30 Days Till I Divorce My Husband

Chapter 124

Staring blankly at Jason for what felt like an eternity. Estrella finally blinked back tears and offered him a cold, hollow smile. “Jason, we’re square,’ she said, her voice tinged with a frosty edge.

All the fights she’d stood by him in, the homework she’d done for him, everything… It had all come crashing down with that one slap

After she spoke, she brushed past Jason, leaving him behind as tears streamed uncontrollably down her cheeks. Nineteen years of knowing him, and this was the culmination. She had to watch him be with someone else and feel the sting of his hand across her face.

Estrella was never one to start trouble or throw around harsh words. She was always more inclined to talk things out and negotiate. But sometimes, we must admit, our circumstances and those around us drive us to the brink of madness.

People push you to say things you’d never want to say and do things you never thought you’d do, to the point where you might not even recognize yourself in the mirror or feel like you’re on the verge of breaking.

If Jason hadn’t shoved her that day, if he hadn’t grabbed her face so harshly and interrogated her with such icy detachment, she wouldn’t have exploded in anger and said those things.

If he hadn’t come to her and had that fight, if she hadn’t felt the burn of his slap…

But life is devoid of ‘ifs,’ and what’s done is done.

Sometimes, all we need is a hug and a few understanding words, and everything could be different.

Overwhelmed by memories, Estrella gazed out at the moon and touched her cheek, still feeling the heat of the slap. So much so that the memory of it still felt hot and painful, as did the memory of her back hitting the rails. She knew she could never get close to Jason again after that.

Unbeknownst to her, disaster struck when Holly was caught in a terrible fire and didn’t make it through the surgery. She certainly didn’t expect the soothsayers to come out of the woodwork with their ominous predictions, nor did she anticipate that his family would come knocking for a marriage proposal, and least of all, Jason would agree to it.

to torture them both, to ensure neither could

buckling under her parents’ pressure, she agreed to the marriage. She had thought that maybe with a little effort, or if they both tried just a bit harder, they could get through life, turning a blind eye to their problems. But Jason wasn’t on the

the Nelson family had exerted dome pressure, as he’d said himself – a divorce would benefit neither of

deeply and withdrew her gaze from the window, looking down at the diamond ring on her finger. She tried to remove

master bedroom, she realized she and Jason were the

head back to her room when the door to the study

Jason appeared.

greeted him, “You’re up too?”

bare feet, asked,

the rack with a couple of spare slippers and

over, and Estrella turned back to the window, murmuring,

her, glanced out the window, then back at her, noticing the reddish mark around her ring finger. He knew without asking that she had tried to remove the ring but hadn’t

and offered a light-hearted explanation, “I’ve gained weight. It doesn’t

He understood that despite Estrella’s outward composure, she was deeply affected by the past, especially the slap. Some

time, Estrella’s heart grew numb, but nothing compared to the pain of that first slap. Her patience and affection seemed to have been eroded

long silence, Jason asked,

old dream. Feels like it happened in another

dream had been about. Otherwise, she

and Estrella, looking at the moon, said bluntly, “That shove of yours hurt like hell. I ended up

skipped a beat, realizing the severity