Who's Crying Now, Ex-Husband?

Chapter 282

The fog lifted.

Suddenly, everything became clear-clearer than it had ever been.

Two hours later.

Howard had been waiting outside the entire time, growing more anxious as the minutes ticked by and no one emerged. Just as he finally decided to push open the door, it swung inward from the other side.

Mila staggered out, her face ashen and her eyes vacant, on the verge of collapse. Howard rushed forward, catching her before she could fall.

"Ms. Sutherland? Ms. Sutherland?"

The sound of her name seemed to reach Mila through a haze. She tried to answer, but the world spun, darkness closing in, and she crumpled in his arms.

"Ms. Sutherland! Ms. Sutherland!"

Panic flickered across Howard's face as he gathered her up and hurried outside. The doctor later said she'd fainted from sitting too long, combined with emotional shock. On the drive to the hospital, Mila regained consciousness halfway there.

She insisted the driver turn the car around and head back to Bamboo Grove.

"I'm fine just a little low blood sugar," she explained, managing a faint smile. "I just need to rest. No need for the hospital."

After reassuring Forrest over the phone, Mila hesitated for a long moment before finally broaching what was really on her mind.

"Forrest, could you... play the piano for me tonight?"

the other end, then Forrest's gentle voice came through. "If you want to hear it, of course I'd play. But tonight might not

the truth. It wasn't just tonight—not

fingers broken and covered in scars. She bit her lip,

up

asking Howard to keep an eye on the child, and locked herself in the bathroom. She didn't come out until

the time she reappeared, her face was

said nothing about what had happened. She tucked the child into bed as usual, woke them gently when sleepwalking threatened in the night,

was exactly as it had always been-unremarkable,

from the villa grounds. Then, without a word to anyone,

She went alone.

second floor, Mila pulled the cloth cover from a dressmaker's mannequin and revealed a tailored

and sewn it herself

three grueling months of work, she couldn't

was no

a few other keepsakes: a cheap wedding band abandoned in the bedroom, a small robotic toy Lysander had given her on their wedding night,

them on the table and sat down, staring at

little it was almost laughable, just like

was nothing but a

hollow laugh. Shaking her head, she stood up, went to the kitchenette, and fetched a kitchen knife, setting it carefully on the table. Then she sent a message to Lysander, including

waiting for you. There are things I need

to end things

April 4th-Palm Sunday.

were bursting with new green buds, the world washed clean by a gentle spring rain that filled the air with