Beyond the Divorce by Third Blossom

Since it was my first time eating onion rings around Atlas, I wondered how he knew I liked my onion rings like that.
He raised a brow and lowered his gaze, saying, “It was just a guess. I had a playmate who liked eating onion rings the same way
when I was a kid. She used to stay at my house for meals.”
I looked at him and thought about the photo of the real Stella. I asked, “Are you referring to Stella?”
This time, he looked surprised instead of me. He looked at me and asked, “How do you know it’s Stella? Did you remember
something?”
I noticed him scrutinizing me, which made me somewhat doubtful, especially with his follow-up question. I asked, “ What do you
mean by ‘did I remember something?”
He smiled when I asked that. “I didn’t mean it like that. I was just curious how you know Stella. Not the Stella you met, though.”
‘Yes, I found out about her,” I confessed, “I told Grayson to look into it, and he found a photo.”
Atlas frowned at me. “What photo?”

I regretted saying that, unsure if it was okay to be so open. I had pried into Atlas’s privacy, especially the Pierces’ privacy, which

was highly offensive. I grew nervous, explaining incoherently, “I-I didn’t mean to offend you by prying. It’s just that... I discovered

it by accident.”

“It's okay, I don’t blame you. I want you to understand me more so you can trust me.” Atlas picked up another onion ring with his

fork and passed it to me. “Eat. We'll talk slowly.”

I felt relieved when he said that. I took my phone, found the photo, and passed it to him. “This is the photo. Grayson told me

she’s the real Stella.”

He froze when he saw the photo. A moment later, he said, “ You found this?”

the next one. It’s the writing behind the photo.” I observed his expression and felt the

him.

said, “This

I asked

Avila is Rory’s wife and the real Stella’s mom.” Atlas's eyes dimmed as he continued to stare at those few words.

looked up at me. However, he quickly regained

looking into this?”

about the Pierce family when I first got to know

When you told me about your parents’ plane crash having more to it,

comments about it.”

ruffled my hair smilingly,

had heard that phrase before, but didn't

she tricked me into surprising you on your birthday. She mentioned Rory at that

hear that name,” I explained,

continued, “Stella talked about Rory in great detail, saying