I got into the passenger's seat for the first time in a long time, and I realized that the interior of Jasper's car was now decorated in a cartoonish pink.

When Jasper saw me looking around, he rubbed his nose rather guiltily and explained. "Nicole is just childlike. She whined about wanting to change the decor to pink, and I was afraid that she would get angry if I refused and that it would affect the baby, so I changed it."

The interior of the car had once been black and gold. I had found a professional designer to design it for Jasper.

He had liked it very much, and whenever we drove out together in this car, he would compliment my taste and say what a thoughtful wife I was for even thinking about his car interior.

However, how much he liked it and how thoughtful I was as a wife had counted for nothing when faced with Nicole's childlike nature.

There was an ornament on the console with a photo on it. It was a photo of Jasper and Nicole together. They were leaning very close to each other and smiling very happily.

The ornament could be voice-controlled and relied on solar power. They didn't only have one photo together.

Photo after photo of the two of them together revolved and flashed in front of my eyes, looking particularly jarring in the sunlight.

Jasper noticed what I was looking at, and he followed my gaze. As his eyes alighted on the rotating ornament, music started playing.

"If you sneeze, I must be missing you…"

It was Nicole's voice.

"Ahem. The crystal you gave me shattered somehow, and Nicole felt that the car was a little empty, so she put that there. If you don't like it…"

The sunlight was stinging my eyes. I closed them slowly. "It's alright. Let's go to the hospital."

In the past, I would have made a fuss. However, I no longer wanted this man, and I would not care anymore about anything that concerned him.

However, the car had only gone some distance forward when Nicole called, crying. I heard the sound of a baby wailing, and my heart twisted violently at once.

I grabbed Jasper's arm hard. "The baby! What's wrong with the baby? Why is he crying so loudly?"

However, Jasper had no time for me. He flung my hand aside and stopped the car at once before turning it around.

"Get out of the car." His voice was filled with urgency. "Hurry up! Nicole's in such a state that she's crying. I've got to rush over there to see her!"

I yelled with all my strength, "I'm asking you what happened to the baby!"

If he had even shown any concern for the baby, I wouldn't have been so agitated, but all he cared about was how Nicole was. My baby was just a tool for him to make Nicole happy.

"I'm not getting out of the car. I want to go and see the baby."

Jasper dragged me out of the car and looked disdainfully at me. "If you're there, Nicole will overthink. Besides, your current state is going to scare Nicole and the baby. Get a cab to the hospital. When I've dealt with everything, I'll come and take you home."

He looked at the wound on my face and neck, and the contempt in his eyes did not seem to be an act. He did not say anything else and just got into the car before speeding off.

The wound on my abdomen had burst open, and the hand that I held to my stomach was stained with blood. I was so worried about the baby that I was overwhelmed with anxiety, and I fainted.

If a kind-hearted passerby hadn't sent me to the hospital, I would probably have died on that road.

When I'd had the wound rebandaged at the hospital and gotten a prescription, I went home. Jasper rushed angrily toward me. "Who is he?"

My friend Bryan Earnshaw had been helping me along, and he stood in front of me to shield me. I pushed him aside gently and looked straight at Jasper.

I said honestly, "I met him when we both joined the same university club. He works at the hospital and just dropped me off at home on his way back."

Jasper did not believe me. He yanked me over to his side. "Your friend from university? We've been together for so many years. Why have I never heard you mention it before?"

He glared ferociously at my friend.

I gave Jasper a long look. "I also never knew that whenever you went on a business trip overseas both before and after we got married, you were going to see Nicole."

Jasper's expression changed at once. When he saw how cold my expression was, his voice softened slightly.

"Are you still angry about what happened this morning? Nicole was crying so sadly and so urgently that I didn't have time to think about anything else. That's why I made you get out of the car in such a rush.

"Once I was done with Nicole, I called you, but you didn't answer on purpose. I went to several hospitals, but I couldn't find you.

"The moment I get back, I see another man touching you. Are you doing this on purpose, Aria?" There was actually a note of jealousy in his tone.

Bryan saw the weariness in my eyes, and he interrupted Jasper. "Mr. Smith, your wife is currently feeling very weak. If you have the energy to accuse her, why don't you take her home so she can rest?"

Jasper narrowed his eyes and looked Bryan up and down. "These are our family affairs. We don't need an outsider like to you intervene."

Bryan opened his mouth to say something else, but I interrupted him. "You should get going, Bryan. I'm sorry for troubling you so much today. Thank you."

"Are you going to be okay?" Bryan was still worried. He only left when I nodded.

I watched Bryan's figure retreat into the distance, and I turned around to open the door. Behind me, Jasper asked darkly, "Aria, aren't you going to explain things to me?"

I turned around to look at him, and the corners of my mouth twitched slightly. "What do I need to explain?"

"Why didn't you answer my calls? Why are you in an ambiguous relationship with a man?"

I couldn't help snorting with laughter. "When you rushed off to see Nicole and tossed me out of your car, you forgot to toss out my phone with me.

"If you really had gone to the hospital to look for me, you wouldn't have missed me. You would have seen for yourself what I was doing with another man, and you wouldn't have to lob empty accusations at me.

"After all, I'm not you."

How could he say that he had gone to the hospital to get me and that he'd waited for a long time?

It was raining so heavily outside, and Bryan had only helped me along for a few steps, but half his shoulder was already soaked.

If Jasper really had gone to several hospitals to look for me, he wouldn't have turned up to accuse me while looking so neat, without a hair out of place.

Jasper turned white, then red. He pressed his lips together and said impassively, "Nicole—"

But before he could finish, I turned and walked into the house. I did not want to listen to him speak. I only wanted to get divorced as soon as possible and get my baby back.

I moved all my things out and left the house that I had lived in with Jasper for three years.

The lawyer drafted a divorce agreement and gave it to me. According to his suggestion, I could not divorce Jasper just yet.

There were too many financial entanglements between us, and I would not be able to make a clean break so quickly.

The only thing I could do for now was to move out and give him the cold shoulder. As for the baby, I asked my friend to arrange for a reliable nurse to work at the sanatorium and help to look after the baby.

She would also tell me how the baby was doing.

Even though I missed the baby very much, I had no choice but to be tough and deal with the work I had on my hands.

When Jasper got home and saw that I had moved my possessions out, he thought I was just throwing a tantrum. He called me angrily several times, only to find that I had already blocked him.

He had no choice but to retaliate by posting photos of himself with Nicole and the baby on his social media.

The next time I saw Jasper was at an auction half a month later. Jasper carried Nicole in bridal style right in front of everyone. He did not seem to feel any shame when facing the media and instead spoke indulgently.

"I had no choice. It hasn't even been a month since she gave birth, but she insisted on joining the auction. I couldn't dissuade her, so I had to wrap her up and bring her here in my arms."

The reporters began cheering. I walked around them, but a sharp-eyed reporter still spotted me and rushed right up to me.

"Mrs. Smith, there are rumors that you and Mr. Smith are divorced. Now that Mr. Smith is attending the auction with you with his new wife in his arms, how do you feel?"

Jasper looked over when the reporter asked me the question.

I smiled faintly. "That's a question that Mr. Smith is more suited to answer." Then, I walked into the venue.

During the auction, Nicole and Jasper acted like conjoined twins and kept being lovey-dovey with each other with no regard for the others around them. It did not stop Jasper from stealing frequent looks at me.

Nicole had noticed, so she kept trying to go against me. She kept bidding against me for the emerald pendant that I wanted, and it got more and more expensive.

"50 million!" Nicole shot a triumphant look at me, and she looked even more smug when I did not bid a higher price. She turned and whined playfully at Jasper, "Jaspie, I like that emerald piece. Will you bid for it and give it to me?"

Jasper saw how pale I was and tweaked Nicole's nose in satisfaction. He said fondly, "When have I ever refused you anything that you liked?"

I watched as the gift my mother had left me was handed over to Nicole, and my chest heaved. My eyes turned red with anger.

That was a family heirloom that my mother had given me before she died. Once, when Jasper's company had run into financial troubles, I had had no choice but to sell the emerald pendant to help him get through it.

He had once sworn to me that once the company got back on track, he would get the emerald pendant back for me.

However, although the company continued to grow in size, the original buyer of the emerald pendant could not be found.

I had finally managed to find out that the emerald pendant would be auctioned off, so I had been fully prepared, only to be foiled by Nicole.

After the auction, Jasper held a charity banquet specially for Nicole. Nicole insisted that I join, but I refused.

Because of that, Jasper threatened me. "If you want to get the emerald pendant back, then behave and do as Nicole wants."

At the banquet, Nicole smiled at me. "Aria, I heard that you used to be a dancer. Why don't you do the opening dance for tonight's banquet?"

"I'm not feeling well. I can't dance." I refused her impassively.

Nicole's eyes filled with tears at once, and she looked up piteously at Jasper. "Jaspie, is Aria refusing because she still blames me? I didn't know that she was feeling unwell. All I know is that Aria dances very well, and I want everyone to be able to admire her dancing…"

Jasper's expression darkened. "Aria, Nicole just wants to give you a chance to show off your skills. She's doing it for your sake. What kind of attitude is this?"

When he saw that I was resolute, he leaned over to me and said coldly, "Dance, and I'll give you the emerald pendant."

I looked at him long and hard and suddenly laughed. "Alright. I'll dance. I hope that you'll do as you say."

Under the contemptuous gazes of everyone there, I went up to dance like a clown. Nicole wouldn't let them turn off the music and raised the stage up very high.

I couldn't get down, so I had no choice but to keep dancing. I danced clumsily, without any sense of beauty.

My calf, which had once been broken, started hurting. The wound on my stomach which hadn't fully healed was also hurting. I was feeling pain all over my body, but I couldn't stop.

Gradually, I seemed to forget the pain and became immersed in the dance. The music stopped, but I was lost in the dancing.

When I had been stabbed while shielding Jasper a few years ago, my dance career had ended abruptly. I had felt no regrets at the time.

I had been such an idiot.

When the music stopped, it was so quiet that I could hear the sound of people gasping. Everyone was whispering to each other.

"Aria, that's enough! Stop! Lower the stage!" Jasper yelled furiously at the staff.

"M-Mr. Smith, there's a problem with the stage and it can't be lowered right now…"

At that moment, I fell off the stage like a crushed butterfly.

"Aria!" Jasper lunged toward me.

"Oh my! She's bleeding so much!"

"Hurry! Call an ambulance!"