Chapter 5

As dusk fell, I dragged my suitcase back home.

My father was visibly startled when he saw me.

His gaze fell on the suitcase behind me. After a moment of silence, he turned and walked into the kitchen.

Soon, the dining table was filled with my favorite dishes.

Father brought out a case of beer, opened a bottle, and handed it to me.

"Have a drink with your dad tonight."

I took the bottle and gently clinked it with his.

Just like when I was a child, he carefully peeled a plate of shrimp and pushed it in front of me.

He lowered his voice and asked, "Sweetheart, are you getting a divorce?"

There was no hint of blame in his tone, only deep concern.

I picked up a shrimp, dipped it in sauce, and said, "Yes, I want to."

It felt so good to have my father by my side.

Father added a chicken leg to my plate and gently patted my head.

"It's better this way. When your mother and I were planning to have you, we saved enough money for you to last a lifetime."

"You always have the freedom to make mistakes, whether in marriage or in your career."

In truth, my father had never approved of this marriage from the start.

I remember the night Escent proposed, he specifically invited my parents to witness it.

That night, Escent got drunk and stumbled into the bathroom.

My father followed him in and heard him calling someone else's name.

"Sophia, Sophia."

Father immediately punched Escent a few times.

When Escent sobered up, he knelt on the ground and explained that he was just drunk and talking nonsense.

"Dad, I truly want to marry Isabella. I can put all my properties in her name, and even give her my shares."

That night, my father called me into his room and seriously asked if I wanted to marry him.

At that time, I had been too sheltered, and Escent hadn't cheated yet.

I said, "Yes."

Father sighed and asked me to make him a promise.

"You can marry him, but if you get pregnant and want to have a child, you must tell me immediately."

I swore to my father on the spot.

Father sighed again, "Thank goodness you didn't have a child, or you'd be tied to him forever."

"Yes."

Actually, before I found out I was pregnant, I had already thought about divorce.

I was just waiting for the right moment.

Until the moment I miscarried at my mother's grave.

That's when I decided I had to get a divorce.

During this time, I planned to stay at my father's house and open a small boutique inn to pass the time.

I thought that after leaving the divorce agreement, Escent would sign it without hesitation.

After all, he had long wanted to be with Sophia openly.

But just three days later, as I was leaving the neighborhood, I ran into Escent.

He looked haggard, with a stubbly beard and had lost a lot of weight.

On his wrist was the 101 bangles I had given him, and he was wearing the gray sweater I had knitted.

That sweater was a gift I gave him on his birthday two years ago.

Since I met Escent, he had only worn one black sweater every winter.

That sweater had been washed so many times it was faded and pilled, but he never wanted to throw it away.

I couldn't stand it, so I found a teacher and learned how to knit a sweater.

It took me three months to finish that gray sweater.

The day I gave it to him, his eyes lit up, and he looked at me adoringly.

"Did my wife knit this? I love it."

But he only wore it once in front of me.

After that, he continued to wear that pilled black sweater.

I didn't understand and asked him, "Did I knit it poorly?"

Escent pinched my cheek and led me to open the wardrobe.

"My wife's sweater is too precious to wear. I hang it in the most prominent place in the wardrobe so I can see it every day."

At that time, my heart was sweet, and I was very happy with his words.

Until later, when Sophia first followed me on social media.

She sent me a private message, and that's when I found out.

That pilled sweater was the one Sophia had knitted for him before she went abroad.

When Escent saw me, he urgently grabbed my hand.

"Are you still mad, my love? Look, I'm wearing the bangles you like, and I'm wearing the sweater you knitted."

"Don't leave me, okay?"

His tone was pitiful, his eyes tender and affectionate.

If it weren't for the sounds of him and Sophia being intimate that I occasionally heard through the surveillance app these past three days.

I might have been fooled by him again.

Now I understand that getting married back then wasn't because I was blindly in love.

But because he was just too skilled.

He was truly the fighter jet among scumbags.

"Sign the divorce agreement soon, so we can part on good terms."