Unwanted Husband, Unwritten Future

pe to my hospital room. Inside were the initial divorce filings and documents to legally renounce the R

had asked over the phone. "Divorcing Olivia Reed and

ed, and it was the absolute truth. I didn't know much,

he decision to leave the country had come to me as clearly as the decision to divorce. If I was starting over, I needed a new canvas, a new world, fa

n't go to see Olivia. I went to see her assistant, a woma

e me. "Mr. Miller. I didn't exp

I said calmly. "I just need

as a power of attorney, giving my lawyer the right to handle a

whispered, her professiona

st n

Ms. Reed... she once told me to cancel your credit cards because you bought a set of e

my decision was the right one. They confirmed the coldness I

. I signed the document, and she wit

up to a modern, glass-and-steel mansion that felt more like a corporate hea

as just as I expected: minimalist, pristine, and cold. There was not a single personal t

abstract and chosen for its investment value, not for its beauty. The colors were all mute

with poor lighting. Canvases were stacked against the wall, some blank, some with unfinished ske

The handwriting was mine, I recognized it from the legal documents I' d just signed.

e didn' t even notice. She just walked past me and went to her office. Liam c

vorite book. She glanced at it and said, 'Thank you, Ethan,' without looking up

. He told me to 'buy something sensible.' Mom hugged Liam and told him how proud she was of his latest app. She didn't s

loved so deeply, and who was given nothing but scraps of indifference in return. He painted her portraits she never looked a

crying for a life I remembered, but for the man who had lived it. This stranger, this earlier versio

for his loneliness, for the boy who was never truly wanted by his adoptive parents. My

pity, but a fierce, protective resolve. I would not let that man' s suffering b

inating the room. I picked up the journal and held it to my chest. "It' s okay,"

ext from an unknown number, but the na

thday dinner tomorrow night. Your attendance

me, the pull felt weak, distant. I looked at the message, then back at the journal in