After I Asked for a Divorce, the CEO Regretted It

Chapter 2 The Locked Room

The villa felt hollow. It had everything, yet it resembled a staged model home, lifeless and untouched.

The key in my hand felt cold against my skin. A reckless thought crept into my mind. I walked over to the door of Adrian's private room and slipped the key into the lock.

Click.

The door opened.

When we first got married, I had wanted to hang our wedding photos throughout the house. Adrian refused. No matter how I cried or argued, he would not give in.

Later, I noticed there was a room in the house that remained locked all year round. More than once, I asked him to give me a key. He always refused.

Now I finally understood why. The room was filled with traces of Seraphine, from her graduation photos spanning elementary school to high school, to media coverage of her art exhibitions abroad, and even the fashion magazines she had modeled for.

In the most prominent spot sat a framed photo of Seraphine and Adrian. They were smiling brightly, eyes curved with warmth, as if the world belonged to them.

Suddenly, I thought of Adrian three years ago, when we took our wedding photos. No matter how the photographer coaxed or joked, he only pressed his lips together. In the final photos, there was nothing in his eyes but emptiness.

A laugh escaped me. But as I kept laughing, nausea rose in my throat.

I hadn't eaten anything. All I could bring up was sour bile. Still, I ended up in the bathroom, retching until everything blurred.

I didn't even remember when I fell asleep. I dreamed. In the dream, Adrian and I were taking our wedding photos again. Fragments of memories I had once forced myself to forget unfolded before me.

The photographer adjusted the camera again and again before finally frowning. "This won't work. I can't shoot like this. What kind of newlyweds stand so far apart? You look like strangers."

Hearing that, I quickly stepped closer to Adrian and slipped my arm around his. "Is this better?"

After the shoot, I caught sight of him wiping his left sleeve over and over with a wet tissue. That was the arm I had just held. My heart sank.

I walked over, about to ask something, when a notification sound cut through the air. Right in front of me, Adrian opened w******p. It was an ordinary photo of a landscape. In the corner, a manicured hand flashed a peace sign.

Curious, I asked, "Who is that?"

A faint smile curved his lips, softening his voice. "Seraphine. She lives next door to my house."

My heart dropped, and I said nothing more. He didn't know that I had heard that name long before we got together.

It had always been a secret buried deep inside me, one that traced back to a night I could no longer remember.

After everything, when I drifted into a hazy sleep, I heard him on the phone. I couldn't make out what the other person said, but I heard that one sentence clearly.

He said, "Seraphine... if only it were you lying beside me."