The Price of His Affair: Groveling For My ForgivenessChapter 2

While I arranged for Mom's cremation, he was still with Sophia.

I brought her ashes home, packed up her belongings. The housekeeper watched my strange behavior, looking confused.

Just then, Ethan sent a gift via the bridal shop staff: two more wedding dresses.

He specifically included a message: one was an apology for the interrupted wedding, the other compensation for taking Mom's wheelchair.

As the dresses were fully displayed, the young employee gushed, practically seeing pink bubbles around me:

"Mrs. Jiang— Oh, I mean, soon-to-be Mrs. Evans— your fiancé bought out our entire new collection for you! You are so lucky."

My face was blank. Inside, I just wanted to break down and sob.

They didn't know. This was just Ethan's routine compensation after hurting me.

My eyes were empty as I watched them hang the dresses on hangers number 96 and 97.

An entire room filled with wedding dresses, with only the last two hangers in the corner remaining empty.

I looked away. I knew I'd be leaving soon.

I placed the urn and Mom's belongings on the table in the sunroom.

I quickly packed a suitcase.

Just as I put the suitcase by the wall, Ethan returned with Sophia. He was carrying lots of supplements he'd bought for Mom.

He was always so thoughtful, so considerate.

For a hazy moment, it almost felt like the man who had coldly watched my mother die wasn't him at all.

But the next second, conflict erupted.

Sophia's sharp eyes spotted the urn. She let out a sudden, piercing scream as if terrified.

Her "depressive episode" flared up. She reached out and swatted the urn off the table.

The ceramic box shattered, scattering ashes all over the floor.

My vision turned red. I lunged forward, shoving Sophia away, screaming uncontrollably:

"Get away! Don't touch my mom!"

Sophia shrank back into Ethan's arms, sobbing.

"I'm sorry, sister, my depression acted up again... But do you hate me that much? Did you deliberately buy a fake dead person prop and put it here just to scare me?"

Ethan, instantly furious and protective of Sophia, unleashed a torrent of accusations at me:

"Chloe, you know Sophia has depression! Did you buy this disgusting prop to scare her to death? You're truly malicious! Apologize right now!"

"If you know what's good for you, I might still agree to reschedule the wedding. Otherwise, forget about your mom ever seeing you get married!"

Scrambling on the floor, trying to gather the ashes back into the broken container, I screamed back at him, my voice raw with anguish:

"Ethan, these are my mother's ashes!"

Ethan grew up in a single-parent household; he never had a mother.

Ever since we got together, my mom treated him like her own son.

He used to help out at her little dumpling stand every day. When she was bedridden for long periods, he patiently cared for her.

He treated my mom like his own mother. Hearing this, surely he'd react somehow, right?

But after a brief pause, a mocking smile twisted his lips:

"Sophia said your mom isn't dead. What are you pretending for? Besides, she's your mom, not mine. Even if she did die, what's it got to do with me?"

Sophia suddenly clutched her head and started crying dramatically, her words utterly vile:

"Sister, why are you lying to frame me? Auntie just called me last night, calling me a bitch and a whore, telling me to stay away from Ethan."

"It's true, I'm sick, I'm shameless, I'm pathetic for clinging to Ethan. I should just listen to Auntie and go die..."

My mom died two days ago.

She was blatantly lying, slandering my dead mother!

Yet, Ethan believed this outrageous lie.

"You're lying—" I shot back, but my fury was cut short as Ethan kicked me, sending me sprawling.

"Chloe, how can you and your mother be so disgusting? If you don't apologize to Sophia today, don't even think about getting up!"

My head hit the wall. Blood trickled down. I stared at him, my gaze filled with deathly stillness.

Seeing the blood, he faltered for a second, then changed his tone slightly:

"Forget it. Look at you, bleeding all over. Don't be an eyesore here, you'll just upset Sophia."

Sophia, Sophia, his mind was filled with Sophia. Fine. Let him spend the rest of his life with Sophia!

Gritting my teeth, I gathered the broken urn and ashes, went upstairs, and back to my room.

Behind me, a soft voice drifted up:

"Ethan, will sister be upset now that she's been exposed?"

"She brought it on herself. What right does she have to be upset!"

I slammed the door shut, finally blocking out the mockery from outside.

My dad died young. Mom raised me alone, working tirelessly at her street stall.

And I couldn't even protect her ashes. They were thrown on the ground by someone else.

Maybe this was Mom's way of telling me from heaven that it was time to let go of all this entanglement, that I couldn't stay here any longer.

After crying silently for a long time, I picked up the calendar from the desk.

I circled today's date and marked it with the number 98.

The door opened quietly sometime later. Ethan tiptoed over to my side.

Before I could close the calendar, he snatched it away.

Ethan frowned, looking at the red circle that had nearly torn through the paper. Annoyance flickered in his eyes.

"What's this circle around 98 supposed to mean?"