Chapter 2
1030 Words
Yara dragged herself back to the hotel in a daze. She had barely stepped into her room to catch her breath when Shawn burst in, glaring at her, furious.
"What did you say to Annie? Why is she having complications with the pregnancy?!"
All the pent-up emotion Yara had been holding back finally snapped.
'What could I have possibly said to her? Shawn, we're legally married! You told me you were working abroad, and this whole time, you've just been keeping a mistress overseas!'
Yara's voice cracked with raw pain, tears spilling down her face before she even knew it.
"Annie is not a mistress," Shawn shot back. "She's young, naive, and she has no clue about any of this."
Yara grabbed his arm, her voice edged with desperation. "And what about me? We've been married for seven years!"
"Seven years is more than enough to suck the love right out of a marriage." Shawn pulled his arm free and leaned against the doorframe. "I need something new, and Annie is exactly what I'm after."
Yara shut her eyes slowly. "Then let's get a divorce."
"A divorce?"
Shawn lit a cigarette and blew out a cloud of smoke. "You owe me your life. You have zero right to ask for a divorce."
"If you'd watched Cecilia more carefully back then, she never would've died in that car crash. I never would've run off abroad to get away from you. And I never would've met Annie."
A bitter, self-mocking smile twisted Shawn's lips. "Cecilia had your Rh-negative blood. The hospital didn't have enough on hand, so the surgery failed."
"Yara, every last bit of this is your own fault. No one else to blame."
At the mention of Cecilia, Yara's heart seized with a sharp, wrenching pain.
Cecilia had been their three-year-old daughter.
Three years ago, Yara had been running a high fever when a severe asthma attack struck.
Little Cecilia had snuck out all by herself, intending to buy medicine so her mom wouldn't hurt anymore—and lost her life in a traffic accident.
Yara let out a hollow, bitter laugh. "So you've blamed me this whole time... Then why won't you just let me go? Why won't you divorce me?"
"You have asthma. How am I supposed to leave you like this?" Shawn fired back. He took a slow breath, his tone turning cold and heavy. "Keep this from falling apart, and I'll pretend none of it ever happened. But for Annie and the baby's sake, I'm gonna need you to make one small sacrifice..."
The second the words left his mouth, Yara's chest seized up. She struggled to breathe, clamping a hand over her mouth and slumping weakly against the wall, all color drained from her face.
Her asthma was kicking in.
Just then, Shawn's phone buzzed. It was Annie.
"Shawn, where are you?"
"Easy. I'm on my way back, right now."
Shawn soothed her gently, then turned and walked out without a second thought.
He paused for a beat in the doorway and glanced back at Yara. "Don't pin any of this on Annie. She has no idea I'm married."
The obvious tenderness and concern Shawn had for Annie drove straight through Yara's heart.
With great effort, she pulled her inhaler from her pocket and took a slow, careful breath.
Her phone buzzed.
Yara unlocked it and saw a new post pop up on Annie's i********:.
[The little one kicks just once, and he's already this worked up about me.]
Scrolling further down, the feed was packed with sweet, intimate moments between Shawn and Annie.
Pinned at the top was a short video. Shawn stood in a kitchen wearing an apron, quietly cooking.
He turned at the sound of Annie's voice and smiled softly. "Dinner's almost ready, you little foodie."
The scene pulled Yara right back to the day she first met Shawn.
They'd been high-school classmates. After class placements got shuffled sophomore year, Shawn ended up sitting right in front of her.
She still remembered that first meeting like it was yesterday. He'd sat by the window, turned around to say hi, warm sunlight pouring across his face—and in that one moment, her heart had skipped a beat.
"Hey, have we met somewhere before?" The teenage boy had worn a bright, easy smile.
It wasn't until after they got married that Yara found out Shawn had fallen for her at first sight, and approaching her like that had been entirely on purpose.
But all of that was in the past now.
Yara wiped the tears from her cheeks.
She closed the social media app and dialed a number.
"Mr. Miller, is the volunteer teaching program still taking applicants? Please save me a spot."
"Are you absolutely sure about this?" Mr. Miller hesitated. "It's a three-year commitment. Your health, and Shawn..."
"We're getting a divorce," Yara said with a bitter smile. "I've been keeping a really close eye on my condition lately."
"Alright, then. Make sure you report for duty in one week."
"Okay."
The next day, Yara got a message from Shawn, asking to meet at a café.
He slid a signed divorce agreement across the table to her.
"This is a fake divorce. Once Annie has the baby and all the paperwork is sorted, we'll remarry."
"I'll give you whatever compensation you want in exchange for this arrangement, but I'm keeping the West Bay house back home."
Shawn's eyes dropped, his expression disturbingly gentle. "Annie loves that place. I'm keeping it for her and the baby."
Yara's hand trembled around the pen. That house had been their marital home, the very first property they'd bought together after years of grinding.
Still, all she said was one quiet word. "Fine."
A fake divorce, that's all it is.
There would be no going back. No remarriage.
Just a permanent goodbye.
After signing the papers, Yara's gaze fell on the wedding band around Shawn's finger. She spoke low, her voice unsteady. "When will you marry her?"
Before Shawn could answer, the café door chimed. Annie rushed in and froze the second she spotted them, her expression turning ice-cold.
"What are you two doing here together?"
- Writer
