"The parent-child field day is something your daddy should go to with you. If your uncle goes instead, your daddy will be upset!"

Silas immediately shot me a look of disgust.

"I don't want him there. He only makes ten thousand dollars a year. When my classmates ask, I'm too embarrassed to even say it!"

So in my own son's eyes, my job was nothing but a source of shame.

My mother-in-law chimed in:

"You graduated from a top university and you work at a bank. If you go to the field day for Silas, even his teachers will think more highly of him. Just go. Lucas won't mind!"

I turned to look at Leona, sitting motionless on the couch.

Her son and her mother were talking about me like this. As my wife, shouldn't she stand up and say something on my behalf?

If she would just speak up for me, then I...

Leona stood and walked over to me. She cupped my face, her voice soft:

"Come on, stop making a scene."

"See? It's not just me who thinks you can't measure up to Herman. Children are the most honest people there are. You should believe what your own son says, right?"

"But don't worry, we're not looking down on you. As long as you treat Herman better from now on and stop picking fights with him, we can still forgive you!"

Words dressed up as grace, but every syllable cut like a dull blade dragged across my heart.

Something inside me snapped. I shoved Leona away and slammed the divorce papers into her arms.

"This marriage is over!"

The force of my push sent Leona stumbling back a step, straight into my father-in-law's fish tank.

A deafening crash.

The tank shattered on impact.

The golden arowana inside, the fish my father-in-law pampered like a firstborn son, flopped onto the floor.

It thrashed twice out of the water, then went still, suffocating on open air.

My father-in-law had been mid-feeding when it happened. The look on his face was pure anguish.

His palm cracked across my face before I could say a word.

"All this because Herman ate your damn fruit the other day? You come out here first thing in the morning looking for a fight!"

"And now you've killed my fish! Do you need every single person in this family to be miserable before you're satisfied?"

"You want a divorce? Fine! Let's see if a man in his thirties with nothing to his name can find anyone willing to marry him after my daughter!"

I hit the floor. My palms landed on broken glass, and blood ran between my fingers.

Amy had already pulled Silas and Herman behind her, shielding them, keeping them as far from me as possible.

Leona's back had struck the tank frame hard; her brows were drawn tight with pain.

Every one of them looked at me like I was the lunatic. Like I was the one being unreasonable.

Ten years of marriage, and in that moment the whole thing struck me as nothing but a grotesque joke. I clenched my jaw, glaring at all of them through the blood and the broken glass.

Amy was the first to soften. She stepped forward, brushed my arm, and spoke in that gentle, coaxing tone she saved for moments like this:

"Honestly, what's gotten into you? It was just a piece of fruit. Was it really worth all this?"

"You're an orphan, Lucas. No parents, no family of your own. If you leave us, where would you even go?"

"You've been married to Leona for ten years now. She's about to be promoted to department manager. Even if she said the wrong thing, is that really worth blowing up your whole marriage over?"

"Here, let's say it was my fault. I didn't raise my daughter right. I'm apologizing to you. I'm sorry. Is that enough?"

She even bowed toward me as she said it.

But before her head had dipped more than an inch, Leona caught her by the shoulders and pulled her upright.

"Mom, don't you dare bow to him. If he wants a divorce, let him have it!"

That was when Herman stepped forward too.

"Lucas, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have eaten the fruit you bought last time."

"Please don't fight with my sister anymore. As long as the three of you stay together as a family, I'll move out and rent my own place!"

Herman's eyes rimmed red as he turned away, the picture of wounded dignity.

Leona and Amy grabbed him immediately.

Even Silas threw himself into Herman's arms.

"Uncle Herman, please don't go! I love you, Uncle Herman! You can have all my durian, I don't even want it!"

A touching farewell scene for the ages. I didn't bother watching his performance.

I just turned to Leona. "Sign the papers. He stays, I go."

Herman was adopted by my mother-in-law.

She'd always wanted a son, but an illness when she was young had damaged her body.

After giving birth to Leona, she was never able to have another child.

Herman wasn't their biological son, but they'd spoiled him rotten since the day they brought him home.

I grew up in an orphanage. It made me a people-pleaser, desperate to be accepted by this family.

So from the first day I married in, I didn't just handle everyone's meals, laundry, and daily needs.

I also worked, grinding away to put food on the table.

Even when I was so exhausted I collapsed, I never dared take a day off.

After Silas was born, I threw myself in even harder, trying to give the whole family a better life.

During the day, my in-laws were the ones looking after him.

I didn't know what they taught him. All I knew was that as he got older, he seemed to hate me more and more while growing closer to his Uncle Herman.

It wasn't like I hadn't tried to repair things between us. But he always pushed me away.

All my efforts to make them happy only made them treat me worse.

I was done. I was done bending over backward for people who would never bend for me.

If they wanted to believe this was about a durian, fine. Let them.

Herman watched all of this unfold and let his lips curl into a satisfied smirk.

What was he smiling about? Did he think he'd won? That he'd finally driven me out?

I pressed my lips together, turned, and walked into the bedroom. I came back carrying a medicine box and shoved it into Herman's hands.

Inside were all the medications my in-laws took daily for their chronic conditions.

"Dad has diabetes and high blood pressure. Mom has rheumatic arthritis and cervical spondylosis. There are a lot of different medications in here. The dosages and schedules are all written on the labels. They can't read the fine print, so make sure you sort them out and give them their pills every day."

Herman's eyes went wide. His face screamed inconvenience.

I pretended not to notice and handed Leona a class schedule.

"This has every class Silas takes. The school has a reduced-load policy, so you need to pack the right textbooks for him each morning. His tutoring sessions are listed on there too. Make sure he gets to every one on time."

Leona stared at the schedule, crammed edge to edge with entries, and her brow furrowed involuntarily.

I turned to Amy and pointed at the sticky note on the refrigerator.

"That lists the dietary restrictions for everyone in this house. Silas is allergic to high-protein foods. Beans, shrimp, anything like that. Absolutely off-limits."

"Dad's blood sugar and cholesterol are both high. No greasy food. Period."

"Leona has a stomach condition. She needs her own separate bowl of millet porridge every morning for breakfast."

Amy's face crumpled like she'd bitten into something sour.

I pressed again. "Sign it, Leona."

Leona gritted her teeth and lowered her pen toward the paper.

Amy lunged forward. "Don't sign that!"

Stanley kept his expression rigid, saying nothing.

Herman hung his head, putting on his best look of quiet heartbreak.

Silas saw all of it. He balled his small fists and charged at me like a little tiger.

"Bad daddy! You bullied Uncle Herman over a stupid durian! I'm gonna beat you up!"

"Just go! I want you gone! I don't even want you to be my daddy anymore!"

His fists landed on me, one after another.

They didn't hurt. But every single one tore a hole through my heart.

Leona yanked Silas back and snapped at him:

"Silas, you can't treat your father like that! Can't you see he's so angry he wants to divorce me? Apologize to your father right now!"

Silas stuck out his chin stubbornly:

"No! He made Uncle Herman cry. He's a bad daddy. Tell him to get out!"

Herman crouched down, rubbed the top of Silas's head, and said gently:

"Silas, go ahead and say sorry to your dad. Otherwise, he'll blame Uncle Herman for breaking up your mom and dad."

"Just do it for me, okay?"

The boy who'd been snarling and flailing seconds ago went quiet as a kitten.

After listening to Herman, he nodded, looked at me, and muttered through clenched teeth, "Sorry. Happy now?"

A cold breath hissed through my teeth.

This was the child I'd poured ten years of my life into raising.

What was I still hoping for?

Maybe I was just born to be unloved by my own blood.

I couldn't stop staring at Silas. After a long silence, I ground out the words:

"Silas Weiss, you really are an ungrateful little brat."

He was young, but sharp enough to know it wasn't a kind thing to say.

Everyone else's faces changed first.

Amy snatched Silas into her arms.

Leona's expression twisted as she jabbed a finger at me and screamed:

"What kind of vicious man says that about his own son?!"

Then Stanley spoke up, hands clasped behind his back, every inch the patriarch:

"Lucas, it's obvious you've been holding a grudge for a long time, and you're just using this as an excuse to force Herman out of this family."

"If nobody's apology is good enough for you, then leave."

"But let me make one thing crystal clear: this house was bought by your mother-in-law and me. Don't you dare think you're entitled to a single cent of it."

"And another thing. You married into this family. Silas is a Simmons. Custody stays with us. You walk out of here with nothing."

I laughed. "You say that like I'm dying to keep that ungrateful kid. This house, this family? None of it's mine. I don't want any of it."

I'd never had anything to begin with.

And they were worried I'd try to take something.

Unbelievable.

Leona signed the papers without hesitation and shoved the divorce agreement at me:

"Take it."

"The economy's garbage right now. You're all alone in this world. I'd love to see how you survive."

"And if you ever come crawling back, don't expect me to take you in."

Silas bit down hard and said, "I'll never tell anyone you're my dad."

The moment I held that signed agreement in my hands,

something heavy that had been sitting on my chest finally lifted.

The loss I'd braced myself for didn't come with the pain I'd expected. Instead, there was relief.

Herman couldn't hide the triumph in his eyes. "No offense, bro, but you were just a live-in son-in-law. Without this family, you won't last a day out there."

I smiled coldly.

A live-in son-in-law?

I married in because I loved her. Not because I had no other choice.

When it came to ability, not a single person in this house could hold a candle to me.

Without another word, I grabbed my suitcase and walked out the door.