Who's Crying Now, Ex-Husband?

Chapter 341

"Don't be afraid."

His lips pressed against hers, swallowing her trembling sobs with undeniable force.

In the empty music room, the broken, discordant notes of the piano echoed for what felt like forever. If you listened closely, you could still hear the girl's shattered cries woven through the chaos.

Her pale, delicate skin was pressed against the black and white keys, the music dissolving into a wild tangle of sound. She was gasping, eyes glazed, as if something vital had been torn from her chest and cast into darkness, leaving her nothing but a blurry shadow of herself. She didn't love the piano anymore.

After that day,

For a long time, Mila was afraid whenever she saw a piano. Even when the fear faded, she never touched the keys again. Her aversion was etched into her very bones.

...

And after that,

She stopped going to that dark room as often.

But in its place came something stranger-Lysander's obsession. He'd press her up against familiar and unfamiliar places alike, chasing fleeting moments of pleasure.

On the balcony, in the kitchen... sometimes even in a private theater or an empty amusement park-places she and Forrest had once visited together.

Those pure, happy memories were overwritten, replaced by desire, until even recalling them left her feeling unspeakably ashamed.

She found herself recoiling from the memories they'd shared.

How humiliating.

Gradually, those days faded into the past.

Time slipped by in a blur of chaos, until New Year's Eve arrived. Mila sat curled up

window seat, staring

sky. Families gathered

A new beginning.

A new life.

she had no family-only

turned high. She wore nothing but a sheer white dress, and without thinking pressed her hand to the cold glass, her breath fogging up a circle. She traced a smiley face in

on her shoulders. Short, dark hair brushed her cheek,

She froze.

holidays? Why was Lysander here,

voice was low, almost pleading. "Don't move. Just... let me stay like this, for a

So she didn't move.

at once, Mila stiffened. She felt something hot and wet on her neck-tears.

Lysander was crying?

always seemed in control, unshakable, relentless-was he

She didn't dare move.

she treat me like this whenever she gets ill? She forgets me, doesn't recognize me, hates me. I'm her child-why doesn't she see

but her

she'd ever heard Lysander talk about his family, as strange and unreadable as he

even he

never-ending fireworks. Even the brightest burst only lasted a moment before fading away. No matter how beautiful, nothing

up the sky, and she heard his voice, sharp and

Mila. Please just hold

"I'm so tired."

on New Year's Eve? Or something deeper, carved into her from long

mind was a

She didn't know.

Slowly, Mila turned,

her hands. The kaleidoscope of fireworks cast