The Life I Chose After Leaving Him

On my birthday, I suffered a gastric hemorrhage and begged Ethan to take me to the hospital. But when his secretary casually mentioned that she wanted an apple, he shook off my hand without mercy. “What else do you want? I already agreed to marry a cripple like you.” “I’m begging you. Stop getting in the way of me finding true love, okay?” I froze and instinctively looked at my ring finger, which was missing its upper half. Suddenly, I didn’t want to tell him that I had lost my finger because of him. The next day, I asked him for a divorce. “Ethan, I won’t bother you anymore. I hope you’re happy.” But he was convinced I was only throwing another tantrum. He scoffed at me. “Can you even survive without me?” At one in the morning, Ethan came home smelling strongly of alcohol. The moment he saw me, his brows drew together. “Why are you wearing a wedding dress in the middle of the night?” I completely ignored the lipstick stain on the collar of his white suit. I walked up to him and calmly said, “I wanted to see if it still fit.” Ethan took off his jacket, as though he was afraid I would see the obvious mark on it. His reply was full of impatience. “It fits fine. It’s late.” “I’m going to bed.” I watched his back as he walked away, then removed the oversized ring from my half-missing finger. “Ethan, let’s get divorced.” He stopped and turned around in disbelief. His gaze fell on my right ring finger. A flash of disgust crossed his eyes. “What are you throwing a fit about now?” The look in his eyes made my chest tighten. From beginning to end, he had always believed I was being unreasonable. But there were so many reasons why I had finally lost my temper. I had drunk until my stomach bled to help his beloved secretary handle business drinks. I had undergone surgery in the hospital while he flew from city to city with that same secretary to negotiate deals. One thing after another had told me the truth. Ethan didn’t love me anymore. “You want a divorce just because I didn’t take you to the hospital?” “Claire, you’re thirty years old, and you’re still missing part of your hand. I’m the only one willing to marry you.” “You should know how to weigh your options.” His expression was cold as he calmly explained the facts to me. He was always like that. He used the same calm, detached attitude he used in business whenever he dealt with me. “What about the ring?” I asked. “You had Mia customize the size and design, but neither one matches what we came up with.” Mia was a college student Ethan had sponsored. After graduation, she had gone straight to work as his secretary. Young and beautiful, she naturally attracted attention—including Ethan’s. She was confident, gorgeous, and studying to become a translator. She could confess her love to Ethan in eight different languages right in front of me. The two of them were inseparable every day, and the company’s performance had soared. Even the ring Ethan and I had designed together when we were teenagers had been ordered by Mia. No one had asked me for my opinion—not even taken the time to measure my finger. Ethan avoided my eyes. The impatience in his voice grew more obvious. “If it doesn’t fit, get another one.” “How can you not tolerate something this minor?” I gave him a bitter smile. After all this, I still had expectations left for him. Early the next morning, I packed my luggage. To my surprise, Ethan had actually made breakfast. When he saw the suitcase beside me, his previously gentle expression turned dark. “Come here, Claire.” It was a warning. He always called me that right before he got angry. I ignored him and placed the divorce papers on the living room table. “Remember to sign them.” His remaining patience vanished instantly. The dishes in his hands clattered loudly. “I’m busy every day. Put this childish attitude away as soon as possible. I’m not going to indulge you.” I looked at the man I had loved for ten years and calmly opened the front door. Behind me, I heard the violent crash of him flipping over the table. “Claire, if you walk out today, don’t even think about coming back!” The night I decided to divorce Ethan, I had already prepared myself to never speak to him again. But when that day truly came, my eyes still burned with tears. Ethan and I had grown up together. Back then, my mother had worked as a housekeeper for his family, before the Dalton family went bankrupt.Ethan’s mother was kind, so she let me stay with them and keep Ethan company. He loved teasing me. He couldn’t braid hair, but he insisted on trying. Whenever I went to school, my hair was always a tangled mess. Ethan was two years older than me. The year I first realized I had feelings for him, I fell in love. After that, I spent countless days and nights chasing after him. Whenever he entered a competition, I entered too. If he came in second, I made sure to come in first. Through that silent competition, we made it through high school and were both accepted into top universities. Then, during our freshman year, the Dalton family suddenly went bankrupt. Overnight, everything they had disappeared. Ethan’s father died in a car accident while on his way to take Ethan abroad. His mother couldn’t withstand the back-to-back blows and took her own life at home. While Ethan was at his most helpless and broken, I chose to stay by his side. The Dalton family was buried in debt. Ethan earned a meager living by performing solo piano pieces. The fall from privilege to poverty didn’t defeat him. Instead, it gave him a chance to rise from the ashes. During our sophomore year, his unique piano style earned him a loyal following and countless awards. But it also attracted the attention of his family’s enemies. The grudges of the older generation eventually fell on Ethan. He was kidnapped and taken to an abandoned factory. Those men wanted to destroy him so that even his dead father could never rest easy. Back then, everything was far less advanced. By the time I found Ethan with the police, he had already been beaten unconscious, his head covered in blood. The men fled when they heard the sirens, but I had interrupted what they were doing. So they turned their attention to me. I had guarded against every possible danger, but I never suspected my closest friend. She was a musical genius from the same department and knew how important my hands were to me. So when those men found her, she agreed without hesitation to trick me into going somewhere remote. That was the day my right hand was severely injured, and I lost my ring finger forever. I never told Ethan what had happened. I couldn’t bear to make him blame himself, and I didn’t want to distract him from building his company. Even now, he had no idea why I had lost my finger. I thought about the ten years I had spent struggling beside him. I thought about how the company had grown from a tiny startup, through crisis after crisis, into what it was today. I had waited ten whole years for Ethan to marry me. Instead, all I got was his disgust and a new love. Suddenly, I woke up to the truth. I had been wrong from the very beginning. My life should belong to me. It shouldn’t revolve around Ethan every day. I had spent all my energy worrying about whether he would cheat on me or go out with another woman. After ten years beside Ethan, I had built up plenty of connections of my own. I used to be sensitive and insecure about my missing finger. Even on the hottest days, I wore gloves. I had heard Ethan say countless times, “Don’t follow me when you go out. You embarrass me.” Maybe it was because I had pressured myself for so long. Maybe I cared too much about his opinion. Either way, I had fallen into a vicious cycle and never considered getting a prosthetic. I contacted a famous orthopedic specialist overseas, explained my condition, and scheduled treatment for the beginning of spring next year. Ever since my right hand had been seriously injured, rainy weather made the bones in my palm ache as if ants were gnawing on them. That torture had lasted five full years. I had been willing to endure it for Ethan’s reputation. But now, I didn’t want to endure it anymore. Then I thought about my position in the company. I took out my phone and sent Ethan the resignation letter I had prepared long ago. I waited for a long time, but he didn’t reply. So I went straight to the office. Everyone in the company knew about my relationship with Ethan. When they saw my missing finger, every one of them looked shocked. I smiled and greeted them. Then I returned to my office, packed up my things, and sent Ethan another message. “Have you signed the divorce papers? I’m coming to pick them up.” Ethan’s office was one floor above mine. After thinking it over, I decided meeting him in person would resolve everything faster. I just hadn’t expected his office to be so lively. Only the secretary was allowed into the CEO’s office. It was obvious who was making the breathless sounds and the noises of clothes rubbing together behind the door.My entire body went rigid. It felt as though my head had exploded. I had imagined Ethan falling for Mia. But I never imagined the two of them would go this far. There was a door between us, and the office had soundproofing, but it still couldn’t hide the cries coming from inside. I couldn’t stop myself from covering my stomach and gagging. Then I fled the company. That night, I sat on the couch stroking my cat while watching financial news. My phone vibrated again and again. I turned off the television. When I saw who had sent the messages, I opened them without thinking. Mia had sent more than twenty intimate photos of herself and Ethan. There were close-ups of the marks on her neck, her torn stockings, and Ethan lying on the couch with his eyes closed, looking completely satisfied in his sleep. “Don’t be angry, Claire. Mr. Dalton didn’t mean anything by it.” “Ethan and I only slept together once. You don’t mind, do you?” She called me “Claire” with a fake sweetness while spilling every secret she could. “I don’t mind,” I replied. “You can sleep with him as many times as you want.” She didn’t respond. I immediately blocked her. On the third day after I stopped going to work, Ethan finally contacted me. “You signed the papers? Let’s set a time to pick up the divorce certificate.” His voice was dark and forceful. “Claire, you’ve taken this too far.” “The wedding is tomorrow. Do you want me to come get you, or are you coming back yourself?” He was exactly the same as he had been ten years ago—arrogant, always acting like he was the one in control. He had never cared about my feelings. “I told you I wanted a divorce. I’m not joking. I came to this decision after thinking about it for six months.” “Either cancel tomorrow’s wedding, or have Mia take my place.” Ethan clearly hadn’t expected me to be so firm. It took him a while to speak. “You’re still angry about Mia, aren’t you?” “She didn’t know the design or your ring size. That’s understandable. Why are you so upset?” “Yes, she lost the design you and I made together in middle school.” “We can design another one, can’t we?” His voice grew quieter toward the end. My heart felt as though it were being sliced apart by a sharp blade. “But Ethan, we can never go back to being teenagers.” He knew how precious that original sketch had been to me. I had kept it like a treasure and never wanted to take it out. On the day Ethan took me to register our marriage, I had finally given it to him. I asked him to keep it safe. Instead, he had casually told me he lost it. Then Mia’s impatient voice came through the phone. “Ethan, why are you wasting time talking to some old woman?” “If she doesn’t show up to the wedding, I’ll step in for her.” A wave of helplessness swallowed me. Hearing her sweet, contemptuous laughter, I could no longer hold back my anger. “You want to marry him, but he only sees you as his mistress. Are you shameless, or have you never met another man in your life?” I hung up immediately. Before I could even leave the screen, Ethan’s furious messages came pouring in. They were all the same accusations—why was I blaming Mia, she had only been trying to help, and I was deliberately making things difficult for him. So I blocked him too. I tossed and turned all night, unable to sleep. In the end, I decided to go to the wedding venue. I wanted to see what had become of the place I had personally chosen. By the time I arrived, the wedding had already begun. Ethan’s passionate vows echoed through the elegant, vintage-style hall. “I, Ethan Dalton, swear that I will treat my wife well for the rest of my life.” “I will never leave you. I will love you, protect you, and respect you forever.” The guests applauded and praised them. I touched my empty ring finger and let out a cold laugh. He had said those vows to me countless times. Now he was saying the exact same words to someone else, his face filled with joy. Just as they were exchanging rings, I pushed open the doors. The tables were covered with pure white lilies. The moment I saw them, I struggled to breathe. My head began to roar. I had believed the wedding would be exactly as Ethan claimed—a ceremony where Mia was only stepping in for me. But the huge clusters of flowers made the truth obvious. This wedding had been prepared for Mia. There was only one reason. I was allergic to pollen, and Ethan had known that since the day we met. My anger kept me from realizing immediately that the lively hall had gone silent. “Why are you late, Claire?” Ethan froze for a second, then snatched the microphone from the officiant. Everyone stared at one another, their eyes gleaming with anticipation. A reporter rushed over. The camera flashed as it captured my pale face. “Are you really Mr. Dalton’s sister?” I saw Ethan desperately signaling at me, as though he wanted to answer for me. Mia lifted her wedding dress and walked over. She looked down at me, then laughed softly. “My sister is getting older and her memory isn’t what it used to be. Don’t make things difficult for her.” When Ethan saw me remain silent, he hurried over with a smile. But he leaned close and threatened me under his breath. “If you say anything you shouldn’t in front of the media—” “If you damage the company’s performance, forget about getting a divorce.” I ignored him and looked at the diamond rings on his and Mia’s fingers. “Oh my God! You aren’t wearing gloves today. That’s horrifying!” Mia suddenly shrieked and pointed at my missing finger. Then she stumbled backward into Ethan’s arms. She gave me a triumphant smile. Ethan’s last shred of patience snapped. “Get out. Now.” I took the marriage certificate from my purse and threw it at his face. Then I raised my hand and slapped Mia. “Today, I’m going to show you exactly how horrifying it is to be a mistress!”