Chapter 7- over my dead body

When Laurent received a call from Dave , she was stepping out of a taxi and heading toward the building where Adeline lived.

She had just returned from her daughter's kindergarten. As a mother, the guilt and longing from leaving her daughter alone for a night had kept her awake. Unable to bear it any longer, she had taken a taxi early in the morning to the kindergarten, hoping to catch a glimpse of her little girl and make sure she was doing okay.

Laurent didn't drive her own car, fearing Dave might notice. Instead, she rode in the taxi, planning to stay hidden and watch from a distance as her daughter arrived at school.

She had assumed he would send someone to drop their daughter off, but to her surprise, Dave came himself.

There he was, impeccably dressed in a suit, exuding confidence, holding their daughter's hand at the bustling entrance of the kindergarten. His presence drew the attention of many parents and even the young female teachers.

Laurent didn't bother looking at his expression; her gaze was fixed on her daughter.

Her eyes, full of longing, followed the little girl's every move. She noticed her daughter seemed happy, showing no signs of distress or rebellion. As the girl was about to enter the kindergarten, Dave even reached out and gently ruffled her hair.

Laurent almost thought she was seeing things. In her memory, he had never interacted with their daughter so tenderly before.

Her emotions churned with complexity.

Conflicted, she didn't know how to feel.

On one hand, she hoped her daughter wouldn't be upset or cry because she hadn't been home for a night. But seeing her daughter completely unaffected made her feel an inexplicable sense of loss, as if she had been abandoned.

On the other hand, she wanted her daughter to have a bond with Dave, since he was her father. Yet she also wished their daughter could remain distant from him, believing it would spare the child from heartbreak after their divorce.

With these conflicted emotions swirling inside her, Laurent remained seated in the taxi, watching as her daughter, hand in hand with the teacher, entered the kindergarten. It wasn't until the driver gently asked if she was ready to leave that she snapped out of her daze and instructed him to take her back.

Now standing outside Adeline's building, she glanced at her phone. The screen displayed an incoming call from Dave . She knew he must already be at his office by now and had likely seen the divorce agreement her lawyer had sent him. This call was probably to inform her to finalize the paperwork immediately.

So, she answered.

But once the call connected, she said nothing, waiting for him to deliver his verdict.

Her heart ached bitterly. Once brimming with confidence that she could make this marriage work, she now found herself facing its collapse. Laurent couldn't help but feel like the world around her was mocking her past naivety.

"So, you finally decided to pick up? I thought you were so capable that you'd just keep your phone off," his sarcastic tone greeted her as soon as the call connected.

Laurent stayed silent. She felt there was nothing left to say to him. All she wanted now was for him to cut to the chase and end things swiftly.

He let out a derisive chuckle on the other end.

"Women can play coy—it might get a man's attention. But overdoing it? That's just asking for trouble."

His voice carried that same condescending tone she had come to expect, cold and detached, laced with overt mockery.

Humiliation and anger surged within Laurent. He had reduced her request for divorce to some petty, attention-seeking stunt. And the way he spoke, so confident and dismissive, made it clear he believed she wouldn't have the courage to go through with it.

Her lips parted, ready to say something in return, but no words came out. She was so infuriated by his comment that her lips quivered uncontrollably.

"Say something!"

Her prolonged silence only fueled his irritation, and he barked impatiently on the other end.

Laurent bit down hard on her lip, forcing herself to suppress her emotions. When she finally spoke, her voice was calm and steady, devoid of the storm brewing inside her.

"There's nothing left to discuss between us. If it's about the divorce, talk to my lawyer."

She was ready to hang up. She had answered the call to hear his decision, not to endure his scornful remarks.

Before she could end the call, his angry voice shot through the line, stopping her.

"Laurent!"

Dave was livid, his fury stoked by her distant and detached demeanor.

"What, do you think the world revolves around you? You think you can just get married when you want and divorced when you feel like it?"

"Let me tell you something: over my dead body!"

His yelling blared through the phone, but instead of rattling her, it only made Laurent feel more composed. Her tone remained soft, but her words were resolute.

"Dave Washington, why should we keep torturing each other? Clark is back now. You love her, and she loves you. The two of you are perfect for each other—"

Before she could finish, he cut her off, his voice filled with rage.

"Don't you dare act all innocent! If you hadn't taken advantage of me that night when I was drunk and ended up pregnant, Clark and I would never have broken up!"

Dave 's words shattered Laurent's fragile calm, leaving her unable to maintain her composure. She let out a cold laugh on her end of the line.

"Oh, is that so? Didn't she break up with you first? Isn't that why you drank yourself into oblivion? Why blame me for the fact that you couldn't get back together?"

"So what if she ended it first?" he retorted, his voice raw with emotion. "If it weren't for you, I might have had a chance to fix things. But because you got pregnant, I had no choice but to marry you, and that destroyed any hope I had of reconciling with her!"

His accusations came out in a frenzied shout, each word like a blade cutting into her. The sunlight above felt unbearably harsh, making her head pound and her eyes sting.

Laurent had always known that deep down, Dave resented and blamed her for everything. Today, he finally admitted it out loud.

Her heart felt numb. She wasn't sure if she even remembered what pain was supposed to feel like. How else could she laugh in the face of such cruel accusations?

"Ha! Yes, fine! It's all my fault! Everything is my fault!"

"So now, I'll take responsibility for my mistakes. I'll divorce you. I'll let you go. I'll give you and Clark your happy ending! Is that enough for you?"

Her voice broke as she shouted back, her emotions spiraling out of control. The moment she finished, she hung up, unable to bear another second of their conversation.

Laurent didn't want to talk to him anymore. Continuing would only mean degrading herself further.

She had been wrong.

Truly, deeply wrong. For the first time in all these years, she admitted it to herself: marrying him had been a catastrophic mistake.

Back then, she had loved him recklessly, throwing herself into the relationship without regard for the consequences. She naively believed that by marrying him and bearing his child, she could secure their future together.

Hadn't countless marriages survived on such grounds? Parents, landlords and their ladies, even lovers in bygone eras—all of them bound not by passion but by shared responsibilities, especially for their children.

But she hadn't understood then.

Dave Washington's heart was made of iron.

No matter how much warmth she offered, how hard she tried to please him, love him, or care for him, he remained unmoved.