Love Me Again

Chapter 21 - I accepted your father's terms

Chapter 21 - I accepted your father's terms

"You know? How?"

She laughed sadly, with a tinge of hysteria. "I always thought my husband was honest with me, no matter how indifferent he was towards me, but then one day, my father-in-law appeared and threw the truth in my face. Did you know? To him, I was just your mistress that you should be rid of."

"You were not my mistress! You were my legally married wife!"

"Hah." Ashley shook her head and smiled bitterly. "Sean, when you were so cold towards me after our honeymoon, I didn't think I was your wife anymore."

Sean crossed the table and pulled her into his arms, hugging her fiercely. She smiled a little as she remembered how much she loved his hugs that always made her feel safe. Even now, that had not change much when she nestled her cheek against his wide chest.

Was it because he had already hurt her, so she was finally no longer afraid? Or had the beer gone up to her head and had her drop her guard?

No matter the reason, she enjoyed this rare moment of safety.

"I'm sorry, Ashley. When I found out that I had a son, I didn't know how to face you. I knew I had to tell you, but I was so afraid that you would leave me after I told you. I longed to touch you, but I would always feel guilty about it."

Ashley pulled away and stared at him. "Why would you feel guilty when that happened before our marriage? Isn't it before we even started dating?"

"It happened before we started dating," Sean admitted. "I didn't know that I had a son, and I only knew about him after we returned from our honeymoon."

Ashley should be angry about it, but instead of anger, she felt tired instead. She had been angry with him for four years, and she did not want to be angry anymore. Dad was right; anger was never good for her health.

All that anger, all that self-questioning, they resulted in nothing but depression. It brought down her self-confidence and mood until there were times she just did not know who she was anymore.

"You are not angry?" Sean asked in surprise at her dejected expression.

"No. I don't want to feel angry anymore, Sean. I'm so tired and sick of it." After learning that Sean had a son, she chose to wait until he told her. Naively, she believed that he would tell her about his son.

She waited and waited, but he became even more detached from her until she finally chose divorce. Even if she wanted to know why he treated her like that, she understood that he valued his son more.

"No, no. Don't tell me it's the end of us." Sean pleaded as he crushed her into his arms again, as if doing so would tie her to him. He actually preferred her angry rather than defeated.

"It's already the end of us when I accepted your father's terms," Ashley said coldly.

"What terms?" Sean asked with a guarded expression.

"I accepted his money to divorce you," Ashley said, keeping her expression and voice blank. He released his arms around her and stepped back, his face showing his disbelief. "Two million," she informed helpfully.

Sean turned away from her, and judging from the stiffness of his shoulders, he found it hard to accept it. Would he start to hate her for loving money more than him?

Heck, who wouldn't?

At that moment, she realized too late that it did not matter whether Sean told her his secret or not. Their relationship had ended with lies and pain, so how could they fix it when the lies had already damaged them? The truth might not save them, so why would she still insist on knowing? Just like how she insisted that she accepted the money because the divorce was going to happen anyway, it was a fact that she had to cheapen their marriage and put a value on it.