Chapter 6
I sent Rafael a few photos along with a message. “Rafael, I’ve always known. Stop pretending. We‘ re already divorced. Stop looking for me.”
There was silence at his end before he frantically tried to justify himself.
“I just made the same mistake every man in the world could make! That’s no reason for you to throw a tantrum.”
“And if I cheated, did you ever consider that you might be the reason?”
“I never signed any divorce papers! There’s no way we‘ re divorced. Don’t try to fool me with this.”
I coldly reminded him, “Rafael, you were the one who said, as long as I was willing to cook for Jenna, you’d even sign the divorce agreement.”
His voice faltered, tinged with disbelief:
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“No, I was just joking! I thought it was just an ordinary contract. This divorce doesn’t count. You can‘ t leave me!”
“Come back now. Don’t make me come and drag you back myself!”
“You‘ re still carrying our baby. I don‘ t believe you would dare to leave me!”
I looked down at my empty abdomen, tears welling up. “The baby?”
“Rafael, our child was gone the day you watched fireworks with Jenna!”
Rafael froze, his voice hoarse as he
shouted, “Impossible! How could you bear to get rid of our child?”
“That was a life, Lily! How could you be so
heartless?”
I ended the call, tears streaming down my face.
He knew I was pregnant. Yet he forced me to cook for Jenna. He even slapped me to avoid upsetting her and forced me to eat
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crab roe despite my allergies. Then he kicked me in the stomach.
He cheated on me during my pregnancy and still had the audacity to blame me.
Someone like him didn’t deserve to be a father.
What I didn’t expect was for Rafael to actually come abroad to find me.
In front of a crowd, he dragged me off the stage during a performance. His grip on my wrist was unrelenting.
“Lily, come home with me!” he demanded.
“What’s so great about this stupid piano?
Do you think playing it will get you anywhere?”
“I give you money so you can live comfortably at home, but you insist on running around and suffering.”
He would never understand how much the piano meant to me.
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Even in public, he never hesitated to humiliate me. His words cut me down in front of my colleagues and the audience. Nonetheless, Rafael didn’t care and refused to let me go.
But this time, one of my fellow performers stepped in, punching Rafael.
“Lily doesn’t want to go with you. Leave her alone!”
“You think we don‘ t know about all the terrible things you‘ ve done? A disgusting scumbag like you deserves to rot in hell. If I were Lily, I’d never forgive you in this lifetime.
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“She gave up the piano for you, and how did you repay her? Do you even understand how important it is to her? Have you ever supported her dreams?”
Rafael’s face turned red with anger and embarrassment. “She‘ s my wife. You have no right to interfere in our business.”
He looked at me, surrounded by my peers.
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“Lily, come here.”
I took a step forward.
My junior looked at me with
disappointment. “Lily, how could you—”
I interrupted, “Let me finish this
performance first, then we can talk. Is that okay?”
“Would you like to stay and watch?”
Reluctantly, Rafael nodded.
Back on stage, I played with all my heart. The performance ended with thunderous. applause.
As the audience dispersed, I saw Rafael still sitting in the empty theater, lost in thought.
He had once told me that the first time he saw me, he was mesmerized by the way I played the piano.