My Ex-Husband Always Knew That I Had Cheated on Him
Chapter 126: It Hurts, I Really Want to Cry

Chapter 126: Chapter 126: It Hurts, I Really Want to Cry

Chloe Simpson tightly gripped her phone with both hands, her fingers tapping the letters on the screen keyboard one by one, composing this sentence.

She didn’t know why, despite it being just a dozen or so words that could be typed out with a few light taps of her fingers, it felt like it had drained all her strength.

When she sent that message via WeChat, Chloe felt as though every ounce of energy in her body had been completely sapped.

But she waited for a long, long time, and Lucas Hughes still hadn’t replied to her message.

Chloe forced a bitter smile as her lips trembled; Lucas must hate her now, must despise her so much that he doesn’t even want to reply.

She took a deep breath, stood up, walked to the master bedroom, and opened the wardrobe to take out a white shirt. She put it on and carefully applied her makeup.

She had worn this same white shirt when she and Lucas went to the Civil Affairs Bureau to register their marriage. She had tied the same ponytail, applied the same makeup, worn the same dusky rose lipstick, and even attached fake eyelashes.

After finishing all this, Chloe glanced at the clock: 7:30.

She wasn’t in the mood to eat. She called for a cab and headed straight for the Civil Affairs Bureau.

At 8:01 AM, she arrived at the entrance of the Civil Affairs Bureau right on time.

She lifted her head and looked at the sky. The sun was shining brilliantly today—so dazzlingly bright that it made her eyes sting, made her feel achingly sad and on the verge of tears.

She suddenly remembered a phrase she had come across long ago, though she couldn’t recall when or where: When you feel like crying, lift your head and look at the sky—it’ll keep your tears from falling.

And so, she stood there, her head tilted upwards, gazing at the sky.

The tears indeed didn’t fall, but Lucas Hughes never came either.

She waited from morning until noon, standing under the harsh sunlight at the Civil Affairs Bureau’s entrance. She waited until sweat soaked her clothes, until her white shirt clung damply to her skin, yet Lucas never appeared.

Finally, Chloe couldn’t resist pulling out her phone and dialing Lucas’s number.

But all she heard on the other end was the monotonous "beep-beep-beep" of unanswered calls.

She suddenly remembered Lucas’s reaction at Emily Sterling’s place yesterday.

She thought to herself, Lucas probably wouldn’t be coming.

The moment she lowered her head, the tears she had been holding back finally came streaming down. Chloe descended the steps in front of the Civil Affairs Bureau, intending to head home.

Just as she reached the roadside and was about to hail a cab, her phone unexpectedly rang. It was Lucas’s colleague from the reproductive medicine department calling.

"Chloe, is everything okay between you and Lucas? Today, Lucas suddenly said he wanted to take time off—a complete break with all of his remaining leave this year."

Only then did Chloe realize that Lucas had taken leave, had left, and wasn’t even in Kyohai anymore.

"Oh, no, nothing’s wrong. Don’t worry about us," Chloe said casually before hanging up the phone.

No wonder Lucas wasn’t answering her calls. He had requested all his leave; he probably wanted to take a trip, clear his mind, get some space.

It made sense—so much had happened recently.

She wasn’t the best of wives, continuously tangled up with Alexander Johnson. If Lucas needed time to relax, it was for the best.

Perhaps the divorce didn’t need to happen so soon after all. Chloe surprisingly felt a small wave of relief.

Over the next few days, she went to work, came home, and adhered to a rigid routine.

Life seemed no different than before, but deep inside, Chloe knew she had become a soulless shell—a walking corpse.

She was just mechanically going through the motions of living.

Oddly enough, Alexander hadn’t shown up to bother her lately either. The days had suddenly settled into a strange calmness, though the stillness made her feel even emptier inside.

Except when she was busy at the hospital, the hours seemed to crawl unbearably slow—every day felt like an eternity.

After working for a week straight, Chloe took a couple of days off.

But she didn’t want the break at all. Without work to occupy her, the loneliness became even harder to bear.

On the first day, she tried to do some other things—watch TV, shop, go out—but no matter what she did, her mind was consumed with memories of her and Lucas.

Though a day only has 24 hours, it felt as if she had lived through the anguish of 24 months.

Fortunately, she survived the day somehow, but by the evening, as she was walking home.

She passed a park, and a couple emerged from within.

"Honey, I’m scared. Divorce rates are so high these days—I’m afraid we might end up splitting after we get married," the woman confessed.

"Silly girl, what are you afraid of? As long as I’m here, I promise we’ll never get divorced," the man reassured her tenderly.

It was such a simple conversation between the couple, yet the words shattered Chloe completely.

Tears welled up in her eyes, uncontrollable and streaming down her face in torrents, no matter how much she tried to wipe them away.

Before long, her face was stinging from the constant wiping.

Then, suddenly, the sound of singing drifted toward her.

"Two people in loneliness—might as well become one person seeking freedom."

"Words like these—they make sense, but who wants to willingly sacrifice their sense of home."

She had already stopped crying by then, but upon hearing these lyrics, her tears returned in full force.

She instinctively stood up and walked toward the small tavern from which the song was playing.

Just as she stepped inside, a Cayenne parked curbside opened its car door, and Alexander Johnson stepped out.