Chapter 2
663 Words
Serena bit her lower lip hard, the metallic taste of blood spreading in her mouth.
She nodded, her voice as light as the wind. "It was my own choice. Since you found her, I will honor our agreement and divorce."
Raymond looked at Serena's pale face, his gaze pausing slightly, his voice indifferent. "Good that you know how to read the room."
Serena stood still, watching the intimate scene unfolding before her, suddenly feeling like a colossal joke.
Seven years of love. Seven years of waiting. In the end, it was just a one-woman show she'd staged all by herself.
Just as she was about to leave, a waiter carrying a tray suddenly slipped and collided directly with her. The impact was so strong, causing her to stagger and fall, her forehead hitting the pillar directly.
"Ms. Williams! Are you okay?"
Irene tugged on Raymond's arm, a barely noticeable hint of a smile in her eyes. "Mr. Scott, you should help her up."
Raymond's gaze fell on Serena, his brow furrowing almost imperceptibly. "I've already found you, other women have nothing to do with me."
Those words cut into Serena's heart like a dull knife, leaving her in pain.
Warm liquid trickled down her forehead, blurring her vision.
The commotion immediately drew the crowd's attention.
"Oh my, she's bleeding, why isn't Mr. Scott helping her?"
"What's going on? Who is the woman beside Mr. Scott..."
Sympathetic, mocking, and curious gazes were fixed intently on her, making her wish she could find a hole to crawl into.
Serena looked up, through the blurred blood, at the two people standing closely together not far away.
Raymond was leaning down, saying something to Irene, gently brushing away the stray hair on her shoulder with his fingertips, a tenderness she had longed for but never received in seven years.
Her heart felt like it was being crushed, the pain making it almost impossible to breathe.
She gritted her teeth, supporting herself against the cold pillar to stand up, without a backward glance, ignoring the stares, she walked steadily out of the banquet hall.
Serene took a deep breath and made a call.
The familiar, delighted voice came through quickly. "Serene!"
"Claire." Serena's voice was weak but unusually firm. "Does your studio still want me?"
"Of course we do!" The voice on the other end grew even more excited, "But weren't you going to stay with your husband? Why suddenly..."
"I'm divorcing." Serena interrupted her. Her tone was calm, as if she were discussing someone else's life.
There was silence on the other end for a few seconds, then a gentle voice replied, "Alright, I'll wait for you."
Claire, a college classmate, had opened an oil painting studio in Romulia, a foreign country, and had urged her countless times to come, saying her talent shouldn't go to waste.
But her mind was filled with Raymond, and she had long since set aside her beloved oil painting.
She touched her chest, filled with an obsession for Raymond, but now, she was determined to live her own life.
Serena returned to the apartment next to the company, quickly tended to her wound, but tears flowed like a string of broken beads. Only when dawn's light crept through the window and her eyes were swollen like walnuts did she finally force herself to get up.
As soon as she stepped into the Williams Group entrance in the morning, her assistant hurried over. "Ms. Williams, Mr. Williams wants you to go to his office."
She rubbed her forehead, thinking that last night's events must have reached her father's attention, and she was likely in for a reprimand.
Her mother had passed away when she was young, and her relationship with her father had never been close.
In her father's eyes, her marriage to Raymond was never just about love, but also a bond between the Williams and Scott families.
But as she reached the door, she heard peals of laughter from inside.
- Writer
