Part 3My Cancer Diagnosis, His Other Woman

The moment Jessica appeared, his dull eyes lit up with a brilliant spark.

My heart ached with a crushing pain, yet I refused to give up, comforting myself that one day he would fall in love with me again.

But it’s been almost three years, and Jessica is still his unwavering favorite. Since she reappeared, I was no longer his special exception.

Ethan’s phone vibrated. The ringtone was the special one he’d set for Jessica.

He immediately put down what he was doing, picked up his phone, and replied to her message with intense focus.

Whenever, wherever, if Jessica texted, he replied instantly. For me, he never did.

Suddenly, I started to laugh, laughing until tears welled up in my eyes.

Ethan frowned. "Sarah, hurry up and eat the chick—"

Before he could finish, I cut him off. Looking up into his eyes, I said, word by word, "Ethan, let's get a divorce."

His expression froze, as if he hadn't processed what I'd said. "What did you say?"

I pushed my chair back and repeated, "Let's get a divorce."

The phone vibrated again, but this time he didn't rush to answer. He turned and grabbed my hand. "Are you kidding me? You want to divorce me? Did you hit your head or something?"

I shook him off and walked towards the bedroom, step by step. "I'll have my lawyer draw up the divorce papers tomorrow."

Ethan dropped his phone, ran over, grabbed me by the shoulders, and pinned me against the wall.

"Why are you being so unreasonable?"

"Have you forgotten? You were the one who shamelessly told me how much we loved each other, begging me not to divorce you back then."

After a moment, as if he'd come to his senses, he let go of me and chuckled. "Or is this some kind of tactic? Playing hard to get? Trying to threaten me with divorce?"

"Sarah, are you three years old? Still playing these childish games? How immature can you be?"

I ignored him. The pain made every word feel like it drained all my energy. I pushed open the bedroom door and went in.

Ethan followed me in and stood by my bed, staring at me with a complicated expression. He reached out to adjust my blanket. "I've explained it to you countless times. There's nothing going on between me and Jessica."

I turned my back to him, not wanting to engage. His simple "nothing going on."

In reality, he'd left me when I was about to pass out from a high fever to go fix Jessica's plumbing; ignored me when I was doubled over in bed with period cramps to go with Jessica to a hot spring...

Incident after incident, I could talk for half an hour and not cover them all. Every time I thought about it, it felt like a thousand needles pricking my heart.