EVERGLOW

XV. When he comes clean

For a split second when he saw Yue standing behind the front door, his sleep-addled brain was convinced she had finally come home.

When she screamed at him, he'd thought that maybe they were just picking up where they left off years ago. That after quietly walking out of his life, she was back ready to face him. And maybe, just maybe, they could fix it all.

When he held her in his arms, he couldn't think about why he hadn't done it for years.

The pain he felt as he listened to her cry was almost physical, but it hurt more than the fingers she'd bitten, the toes she'd crushed and the leg that must be starting to bruise.

He'd been too exhausted to remember why he resented her. Or why she despised him.

He'd missed her.

The feel of her in his arms, her scent. They were enough to make him forget. He should have known they were all it would take. It had always been that way.

There was no stopping the massive wave of longing, greater than any he'd felt over the last couple of years now that she was so close. It threatened to swallow him.

And then she'd told him to sign the divorce.

He'd landed right back to reality with a thud.

As her presence finally sank in, he realized the choice was out of his hands now. She was going to find out about her. Before he could even make sure that she was staying. Against all odds, he prayed she would agree to help him.

"I swore I won't let anyone use me anymore.." Her words echoed in his head as he watched her cling to the door for support while watching him and the baby.

He could not think of any reason why she would give up six months of freedom for him.

She would never want any of this. She wanted the divorce final at the soonest. And apparently, she hated his guts too. All she needed to do was divorce him, and she'd have everything she wanted.

Whether she agreed or not, he was losing his wife either way. He would rather not lose a daughter as well.

That was the only thing he needed to think about now.

"Whose baby is she?" Her hoarse whisper broke through his thoughts.

He looked down on the sleeping infant and shifted her in his arms to tuck her back in her purple cot. Gently, he ran a hand over her hair, hoping she'd sleep through the rest of the night. At least one of them should.

"She's Hao Ge's niece." He watched her as he answered.

She stared back at him blankly and he knew she was waiting for the other shoe to drop. She'd be wrong. He wished he could stop there but he had a whole luggage to drop. She didn't look like she could handle any of it though. She'd gone white as sheet.

He took her arm and led her to the kitchen. She didn't protest, or say anything, and he wondered if she was thinking about that fight two years ago.

So many words had been left unsaid, but what little had been had stung them both too much. Enough for her to put half the world between them.

She sank down on a chair, grateful to finally be off her wobbly legs. She watched him go through all the motions of making tea for her. Just as he used to before. He placed the kettle over the stove, reached for the teabags right where she had always stored them. He was stalling. And she let him.

Hao Ge's niece. The woman in the red car was Hao Ge's sister. She felt herself go numb.

He couldn't do that to her. Could he?