn’t matter anymore.

Frank was dying.

Money couldn’t change that.

I refused.

I turned to leave.

But suddenly, Zachary wrapped his arms around me from behind.

"Let me go!"

All the grievances I had suppressed burst out at once.

I struggled desperately.

But he held me tighter, as if trying to merge me into his very being.

"Aren’t you happy being my wife?" he asked coldly.

He had always been like this.

His words were distant and emotionless, as if he were speaking to a stranger.

Yet his embrace was firm and unyielding.

Tears blurred my vision.

The streetlights ahead turned into flickering fireflies.

I wasn’t happy.

My happiness existed only in my college years.

Back then, I followed one of the most brilliant female scholars in the country.

I studied feminism with passion.

I traveled to rural areas with like-minded companions to rescue abducted women.

We hid in the grass, keeping watch.

Fireflies danced around us.

Mosquitoes bit us relentlessly until our skin itched all over.

But we endured it.

After a long wait, we finally gathered evidence.

We exposed everything online.

The incident caused a nationwide uproar.

In the end, we successfully rescued those women.

At that time, I was full of dreams.

I was compassionate.

And I was happy.

But now...

I had completely lost myself.

My former friends despised me.

They said I had fallen from grace.

From a feminist pioneer to a woman who sacrificed everything for her brother.

To them, I was nothing but a gold digger.

They were ashamed to even know me.

To be honest, I despised myself too.

Everything changed that night when I was twenty-three.

If that incident had never happened...

I might still be living my dream.

I would still be free and independent.

I would still be fighting for my beliefs.

I wouldn’t have sacrificed everything for my brother.

I wouldn’t have entered the Mason family.

I wouldn’t have met Zachary.

And I certainly wouldn’t have married a man who didn’t love me.

Still holding me tightly, Zachary spoke in a low voice.

"Come back with me. After the divorce, I’ll have my assistant send you home."

I hesitated for a moment.

Then I agreed.

Because all I wanted now…

was to end this marriage as soon as possible.