Chapter 2 A Diamond's Secret
700 Words
Saying those words had taken almost everything out of me.
Simon had once been my boss. Back then, I had just graduated from college and still knew nothing about the world. At business dinners, clients constantly found excuses to push drinks into my hands, and I was too inexperienced to refuse. One glass blurred into another until I suddenly caught the way one man's eyes lingered shamelessly over my body, and only then did I realize something was wrong.
At that moment, Simon sighed softly and took the wineglass from my hand.
"Claire," he said gently, "go get some rest."
He handled the situation with effortless ease. A few calm words from him, and the atmosphere immediately shifted. It was hard not to admire someone like that when you were young and standing so far beneath him.
After that, Simon began bringing me along to meetings, teaching me how to navigate clients, negotiations, and all the unspoken rules of business. Somewhere along the way, admiration quietly turned into love.
One night, emboldened by too much wine and too much courage, I kissed his cheek.
Simon froze briefly before letting out a soft laugh and ruffling my hair.
Everything afterward seemed to fall naturally into place. We dated, got married, and had Tessa. Believing I had finally found the life I wanted, I quit my job and devoted myself completely to being a wife and mother.
So when had everything started to rot?
Maybe it began the moment his ex-wife returned from overseas with their son.
Yet the Simon standing in front of me now still seemed completely unaware that our marriage had already begun collapsing long ago.
He frowned slightly. "Claire, I know I messed up this time. But are you really going to throw away seven years over something this small?" His tone softened as though he were trying to reason with an unreasonable child. "Come on. You're not a teenager anymore. Aren't you past this kind of drama?"
He sounded so sincere that anyone listening might have believed he was completely blameless.
"Our daughter nearly died." My voice trembled with anger. "And you're calling that small?"
"I..." Simon choked on his words before instinctively reaching for my hand.
I pulled away immediately.
The wedding band on my ring finger caught the light beneath the hospital lamps. It was only a tiny one-carat diamond from an ordinary brand, but when Simon first gave it to me, I had treasured it like the most precious thing in the world.
That was before I saw the Tiffany diamond on Megan's hand, a ring so expensive and dazzling that it was impossible to ignore.
More importantly, that particular ring came with a restriction nearly everyone knew: one purchase per customer for a lifetime.
Simon had bought it for her.
I still remembered how instinctively I curled my fingers inward that day, afraid Megan would notice the cheap ring on my hand. Beneath her faintly amused smile, an unbearable wave of humiliation had risen silently in my chest.
Back then, I had secretly guessed that ring probably cost more than a hundred thousand dollars. The younger Simon had once been willing to spend that much for someone he truly loved, a number so far beyond me that I had never even dared imagine it.
My thoughts abruptly scattered when Tessa stirred awake in the hospital bed.
Simon immediately stepped forward, his face filling with concern.
"Tessa," he said gently, "Daddy messed up. Are you mad at Daddy?"
Tessa obediently shook her head before blinking up at me with wide eyes.
"Mommy, don't be sad." Her small voice paused softly. "Your hand... let go."
Only then did I realize I had been clenching my fist so tightly that my nails had carved bloody crescents into my palm.
A dull sting finally spread through my hand, followed by the familiar burn gathering behind my eyes. I forced myself to smile.
Tessa had only just woken up, yet she immediately noticed something was wrong with me.
Simon never did. He leaned over to straighten Tessa's collar before frowning slightly.
"Claire," he said, "this shirt's stretched out at the neck. Why haven't you bought her new clothes?"
- Writer
