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 writing behind the photo.” I observed his expression and felt

him.

at it and said, “This is Aunt Lucille’s

Lucille?” I asked

as he continued to stare at those few

However, he quickly regained his

looking into this?”

about the Pierce family when I first got to know her. She

parents’ plane crash having more to it, I paid closer attention to

comments about it.”

ruffled my hair smilingly, “Still as clever as

feeling like I had heard that phrase before, but didn't dwell

mentioned Rory at that time. I don’t know why, but I

name,” I explained, focusing on Atlas’s expressionless

had guessed wrongly. I continued, “Stella talked about Rory in great