Chapter 4

The cold night air blew in through the car windows, sending strands of Giselle's hair flying in all directions. All the way back, the scene where Melanie appeared right next to Anthony kept replaying in Giselle's head like a broken record. Perhaps due to the fact that she'd been hurt too many times, she no longer felt the pain in her heart. Rather, she just felt an endless exhaustion. 30 days of the divorce cooling-off period was just way too long. Giselle rubbed at her reddening eyes. While she was a little unfocused, she didn't see that the car ahead of her was making an illegal turn and rammed right into it. There was a loud bang. Giselle then realized that her leg was caught in the wedge of her now-deformed door, and blood was streaming steadily from the cut. Right at that moment, Giselle's face drained of all its color as she broke out in a cold sweat. However, she still managed to stay focused despite the excruciating pain and dialed 911. After being wheeled into the emergency room, the doctor checked her vitals and told her that her injury wasn't a life-threatening one. However, she would need to undergo a small surgery to treat her wounds, so the doctor asked her to contact her family members. Since Giselle's parents were in another city, she called Anthony instead. But he never picked up although she called him dozens of times. Thinking about it, Giselle realized that he was most probably occupied since he was now at a gathering with his colleagues and had his long-time crush right next to him. How would he even find the time to pick up her phone calls anyway? The nurse next to Giselle saw that she wasn't able to get a hold of anyone. So, the nurse asked, "Is your husband really not coming?" Giselle shook her head and said calmly, "We're in the midst of a divorce. There are just a few more weeks before it's finalized." The nurse didn't expect an answer like this. A Look of pity immediately came over her face. "But since the divorce isn't finalized, he should still be able to sign off for your surgery." Giselle recalled the past three years of her married life and felt awash with a wave of emotions. She'd wait all night long for him just so that she could have dinner with him, but he would just tell her he was working overtime and wouldn't be coming home that night. She'd put in the effort to learn about law so that they would be able to have a common topic to talk about, but he would just call her an outsider and make her lose confidence in herself. She'd even purposely prepared a special birthday celebration for him so that he would cheer up, but he would just tell her that he was tired and wasn't in the mood to celebrate. Throughout their marriage, Giselle had been the only one putting any effort into their relationship. Everything he did only further proved to her that he never loved her. There was no way Anthony would ever show up. Giselle didn't want to continue being delusional anymore. "What's the point of having the husband come over when he couldn't even be reached when his wife got into a car accident?" The nurse sighed at this with an empathetic look in her eyes. "Then, you can call a friend over instead." Zoey Jenner, Giselle's best friend, was the one who took care of her at the hospital for the rest of the week. Anthony only learned about Giselle's hospitalization a few days later. He hurried to the hospital and entered Giselle's ward, noticing the wound on her ankle immediately. A look of confusion came over his face at once. "Why didn't you tell me you were involved in an accident?" Giselle wanted to explain things, but when she looked up and saw his face, she was suddenly reminded of the dozens of calls she made to him back then. Her words got caught in her throat. Swallowing them down, she just smiled faintly and said, "You're busy. I didn't want to trouble you with such a small matter." When Anthony heard this, a guilty look appeared on his face. He decided to try explaining himself. "Giselle, it was just a coincidence that I bumped into Melanie that day. Don't think too much about it." "How's her divorce case going? Has it been finalized yet?" Giselle's sudden question surprised Anthony. Still, he answered honestly and said, "It's been finalized. She's officially divorced now." The smile on Giselle's lips only grew wider. She said in a low voice, "Congratulations. "I hope it goes smoothly for me too." Anthony didn't understand what she meant. Just as he was about to ask her about it, his phone started to ring. When he looked at the caller ID, he hesitated for a moment before excusing himself to the corridor to answer the call. Half an hour later when he returned, Anthony saw that the door to Giselle's ward had been left slightly ajar. He heard Giselle's voice, saying, "That's right. There are only 15 days left in the cooling-off period for freedom…" Anthony was suddenly reminded of the divorce property division agreement from that night. Recalling the sentence Giselle said earlier, Anthony felt his heart thumping. He pushed the door open and asked, "Cooling-off period? Who's getting divorced?"