Chapter 6
A month after the divorce, I ran into Nolan and Andrea while shopping at the mall with Kaia.
As they approached, I spotted Nolan carrying Andrea, a cheap cigarette dangling from his lips.
The acrid smoke reached me before they did, causing me to instinctively step back and cover my nose.
“Lost quite a bit of weight since the divorce, haven’t you?” Nolan sneered. “What’s wrong? Can’t eat because you’re so jealous of my happiness with Andrea? Too bad your regrets won’t change anything. Andrea’s the one I truly love.”
Kaia and I exchanged glances, speechless at his delusion.
The truth was, I’d lost weight because I no longer had to cater to his whims. With a more structured daily routine and regular gym sessions with Kaia, the pounds had naturally melted away.
If anyone looked worse for wear, it was Nolan. He’d grown gaunt, his words punctuated by frequent coughing fits. The lung cancer was clearly progressing rapidly.
Misinterpreting my observation as longing, he continued, “Life’s been amazing since I left you. Andrea’s nothing like you. She doesn’t try to control my every move.
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“She respects my love of smoking and even buys me cigarettes. Unlike you, who was always nagging me to quit.”
What an idiot. My “controlling” behavior had been an attempt to protect his health, yet he still ended up with lung cancer..
Now he was praising Andrea for enabling his self–destruction under the guise of “freedom“.
I’d initially planned to warn him about getting a medical check–up, for the sake of our three–year marriage. But his attitude changed my mind.
If he was so keen on his “freedom“, he could freely speed toward his own demise.
“Is that so?” I replied coolly. “How wonderful for you.”
Andrea, noting Nolan’s fixed attention on me, shot me a hostile glare before cooing, “Darling, I love the handbag you bought me.”
I glanced at her designer bag—a luxury brand piece that typically retailed for 30 thousand to 40 thousand dollars.
“That’s genuine,” Kaia, who worked in retail, whispered to me.
I frowned, doing the math. Even if they’d liquidated all their wedding gifts, they’d have scraped together 100 thousand dollars at most. After they repaid my 350 thousand dollars and the 300–thousand–dollar house down payment, it was already miraculous they’d managed those payments. Where had they
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found the money for luxury purchases?
Even if they wanted to act generous, they needed to have the
money.
“Jealous, aren’t you?” Nolan gloated, oblivious to my skepticism. “Andrea’s given me a son. I’m willing to give her everything. Unlike some people who couldn’t even conceive after three years of marriage.”
Kaia nearly hurled her coffee at his head, but I caught her arm just in time.
“Selena, why are you stopping me?” she asked angrily.
I smirked, turning to her. “No point arguing with a dying man,” I replied, telling her about Nolan’s cancer.
B
