Goodbye, Mr. Regret

Chapter 1

As soon as she closed the car door, the world's noise vanished.

Jessica Greene stared at the liver cancer diagnosis in her lap, her hazel eyes rimmed red. The paper trembled in her hands, crumpling beneath her grip.

The doctor had told her she'd missed the window for surgery-six months left, at best.

Today was the school's annual parent-child event. Out of the blue, Timothy

Lawson had told her she should come.

Seven years had passed since the day Timothy, once the untouchable darling of high society, became her husband.

In all those years, he'd never once brought her to a public event.

Once upon a time, that invitation would have sent her over the moon.

Even the housekeeper had beamed when she heard the news. "Mrs. Lawson, looks like Mr. Lawson finally wants to make things official!"

No one knew that ever since Jessica discovered his secret, she'd been quietly getting her affairs in order, preparing to leave him.

She hadn't planned to go to the school event at all.

But she couldn't bear the thought of disappointing her son.

She could shut Timothy out of her heart, but she couldn't do the same to Henry- the little boy she'd carried for nine long months.

Arriving at the school, Jessica took a notepad from her purse and wrote a neat line before handing it to the security guard.

Hello, I'm Henry Lawson's mom from Class 1-3. I'm here for the parent-child event -could you please let me in?

swept

was understated to begin with; with a bit

knew how kids were. They always wanted their mom to look her

guard arched an eyebrow. "Can't you

smiled and

hadn't been born mute. Years ago, after a devastating trauma, she'd lost her voice. By now, she

the sign-in sheet, scanning it

over.

he thought. Too

sharpened. "Henry's parents already signed in. You can't just pretend to

wrote, Henry is my son. There's

sign-in sheet toward her and jabbed a finger at Henry's name.

seized as she read the names in the parent signature

used to the sneers and sideways

chest felt

guard's

was the name scrawled in

trying

never met Sheila, but once, while tidying Timothy's study, she'd found a slip of paper tucked beneath the desk. Sheila's name had

over.

woman's intuition had told her everything she needed to

Sheila's last name

Timothy had insisted on the name Henry-another

Today, Jessica's decision to divorce

apart from caring for Henry, she'd poured her

heard Timothy's name, their politeness turned chilly. They'd usher her out

matter anymore. In six months,