Chapter 2

Julian felt heartbroken as he thought of how Kayla had repeatedly sneaked glances at him at the banquet just now. Yet, she hadn't dared meet his eyes at all. Three years ago, when Diana took the initiative to reunite with her parents, she broke the peace the Winnington family had for eighteen years. Kayla, who was adopted after Diana was lost at the age of three, got drawn into the mess. Her excessive anxiety had triggered her stomach cancer. However, Julian didn’t know anything back then. He only knew that Kayla went abroad alone, so he began looking for her like crazy for a whole month, but he never heard any news from her. He took it as a signal that Kayla wanted to break up with him. Therefore, in a fit of rage he married Diana, who looked very similar to Kayla. Three years later, he finally found out that Kayla had been suffering from stomach cancer but endured it alone for fear that the truth would distress him. For the past three years, Diana had enjoyed everything that originally belonged to Kayla. It was time for everything to go back to square one. His eyes gradually turned cold, and he said firmly, “Diana, let’s get a divorce.” The coldness spread in the room. Diana’s face suddenly turned pale, and she held the sofa with all her strength to stop herself from collapsing. A divorce?! Had she heard wrong? “Julian…” Diana’s face was ghastly pale. In a trembling voice, she asked, “What… What did you say?” “I said, let’s get a divorce,” Julian repeated with certainty. Diana looked at him incredulously, clutching the pregnancy test report tightly. The paper seemed to have turned into a sharp thorn that pricked her palm fiercely. The intense pain hit her, letting her know that this wasn’t a dream and that what was happening before her was real. She wanted to ask him why, but she couldn’t make any sound. There seemed to be a knife twisting her lungs, and the extreme agony caused her to lose her voice. Her face turned pale. After quite a while, she asked with a trace of fear and anticipation in her eyes, “Are you joking? Is today April Fools’ Day?” She loosened her grip on the wrinkled pregnancy report in fluster and tried hard to smoothen it. She wanted to tell him to stop joking and they were having a baby. The baby was fragile and couldn’t stand the shock. However, what Julian said next paused her movements. “Diana, why don’t you agree peacefully?” Perhaps it was because he realized his tone was cold, or perhaps it was because of her teary eyes that pierced his heart, but Julian finally paused for a moment before continuing. “The divorce agreement has already been drawn up. This house will be given to you, and I’ll also give you thirty million dollars as compensation. I can give you more if you think it’s not enough.” His seemingly generous proposal contained endless coldness. Diana’s eyes almost popped out of her head because she could not believe it; she couldn’t believe that the person in front of her was the husband she had been living with for three years! How could he end their marriage with such calm and cold words? Diana grew even more confused. She suddenly felt dizzy for a moment. However, she understood that there was no need to show him this pregnancy test report. Diana bit her lower lip until she had a metallic taste in her mouth, but she didn’t feel the pain. His words echoed in her mind over and over again. Julian looked at Diana, who was shocked and miserable. A look of sympathy flashed across his eyes. In the end, he settled with a cold expression. He knew full well that he was wrong. Diana might have truly regarded his kindness toward her as love. But in fact, whenever he saw Diana, he couldn’t help thinking of her as Kayla. That was why he couldn’t help but be kind to her. That was why he acted so impulsively and went to Winnington Mansion to propose to Diana the day he lost confidence in finding Kayla. He had to admit that Diana was a great wife in the past three years. She was so stubborn, so she probably wouldn’t be able to accept it if she found out that she was just a substitute. Therefore, Julian did not tell her that Kayla was the one he really loved, let alone explain the reason for the divorce. He pitied Diana and felt slightly guilty for her at the same time. He suppressed the strange feeling in his heart, collected himself, and calmly looked at Diana, who was crying her eyes out. He then continued, “You could calmly accept our marriage back then even though we had never met before. Likewise, you should also accept the divorce calmly.” She was very strong. Julian believed that she could do it. “You scum!” Diana finally lost control of her emotions, so much so that she had difficulty breathing. She had so much to say and so many questions to ask him. However, when she saw that his eyes were no longer as gentle as they used to be, that was all that came out of her mouth. How could he simplify their relationship like that?! This marriage was once her salvation. As for the end of this marriage… Would the divorce become her grave? No, it could not. She still had a baby. She still had the insight she had accumulated over the past three years and the knowledge from continuous learning. She was no longer the daughter of the Winnington family who was at the mercy of others. She now had the full strength to fend for herself. She could not grovel. She should not cry and plead with Julian not to be so merciless. A relationship she had to beg for was meaningless. She didn’t want it, and Julian wouldn’t like her acting that way either. Diana clenched her fists tightly until her fingernails dug into her palms triggering a sharp pain. After a long time, Julian heard her broken but determined voice. “Okay, I’ll divorce you.” It was just like three years ago, when she met him and said “I do” at Winnington Mansion. At that time, she had immediately given him her first name, Diana, thinking that there was no harm and that it would be nice for the man to call her in a familiar manner. She would have told him to call her “Ms. Winnington” instead if she could do it all over again. Everyone must return to their own place, after all. It was time for her to wake up from this dreamlike marriage. "Thank you for giving me a particularly perfect and unforgettable life in the past three years.” This villa was filled with warm memories everywhere, from the tissue box on the table to the design of the villa; he had selected all the staff with her little by little. He let her know that she would be loved by others, too. Diana got up from the sofa, wiped away her tears, and hid the pregnancy test report well. She tried her best to end their relationship peacefully. But when she stood up, she bumped into the corner of the sofa. The solid wood sofa was made for her by Julian personally after the decoration of the villa, and she felt so distressed for him for many days as he got blisters on his fingers from it. He made the sofa for her only because he knew she missed the hard sofa at her adoptive parents’ house. After her adoptive parents died in a car accident when she was ten years old, her so-called relatives kicked her out of the house. Diana never had the chance to feel the warmth again. After so many years, she got to feel the long-lost warmth all because of Julian. She would always remember it. She would try desperately to keep it in mind. No one had ever been so kind to her. But why? Why was Julian the one being so cruel to her now?!