It was already past nine and Mu Jianyu knew that his wife must be waiting for him right now. With a sigh, he got out of the car he just parked in their garage.
That afternoon, he called his wife, Li Xiuying, telling her that he would be coming home late because of a business meeting he had to attend. But the truth is there wasn't one and he'd been lying to her for months.
All those times, when he pretended he was working overtime were instead spent with his mistress.
For the last few months, he felt completely alive again. He met another woman who made him feel good and could make him happy. Unlike Li Xiuying, his wife, the one he'd lost interest in.
Today, he finally made up his mind to divorce her. There's no point staying with her in a loveless marriage. Once they're divorced, he will be free to love and marry Lin Meirong.
Lin Meirong had been begging him to leave his wife. Telling him that he doesn't need to be parted with her once he divorces Li Xiuying. Truth to be told, he felt sorry for the woman who has been his wife for five long years. He felt sorry for Li Xiuying who thinks that they're still happily married.
Standing in front of the door, Mu Jianyu hesitated for a moment, asking himself one last time if this is the best thing to do. Shaking his head to push the doubts out of his mind, he opened the door.
He was right. Li Xiuying was waiting for him as usual. She was sitting in their living room, watching a comedy show, still wearing her work clothes that reek the smell of paint. Li Xiuying was a well-known artist, with most of her earnings going up to charities and orphanages.
Her hair is a mess. The scent of paint lingers on her clothes. She looked so plain unlike his Lin Meirong. She would always smell good and look beautiful in his eyes.
"Welcome home, honey!" Li Xiuying happily greeted him when she saw him at the door. She came towards him and helped him remove his coat. "How's your meeting?" she asked.
"It's alright. Nothing special happened." Lies.
"Are you hungry? I can reheat the dinner if you want to. Why don't you take a shower first while I do that?" she said with a smile.
Mu Jianyu said nothing to her. He wasn't hungry. He already had dinner with Lin Meirong earlier and he couldn't tell his wife that he was sick of pretending that everything was okay whenever he saw her smile.
But still he said nothing and did what she told him to do. For the last time, he accompanied his wife for dinner. They ate in silence, something both of them are already used to. As soon as he finished his meal, he left her on the dining table and went to their bedroom.
He came back with a folder in his hand.
"Xiuying, I have something to discuss with you."
Mu Jianyu found her cleaning the table and had placed the dirty dishes in the sink. She lifted her face to look at him when he came back. Noticing the seriousness written all over his face, Li Xiuying sat back on her chair.
"What's wrong, hun? Is everything all right?"
Seeing her concern, Mu Jianyu faltered a bit. How could he ask her for a divorce like this? She was there, waiting for him to say something and yet he knew that once those words had been said, she would be left broken. He felt like there was a lump stuck on his throat and he couldn't utter a single word.
"You wanted to show me this?"
He forgot that he was still holding the divorce papers in his hand. It was then he realized that Li Xiuying had already taken the papers from him without his permission.
Mu Jianyu watched his wife's expression changing from being happy to shock. The smile she had earlier vanished instantly as she read the contents of the paper.
"These are…" Li Xiuying stuttered. "You want us to divorce?"
"I'm not happy anymore." Her husband said with a straight face. "Let's get divorced."
At that moment, Li Xiuying thought her world had fallen apart. She felt like someone just stabbed her directly in her heart.
He cannot back out anymore. His wife already knew his intention to divorce her.
"By your side, I feel like suffocating. You were oblivious to my sadness for all these years. You smile and act like there isn't any problem between us even though you know our marriage is dying."
"But why?"
"I simply don't love you anymore." He said without hesitation.