Chapter 18
Aria spoke each word distinctly, every sentence like a sharp, cold arrow piercing Larry’s heart.
“Now you bring up our wedding anniversary. Tell me, does it even matter? An anniversary without love means nothing.”
Suddenly, Larry was engulfed by immense sadness.
The words “without love” seemed to hold him captive, freezing him in place.
Was there no love between them?
There used to be love.
He looked at his beautiful wife standing not far away. They were physically close, but he knew that years of emotional distance separated them.
During their early romance, he had learned to cook just to please her. He even learned to make pasta from scratch, and though his creations were clumsy, she had eaten every bite with a smile.
During holiday dinners, he would secretly mark the fortune cookies so she would get the special message he’d written.
He had sung love songs to her at their high school Valentine’s dance, letting the entire school know that Aria was his girlfriend. Even when the principal gave him detention, he didn’t regret it. Just seeing her secretly smiling at him through the classroom window while he was being punished made it all worthwhile.
He remembered that Aria loved Mont Blanc cake the most. During a cold winter break when Aria craved Mont Blanc cake at
midnight, he drove out to buy it. When the shop was closed, he waited outside until dawn for the first batch of warm cakes to
come out of the oven.
Were these such distant memories?
No, yet why had everything changed so much?
Larry looked at Aria with uncertainty. She still looked the same as in his memories, but she no longer smiled. When she looked at
him, the love was gone. Her eyes once held tiny little stars, but they had all disappeared.
His throat tightened as he suddenly noticed the Mont Blanc cake bag in Aria’s hand.
At this hour, how could Aria have gone out just for a Mont Blanc cake, unless… the man beside her had bought it for her!
Letting another man buy her Mont Blanc cake was like tainting their most beautiful high school memories.
Breathing heavily, he rushed forward and, when Aria wasn’t paying attention, grabbed the bag and violently threw it to the
ground.
He cursed, “Aria, don’t think I can’t control you anymore!”
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The bag wasn’t sealed, just folded at the top. With such force, the cake rolled out of the bag. The rich, sweet aroma seemed to spread around them.
But this scent no longer brought happiness–only bitterness.
Aria lowered her eyes, her gaze falling on the cake that had dropped to the floor.
Once, Larry had specially waited in line at the shop for a Mont Blanc cake, bringing it to her as if it were a treasure. Now he effortlessly threw it to the ground.
Was it just the cake he was throwing away?
No.
She felt he was throwing her away–throwing away their relationship.
He had once said she was the most important thing to him. But no matter how important, hadn’t he still carelessly tossed her into the mud, leaving her to struggle?
She should have stopped expecting anything long ago.
Looking at the Mont Blanc cake still steaming on the ground, Aria suddenly smiled.
Her eyes curved with her smile, and those once detached eyes seemed to fill again with tiny little stars.
She looked at Larry before her, smiling with such gentleness.
“Larry,” she said, “Wouldn’t divorce be better?”
“Don’t you love her? After our divorce, I can make room for your beloved Lucy, can’t
I?”
