Jasmine Blooms After the Ruins

Three years after their divorce, Claire meets her ex-husband Ethan Hayes at a hospital, where he is accompanying his pregnant mistress Ava Collins to a prenatal appointment. Claire sits in a wheelchair, still recovering from legs broken at the Wifely Virtue Academy. Ethan urges her to come home, promising specialists and care, while Ava makes cruel remarks about Claire's past and the jasmine she once planted, now replaced by roses.

Claire calmly refuses, saying her husband is coming to collect her. Ethan doubts her, recalling how he once was the only person she could rely on: an abused boy taken in by her father, who worked himself to death and begged Ethan to protect her. Ethan built a company and married Claire, but his sponsorship of Ava slowly displaced her, until betrayal and public humiliation left Claire with nothing.

Now, facing the two of them, Claire feels nothing but resolve.