4 The phone rang and rang before someone finally picked up. But the voice that drifted into my ear was a woman's, lazy and thick with sleep. "...Hello? Who is this?" She followed it with a yawn that sounded a little too deliberate in the face of my dead silence. After a mom- ent, Lana's voice came again, now laced with a hint of apology and embarrassment. "Oh, sorry, I grabbed the wrong phone. Hold on, I'll wake Jules up..." "Don't bother," I cut her off. My voice was flat, devoid of emotion. "Just do me a favor and tell him I have all the paperwork ready. Three o'clock this afternoon. City Hall." I hung up before she could respond. I hadn't eaten since last night, but a wave of nausea rolled through my stomach. I felt like I was going to be sick. I love you. My love is unwavering. What a joke. He could say those words and then immediately fall into bed with someone else. A cheater is a cheater, no matter what excuse they hide behind. I remembered my last life, when I "accidentally" walked in on them. The pain was so sharp I almost fainted. I lost all reason, screaming and demanding answers like a madwoman. Lana, with an apologetic look on her face, insisted it was all a misunderstanding, an accident, and begged me not to blame Julian. And Julian? He didn't say a word in his own defense. He just stood there silently, letting me scream and cry and rave, letting me throw his past promises back in his face. He looked like he was harboring some terrible secret, burdened by a sorrow he couldn't speak. By the end of it all, everyone had taken his side. They said he had his reasons, that he didn't mean for it to happen, that I shouldn't be so hard on him. They were the ones who had done it. And somehow, I was the one who was wrong. His chilling calm made me look like a lunatic. I started to doubt myself. Was I overreacting? Was I the one who had pushed him away with my suspicions, tarnishing his "pure friendship" with Lana and driving him to make their ambiguous relationship a reality out of spite? Lost in a fog of confusion, I finally agreed to the divorce. But after Julian handed me the papers, his condition took a turn for the worse. Zack and the others, unable to watch it happen any longer, cornered me. They blamed me, screamed that I had pushed him over the edge. Did I have any idea, Zack demanded, that Julian had done all of this-the cheating, the cruelty-as a twisted act of love, to push me away so he wouldn't be a burden? We were high school sweethearts. We'd gone from sharing a desk to sharing a life. Julian's parents were gone; I was his only family. He knew I would never, ever leave him, no matter what. So he chose the most extreme method to force me away. I had just started to accept the reality that he had cheated and no longer loved me. And now they were telli- ng me he did it because he loved me too much. They told me he should have had two more years, but beca- use of my hysterics, his condition had suddenly worsened. It was all my fault. t was my one voice against all of theirs. In the end, my mind simply broke. After one last look at Julian, lying unconscious in the ICU, I ran to the hospital rooftop and jumped. Thinking back on it now, I was such a fool. This time, I chose to let myself go, to let go of everything. But I waited at City Hall for hours. The staff was already packing up to leave for the day when Julian finally Irrived. Discover our latest featured short drama reel. Watch now and enjoy the story!