Sweet Divorce

Liam was surprising Rita today. She couldn’t resist the urge to glance at him some more.

Whether it was an illusion or not, she felt that she wasn’t the only one who had changed.

He seemed to have changed as well.

Not as cold as before, a little more talkative.

“What, is there anything on my face?” Maybe she’d lapsed off for too long. Liam’s voice rang out in her ear.

Rita put the rose down and picked up her bag. “I’ve got something important to take care of.”

She’d agreed on three days with Jason, and today was the first.

If she even didn’t go to school, she also have no time to waste.

She had to take control of the situation, or she wouldn’t make it in time.

Looking at her silhouette hurrying away, Liam’s bright eyes dimmed slightly.

Zoe saw his depressed state for what it was.

She looked at the independent girl in the distance and chuckled as she turned to the man before her. “That Rita… don’t mind her, Liam. I’ve spoiled her out of manners.”

“It’s fine.”

The man took a sip of porridge and froze.

This taste… seemed to be Rita’s work.

He raised his eyes to gaze at a mild-tempered Zoe, “This porridge is great. Did you make it?”

“Not me. Rita did.”

It really was her.

He lowered his head and took another sip. The nostalgic flavor spread across his taste buds and lifted the corners of his mouth into an uncontrollable smile.

The sensation was like a small child finally tasting a long-desired piece of candy. The happiness in his heart was practically spilling out.

Maybe he’d just gone too long without having the porridge she made, but he downed the full thing in one sitting.

Didn’t leave a single speck of grain at the bottom.

After Rita left, Zoe kept Liam around for a long chat.

Mostly funny stories, like how Rita messed around climbing walls and trees when she was little.

“Look here, Liam. This box is full of pictures of when she was small. That skinhead cut makes her look like a boy, ha.”

Liam’s dark eyes scanned the photographs inside, but fell focused on a dairy.

There was a sketched design of a small mansion inside when he picked it up and opened it.

On the bottommost of the yellowed drawing paper was a line written in an elegant hand-

“No regrets now that the path is chosen.”

With a date marked alongside it.

Wasn’t that the day they’d gotten engaged?

He still remembered when the old man had discussed the matter of their bridal home.

The old man had allowed her to choose the location, design and layout of the bridal home in the spirit of the occasion. Rita had been overjoyed then. It was just that later on, he’d picked the house they had now of his own volition.

This sketch must have been the bridal home she’d designed back then. A place just for the two of them.

Looking at the drawing, Liam fell deep into thought.

It was a long time before he put the drawing away, left the Brown household and drove straight to the F City bay area.

“Whew… what’s the rush to get me out here, Liam?” Jacob panted, looking at the tall man in front of him. “I haven’t even eaten lunch yet. It’s your treat!”

towards the bay area, where the clear coastline shimmered with a sapphire hue, and spoke only two words. “Five

confused. What was this about

land rights to the bay

of Jacob’s mouth

Five days?

get the rights to this entire stretch

How was that possible.

might as well tell me to go steal

is it too much to ask?” Liam shot a look

bit, who thought that Liam had finally listened to his conscience

“Yeah, it’s too much. Way too much. I can’t get

“Okay… four days, then.”

would give him a few more days to try,

I don’t see a certificate in four days, I’ll feed

Liam the Fascist!

***

two days had passed since the arrangement

clearly

book. “We’ve sat around here doing nothing for two days, girly. If we still

raised her head

“My name. You

Rita Brown?

coincidence, her

she somehow related

was sure

related to the Brown

the company with just a word from upstairs. They

Brown, our time’s coming up soon, so shouldn’t we do something?” Nathan

a casual

be done for if

and passed Nathan her phone, where a video was playing. “You know how Bella Colt’s husband Raymond is going to

“Yeah.”

Of course Nathan knew.

Colt was a hot topic who came up on online searches

he’d seen the news early in

public declaration

Rita said, glancing at the building opposite theirs. Right now,

that got to do with

walked towards

was curious about the girl before him, but didn’t dare

all he had right

if he had gone mad putting his fate

thinking back, he’d find that the best thing he’d done all his life was to

mask, and

it, Nathan was actually the most innocent victim

Raymond and Bella’s marriage had long since fallen apart. It had only been maintained up to this point to keep up their

them had always had

the autonomy that a divorce would net him, which was why he’d gotten someone to tail

get Bella to back out of the marriage while leaving all of

and accused

past life, the couple had

argued fiercely, but were united in their

hadn’t thought that their negotiation

had wanted to use the recording to blackmail Raymond into marrying her, but Raymond had only wanted to solve the problem by throwing money at her. After a few exchanges, the

the secretary had released the recording, and the truth

name, what she had to do was find the

a chance to get close to that girl, then plant something on

sneak into Raymond’s

this stuff… don’t look around, I’m talking

about for opportunities, someone approached

press conference

Rita’s

she was looking for a

could

clothes and makeup kit, and went

taken barely a few steps