Devil Ex-Husband, Get Away

The sun beamed its radiance all through the glass windows, giving the house a warm and illuminated view, which rarely happens.

Emily, dressed in an apron, heaved a deep breath as she wiped the beads of sweat lurking on her forehead using her arm. But then, as she looked at the perfectly baked apple pie, she couldn't help but smile wider.

'This is going to be the best day! I am sure Roger will love it,' she thought.

"Ma'am, do you want me to help you prepare the other dishes?" A maid suddenly came and asked with a glowing smile on her lips.

Chuckling, Emily shook her head. Then, she looked at her, saying, "There's no need. It's Roger and I's second anniversary, so I want to prepare everything myself. Thank you, though."

Amused, the maid nodded in respect and left.

The sun's rays had already been intense, making Emily look at the display clock in the living room.

'It was already eleven thirty?' she inwardly asked. 'It's fine. I still have time to prepare everything until dinner,' she thought and quickly went to prepare red wine on the table she had already decorated a while ago.

Emily watched how the red wine poured and circled in the glasses as the thought of Roger coming back before dinner excited her.

Today marked Roger's arrival from a month-long business trip. She told him she would prepare a feast for their second anniversary, and he replied, saying he would return home before dinner.

Hence, Emily exerted all of her efforts to make everything possible.

Once done, she smiled and drew herself backward for a moment. A profound sense of accomplishment lingered in her heart as she stared at Roger's favorite dishes that she had prepared and fancily placed on the table.

There was fish and chips, steak and apple pie.

Emily and Roger grew up together, and when they graduated, she finally married him.

She was living her dream!

However, as Roger gradually devoted himself to his career, he soon neglected her more and more without any known reason.

Suddenly, Emily's eyes slowly fell into her belly, wrapped and supported by her hands.

Since she was pregnant, she believed their relationship would gradually get better and that he would start treating her as his wife.

Her pregnancy, she thought, could be an excellent chance to redeem their once trouble-free connection.

Emily sat at the table and placed her elbow on the surface, her dreamy face buried in her upright hand.

A smile soon flashed to her lips as a happy and warm future with Roger played in her brain.

As time passed right before her eyes, the door she had her eyes on still never opened. Hours continued ticking forward with her sitting expectantly there, waiting for her husband to come home, to eat dinner with her, even just this time after a month of being on a business trip.

After a while, Emily's eyes had already whitened. Three hours had already passed since she sat. Her lovely eyes started to become gloomy, and even the smile on her face started fading.

Her downcast eyes stared at the cold dishes on the table as she called Roger again, but he didn't answer, just like earlier.

Concerned, the maid that asked her earlier came back. "You've already waited long enough, ma'am. You need to rest. Sir Roger might not come."

Her eyes were full of worry, but Emily forced a smile on her lips. "Don't worry about me. I'll wait for him, even until morning." She chuckled and reclined on the chair, stretching her curved back from too much sitting. "Maybe he was just stuck in a traffic jam."

The maid wanted to open her mouth to say something, but she quickly stopped herself from doing so. She was just a maid, after all.

As much as she didn't want to see Emily draining herself that much from a man who had been ignoring and neglecting her lately, she was in no position to intervene.

Without any more words, the maid went back to her work.

Emily, understanding as always, prayed for her husband's safety, worried that he may have been through a lot on the way.

Halfway through her silence, a small, faint voice suddenly sounded from the porch, making her excitedly run over to the door. She smiled and was about to hug Roger tight, but she suddenly froze on the spot when she saw the woman beside Roger.

'Fannie?' The corner of her smile melted.

Questions surged in her mind, thinking, 'Why did the woman I saved and the woman whom Roger loved deeply here?'

'Isn't she being treated abroad?' Emily confusedly asked herself as her eyes couldn't stay on just one of them.

"Emily! Long time no see! Nice to see you!" Fannie smiled and gently greeted her.

Upon hearing her words, Emily was suddenly brought back to reality. She smiled at her. "Fannie... nice to see you too." Even though her heart seemed dragged down, she still forced herself to speak.

Emily was suddenly brought back to reality upon hearing the woman's words. Helpless, she smiled at her. "Fannie... nice to see you too," she kindly greeted.

Despite her heartbeat suddenly giving rise to terrible ideas in her head, Emily still composed herself and looked at her husband, saying, "Roger, I prepared a bunch of food for you. I cooked your favorites! Shall we eat—"

"No. I'm full," Roger quickly refused.

The facade Emily put on her face as soon as she saw Fannie stiffened like a corpse's look. Roger's words didn't help either as they struck her heart like sharpened blades.

Gathering all her strength, Emily gulped and stared at the man's cold eyes, then at Fannie beside him, who was noticeably too close to her husband.

"Something is not right here,' she thought.

Roger had already promised her they would eat the dinner she had prepared. However, it turned out that he had already eaten with Fannie outside.

With all the confusion going on in her head, Emily quivered to the extent of deflecting her husband's unusual cold gaze.

"Shall we talk?" Roger suddenly stated, which made her forcefully look at him.

Emily nodded and bit her lower lip to suppress her nervousness. "O-Okay."

She didn't know what had happened or was about to happen, but a strange idea kept flooding her mind.

"Go upstairs and have a rest. I'll be there shortly," Roger said as he turned to Fannie. He looked at her with a gentle gaze Emily had never seen from his eyes in the two years of their marriage.

Because of that, Emily felt like all his "I love you" were only empty words. He couldn't even gaze at her as gently as he looked at Fannie.

For the last time, Emily smiled at Fannie before the latter went upstairs.

Emily, on the contrary, prepared to go to the living room but stopped mid-way. She turned to Roger, smiled, and asked, "Do you want an apple pie? I specially made it for you."

But then, Roger only shook his head and replied, "No." Then, he sat on the sofa without looking at her.

Emily moved and followed him, but she intentionally slowed her pace. She tried gathering her strength and courage to face the unusualness of the man in front of her.

Her heart beat so hard, not because she was flustered about having him by her side, but because of the uneasiness running through her veins.

Before she could even sit beside the man, she heard him speak, causing her to freeze right in her spot.

"Let's get a divorce," Roger coldly remarked.

He only said four words, but they were long enough to shatter Emily into pieces. Her heart fell into chaos, her jaw sagged, and she couldn't move even an inch.

Roger's voice lacked warmth, giving Emily an impression of him never taking his words back.

Still in disbelief, Emily slowly walked toward Roger and stood right before him as soon as she regained herself. "You want to divorce me? What kind of prank is this, Roger?" she asked as her voice trembled. Still, she tried to squeeze a smile on her lips.

For once, Roger locked his eyes on her. "Do you think I'm pranking you?" The corner of his lips curved up, full of mockery and ridicule. His eyes even seemed bored to death just looking at her.

Emily seemed to lose all the energy in her body. "W-Why?"

Tangled confusion ran through her brain's neurons, scrutinizing her depths about why this suddenly happened.

For the two years of their marriage, she never, even for once, failed in her duty as a wife. She did everything he asked, so she didn't know what had gone wrong.

"Why?" Roger snickered and shook his head. "You should ask your parents about what they did two years ago!"

Emily's eyebrows arched. "What did they do?"

Roger stood up. His muscular figure blocked the light, darkening her eyes for a moment.

Emily looked up and locked her gaze on him with his brown eyes only full of disgust.

"They forced me to marry you, which was a big mistake!"

Emily quickly stepped back involuntarily upon hearing his unkind words. She shook her head and looked at him incredulously. "H-How could that be possible?"

Roger stepped forward, prompting Emily to stride back. "Do you remember when you saved Fannie? That comes with consequences—threats, Emily!" He kept walking until he finally cornered her to the wall. His nostrils were flaring, but Emily was already shrinking in her stance. "They said that they won't save her if I don't marry you! They also threatened to ruin my company—all of my business!"

Emily gulped as her eyes heated and tears lurked inside them.

"But, surprise! My business has been improving in the past two years, and the opposite has been happening to yours. It was already so close to its grave!"

Over the past two years, Emily watched how Roger strived. He worked until midnight, and he became even more of a workaholic. And as soon as he achieved his goal, he started acting differently toward her.

Roger used to come with Emily to their house, but now that she had thought about it, he had not done it for half a year.

Emily bit her lower lip as she gathered all her courage to look Roger in the eyes. "You hate my parents so much, but you kept going home to me as if nothing wrong was going on."

Lips quivering, she asked, "So, was everything a mere act?"