After Divorce, No Longer Waiting for Him

Chapter 4

Tom was furious at my attitude. He stormed over and yanked the knitted silver chrysanthemum from my arms.

"Amber, don't push it!"

But I hadn't slept properly in days, and I was no match for his strength. I felt the flower slipping through my fingers. Desperate, I bit down hard on the back of his hand.

"Are you insane?! It's just a stupid decoration!" he yelled, flinching in pain and letting go.

He slapped me.

The hit came fast and hard, sending me stumbling. Blood ran from the corner of my mouth. For a split second, something like panic flickered in his eyes when he saw the mark on my face, but then his expression hardened again.

"This is what you owe River," he said coldly. "I'm just settling the score for her."

River stepped in, trying to sound calm, but her eyes never left the flower. "Tom, I just want that flower. Don't hurt Amber over it."

Tom's voice softened a little as he reached out to me again. "Come on, just give it to me. Be good."

I slapped him.

Hard.

"That's what you owe me, and I'm taking it back myself."

He froze, stunned. He never saw it coming. After all these years, he never expected me, me, the one who used to walk on eggshells around him, to strike back. Even River was speechless.

"You hit Tom over some cheap trinket? Are you out of your mind?"

Cheap?

That flower was all I had left of my daughter. Seeing it felt like seeing her again. It was the only thing keeping me from falling apart. It wasn't just some object, it was everything.

Tom must've felt a flicker of guilt, or maybe just regret. He grabbed my arm as I tried to get into a cab.

"Okay, okay, this is on me. Let's not blow it out of proportion, alright?"

In the past, if he had just said that, softened his voice, apologized even a little, I would've caved. I would've forgiven him on the spot and even blamed myself for overreacting.

But now?

I didn't even look at him. I yanked my arm free, cold and silent.

His patience snapped.

"Amber, we're married! River's just a family friend! Why are you still acting like this?"

So that's what he thought? That I was jealous?

What a joke.

River was his childhood sweetheart. His first love. Before he ever became my husband, I tolerated how much he catered to her. But after marriage, after we had a daughter together, after everything, we were supposed to be a family.

And still, he never once looked at his own daughter the way she deserved.

When I didn't respond, his voice turned sharp.

"I already said I was sorry about what happened that day! What more do you want from me? Do you think the whole damn world owes you something?!"

I opened the car door again, but he wasn't done. He grabbed me harder this time, dragging me back.

"River hasn't been feeling well, okay? Her parents asked me to take care of her. Can't you try to be a little more understanding?!"

I nearly lost my footing, but my suitcase kept me upright.

"I told you, I want a divorce. Whatever you have going on with River is not my problem."

"Oh, so now you don't even want me around our daughter anymore?" he sneered.

River chimed in, like always.

"Tom, I told you she was lying. If the kid's really that sick, would she be acting like this?"

Tom glared at the chrysanthemum again, like it personally offended him.

"Give her the flower. Apologize. And we can go back to how things were."

I stared at him, dead inside.

"No."

There was no going back. Not after everything. I wasn't going to apologize. And I would never give that flower to River.

"Amber, seriously? Over a stupid flower? You're taking this performance way too far."

"Yeah, hand it over already!" River snapped, then lunged at me.

She shoved me to the ground and tried to rip the flower from my hands. In the struggle, she tore off several of the petals and flung them aside.

"This? It's so cheap. The quality's garbage."

My ears rang.

That flower, my daughter's flower, destroyed just like that.

I scrambled up, blinded by rage, and grabbed her hair without thinking. We fell into a screaming fight.

"Enough!" Tom barked, yanking us apart. Then he pulled out his phone.

"Mr. Kim, cancel the surgery for the kid."

The kid.

Our daughter.

All this, for River.

The air left my lungs. My hands went ice-cold.

A shaky voice answered on the other end.

"Mr. Carr… we just received the update. Your daughter passed away a few days ago."

Tom's face went blank.

"…What did you just say?"