I Can See Our Love's Expiry Date

I have an ability in which I can see the countdown to someone's emotional departure. The day Dad's countdown hits zero, he leaves behind divorce papers and abandons Mom and me. The day my best friend's countdown hits zero, she finally dumps her jerk of a boyfriend. I'm always terrified of seeing a countdown appear above Levi Hammond's head. But thankfully, seven years into our marriage, his head is still clear. I am thankful every day that I married a good man. However, when he picks me up from work last month, I look up and see bright red text burning into my vision. [702 days, 14 hours, 22 minutes.] That's less than two years from now. My heart clenches, and I frantically search for answers in my head. Have I done something wrong? Has he changed his mind? Things don't fall into place until our anniversary, when we run into his intern, Belinda Manning, outside his office building during a torrential downpour. She's soaked to the skin, but she still has a bright smile on her face. Levi hands her a pack of tissues to dry off, his face unreadable. However, in that instant, the countdown suddenly jumps. [327 days, 4 hours, 47 minutes.] The number of days has dropped by more than 300. The sound of rain is deafening in my ears. But I know now that I have found the reason for it. Chapter 1 "Hi Mr. Hammond, Mrs. Hammond," Belinda Manning chirped cheerfully. "I'm really sorry for this, but I just couldn't get a cab in this downpour." The car door swung open, and the wind and rain lashed into the back seat, drenching the leather. Belinda folded her umbrella and slid in, drenched from head to toe. Her white chiffon blouse clung to her body, and water dripped from her wispy strands of hair around her face. She looked absolutely disheveled, but her smile was as bright as the sun. Levi Hammond kept one hand on the steering wheel. He didn't turn around, but he pulled out a few tissues from the glove compartment, reached over my shoulder, and handed them to her in the back seat. "Dry yourself off with these. Be careful not to catch a cold." His voice was gentle and laced with thoughtfulness as always. Belinda took the tissues, her fingers casually touching the back of his hand, but he didn't flinch or pull away. "Thanks, Mr. Hammond. You're always looking out for us," she said with a cheerful smile, her tone completely unpretentious. Levi drew his hand back and lightly tapped his fingertips against the wheel twice. "It's not easy for a single young woman like you to be out and about like that anyway." I remained seated in the front passenger seat, quietly watching the rain hammering against the window. The windshield wipers swung hard and fast, slicing through the water in layers again and again. The moment Levi said "It's not easy", I watched the red numbers above his head jump again, changing from [327 days, 4 hours, 47 minutes] straight to [289 days, 10 hours, 12 minutes]. All because of a casual, empathetic remark, the countdown to the day he would be leaving me emotionally shortened by more than a month. I closed my eyes, feeling a slight twist in my stomach. "Is the air conditioning a bit too strong for you?" Levi suddenly asked. I thought that he was talking to me. I was just about to tell him it was fine when I heard Belinda sneeze in the backseat. "It's a little too cold," she replied. "My clothes are completely soaked, and the wind is a little chilly." Levi's gaze swept toward the controls in the center of the car panel. Then, he reached for the air conditioning knob and turned the temperature up by several degrees. His eyes then fell on the cashmere blanket on my lap. I had left the blanket in the car a few days ago so that I could cover my legs. "Anna," he suddenly called out to me. "Let Linda use the blanket for a bit. She's freezing." I turned to look at him. It was quite dim in the car, and the streetlights flashed across his handsome face every few seconds. His expression was quite neutral and natural, as though it was just a very simple and normal request—one that was selfless, open, and honest. This was Levi Hammond. Everyone said he was the perfect man. He was kind, gentle, always considerate, and radiated kindness that kept attracting people to him. I didn't say another word and picked up the blanket on my lap before handing it to the backseat. "Thank you, Mrs. Hammond!" Belinda took the blanket and wrapped it around herself without any hesitation. "You're so generous, Mrs. Hammond. Mr. Hammond is truly blessed to have married someone like you," she said with a sniffle, then sighed comfortably in the back. Chapter 2 I looked at the numbers above Levi's head. [260 days, 5 hours, 8 minutes.] The time had shortened by another 29 days. The car went quiet, the silence broken only by the rain and tires splashing through the puddles on the road. There was a traffic light intersection up ahead. Turning left would take us to the fine dining restaurant that I'd booked two weeks in advance. Going straight would take us to Country Heights, where Belinda rented an apartment. Levi stayed in the middle lane and didn't signal left. I stared at the car dashboard and asked very quietly, "Aren't we supposed to be going to the restaurant?" The rain nearly drowned out my voice, but Levi heard me. He hit the brakes at the red light and gave me an apologetic glance. "The rain is too heavy, and the road leading into Country Heights is difficult to navigate on foot in this weather. It's not safe for her to go alone." After a slight pause, he said, "We'll drop her off first. It's fine if we're late for the reservation." I looked at him. "The reservation is only until 8:00 pm. And it's already 7:30 pm." Levi frowned. "Anna, Linda is my employee. I can't just leave her stranded halfway home. It's just dinner. If we can't make it today, I'll make it up to you tomorrow." He was always acting so self-righteously like this because he thought his intentions were kind and selfless. Therefore, anyone who got in the way of his kindness was being unreasonable. Belinda poked her head out from the back and said, "Mr. Hammond, you can just drop me off at the subway station up ahead. I really don't want to get in the way of you celebrating your anniversary with Mrs. Hammond." She sounded sincere, but there was no such subway station nearby at all. As expected, Levi's frown deepened. "What are you talking about? How are you supposed to take the subway in a torrential rain like this?" The light turned green. Levi hit the gas, and the car zoomed forward at the intersection, going farther and farther away from the fine dining restaurant. The countdown above his head jumped once again. [201 days, 2 hours, 30 minutes.] "Thank you so much, Mr. Hammond!" … By the time we dropped Belinda off, it was already 8:30 pm. The rain didn't let up. If anything, it got even heavier than before. Levi pulled into the apartment garage and turned off the engine. Then, he turned toward me and reached over, trying to unbuckle my seatbelt. "I'm sorry, Anna." The back of his hand brushed against my collarbones, warm to the touch. "I'll push back all of my meetings tomorrow and take you back to that fine dining restaurant, alright?" I looked at his face that was very close to mine. We'd been married seven years, and his face was still just as handsome, carrying the same familiar gentleness I'd always known. His eyes were still focused on me. However, the numbers above his head just wouldn't disappear. [198 days, 11 hours, 45 minutes.] I unbuckled my seatbelt myself and pushed the car door open. "Forget it. I'm tired. I just want to go home and rest." Neither of us said another word for the rest of the night. … After coming out of the shower, my head felt a little woozy. My throat also felt dry and scratchy. I guessed I caught a chill in the car earlier. Levi walked out of the kitchen with a mug of warm water. When he saw my pale face, he immediately came up to me and pressed the back of his hand to my forehead. "Why are you burning up?" He frowned. "Did you catch a cold in the car?" He helped me onto the couch, treating me so gently as though I might break. Then, he went to the first-aid kit to get some Tylenol and NyQuil and brought out another mug of warm water from the kitchen. "Take these first." He put the pills on my palm and watched me swallow them. Then, he said, "I'll make you some hot tea with honey and lemon. Go and rest in the bedroom for now." I leaned back against the pillow, listening to him slice lemons and stir honey in a mug in the kitchen. Again, this was Levi Hammond. He never yelled at me or laid a hand on me. He also never mistreated me financially. He would take care of me when I was sick and always bring me an umbrella on rainy days. He was the perfect husband. That was the reason why, after seven years, I had grown completely numb to this slow, stealthy, insidious happiness. Then, the red numbers appeared over his head. Levi walked into the bedroom with a mug of hot honey lemon tea and carefully set it on the nightstand. Chapter 3 "Let it cool down a bit before you drink it. It's a little hot," Levi said, sitting on the edge of the bed while holding my hand. "Are you still mad at me?" he asked, squeezing my fingers. "I swear I only did it because I thought Belinda looked pitiful. You're the only one in my heart." I looked at him. Did he really mean that? I then looked at the numbers above his head. [198 days, 10 hours, 20 minutes.] The time didn't increase. His guilt and attempts to cheer me up didn't even add a single second to the time. I just closed my eyes and slid my hand out of his. "I'm not mad." His phone rang at that very moment. It was particularly jarring in the otherwise silent bedroom. Levi froze at first. Then, he picked up the phone he'd left on the nightstand. The moment the screen lit up, I saw the caller ID on the screen. It was Belinda. He glanced at me with a somewhat evasive look. However, he didn't decline the call. Instead, he answered it and put her on loudspeaker. He always used frank approaches like this to prove he had nothing to hide. "Mr. Hammond…" Belinda's tearful voice came through from the other end of the line. "What's the matter?" Levi asked, his voice tensing immediately. "M-My roommate just locked me out…" Her voice sounded very shaky, and the sound of the pouring rain was very loud and clear in the background. "I-I'd just showered and didn't bring a towel with me, so I came out in a bathrobe, but the wind slammed the door shut. My keys and phone are both inside the room. I only managed to call you after borrowing a phone from the convenience store staff. "I'm really sorry, Mr. Hammond, but I really don't know who else to call." Levi jumped to his feet at once. "Wait at the convenience store for me, okay? Don't go anywhere!" The urgency in his voice was literally impossible to hide as he added, "I'll be right there." After hanging up, he turned around and went to grab his coat from the hangers. "Anna, Linda's in some trouble, so I have to go over and help her for a bit," he said while putting on his coat. I leaned back against the pillow and looked at him. "It's still pouring outside." "I know." "I still have a fever." Levi paused. Then, he walked back to the bed and reached out to touch my face. "You just took some meds, so you'll be fine tomorrow once you get some sleep. But she's alone outside in just a bathrobe. She's going to be in huge trouble if I don't go." His tone was filled with a strong sense of responsibility. "Just wait for me at home, okay? I'll be right back." Then, he turned and strode out of the bedroom, slamming the front door shut with a loud bang in his haste. I looked at the steaming mug of honey lemon tea on the nightstand, then at the spot where he'd been standing earlier. I could almost still see the shadows of those red numbers jumping above his head. [120 days, 8 hours, 15 minutes.] "Okay. I'll wait." My fever subsided the next day. However, my voice was still hoarse, and I could barely speak. Levi never came home last night. He did send me a text message at 6:00 am, though. "We couldn't get the landlord on the phone last night, so I got her a room at the Bayside Motel nearby. I just got back to the office. Don't forget to take your meds this morning." I stared at the words on the screen. A motel? Him, alone with another woman? I didn't actually think that they'd slept together last night. I knew that Levi still had his principles. But the words were sharp and jarring nonetheless. … I dropped by Levi's company, Hammond Co., later that afternoon. My best friend, Melody Cordova, had borrowed my car the day before and would return it to me there. Levi had also asked me to drop off some documents that he'd left at home, so the trip made sense. When I pushed open the glass door leading into the CEO office suite, it was very quiet there. As it turned out, Levi was in the middle of a meeting. Belinda was sitting outside his office at the secretary's desk, typing away at her keyboard. She shot to her feet as soon as she saw me. "Mrs. Hammond! What are you doing here? Have you recovered from your cold?" She smiled very brightly at me, showing off her perfect row of pearly whites. She was also wearing a loose men's windbreaker. The sleeves were rolled up twice, but the jacket still looked far too large on her. That was the coat that Levi had put on last night before going out. Chapter 4 I stared at the windbreaker for a long time. Levi was a bit of a germaphobe. He would never lend his clothes to anyone else. Belinda followed my gaze and glanced down, tugging at the hem of the windbreaker. "Please don't get the wrong idea, Mrs. Hammond," she said. "My clothes were soaked yesterday, and the motel didn't have a dryer. Mr. Hammond was worried that I wouldn't have anything to wear today, so he lent me his windbreaker. "He really is such a good person, Mrs. Hammond. He doesn't put on airs at all." She said it so frankly and matter-of-factly with clear eyes as though she was genuinely just grateful her boss had looked out for her. I walked over and placed the documents on her desk. "Really?" My gaze went past her and landed on the little humidifier beside her computer. It was made with white porcelain in the shape of an adorable and fat cat. I had found the humidifier very cute while out shopping last month and bought a matching pair for Levi and me. I placed one on my nightstand and gave the other to him to be placed in his office. But now, the humidifier was puffing white mist straight onto Belinda's face. She noticed where I was looking. "Oh, about this…" She reached out and stroked the cat's ears. "The office is too dry, so Mr. Hammond gave it to me this morning. Isn't it cute?" She then turned to me with a huge smile again, without any provocation or malicious intent. I didn't answer her. Instead, I turned and pushed open the door to Levi's office. It was empty inside. The place where the humidifier had been sitting before was now empty too. Levi returned ten minutes later. He was obviously surprised to see me sitting on the couch inside his office. "What are you doing here? Didn't I tell you to stay home and rest?" he asked, coming up to me and naturally wanting to touch my forehead. I turned my head away, dodging his hand. It froze in midair, then he withdrew it rather awkwardly. "You're still mad?" He sighed and sat down on the armchair next to me. "It really was an emergency last night. You can't possibly ask me to do nothing and watch her sleep on the streets, can you?" I looked up at him. "Didn't you once tell me that you found your windbreaker dirty because someone else had touched it?" Levi frowned. "Can you stop being so unreasonable, Anna? Linda's clothes weren't dry. You can't possibly tell her to wear wet clothes to work." "And that humidifier," I said, interrupting him. "You also just decided to give it to her on a whim, right?" Levi's eyes finally showed a hint of unease. However, he soon recovered and quickly returned to his usual self-righteous demeanor. "That humidifier had been sitting on my desk for ages. I never used it. But her desk is right next to the AC vent. It's too dry. If you like the humidifier that much, I'll just buy ten more of the same design for you, okay?" He looked at me, his voice suddenly tired. "You never used to be this petty, Anna. What's the point of losing your dignity and arguing with me over something this small?" Petty? Losing my dignity? I looked at the numbers above his head. [89 days, 12 hours, 5 minutes.] It was less than 100 days now. Suddenly, I found the situation hilarious. So, even breathing was a sin in the face of someone who had already sentenced our marriage to death. I stood up and took my handbag. "You're right. There's no point." The sky turned dark and overcast again after I stepped out of Hammond Co. The rainy season in Riverton was unusually long and wet. Melody studied my expression when she returned the car keys to me. "You're as pale as a sheet, Anna," she said. "Did you argue with Levi again?" I shook my head. "No. I didn't." We hadn't argued. We hadn't even raised our voices at each other. We'd just calmly walked toward the inevitable end of our relationship. The sky was as dark as night by 4:00 pm, and rain was pouring everywhere. I drove my car to my old house in the suburbs. That was the only inheritance that Mom had left me. It contained some of her old belongings. The management office had called earlier and said that the basement had flooded because it was located on lower ground. Chapter 5 By the time I reached the house, the water had already risen to my calves. I then spent two hours alone in the dirty, icy water. I carried boxes containing old photo albums and diaries upstairs, one by one. When I finally came back out of the house, I was soaked to the skin and covered in mud, shivering from the cold. On the drive back, my car suddenly stalled on a street. The flooding had been so bad that water had gotten into the exhaust pipe. There were no streetlights around, just the deafening roar of rain pounding heavily against the roof of my car. I took out my phone and realized that I only had 15% battery left. I called Levi. This was my most instinctive reaction every time I ran into some trouble in my seven years of marriage. The phone rang for a long time before he finally picked up. "Hello? Anna?" The sound on his end was chaotic. There seemed to be arguing and crying in the background. "Levi, my car broke down on Southring Street," I said. My hands, gripping the steering wheel, were numb from the cold. "The rain is too heavy, so I can't get a cab out here. Can you come and get me?" There was a brief silence on the phone. Then, Belinda's loud crying screams could be heard. "I don't want to live anymore! I can't pay back this massive sum! Just let me die!" Levi's voice immediately turned stern and anxious. "Get down from there! What do you think you're doing, climbing onto the railing like that?" Then, he spoke into the phone in a hurry. "Anna, the project that Linda was in charge of went wrong, causing serious losses for the company. She's very emotionally unstable right now and is threatening to jump off the roof. I can't leave now." After a short pause, he said, "Try calling a tow truck service instead, or just get a cab home. I'll pay you back for it. That's all. I'm hanging up now." The call was then disconnected, and I heard the steady beeping tone from his end of the line. I stared at my darkened phone screen, suddenly feeling as though the inside of the car had plunged below subzero temperatures, colder than the dirty, sheeting rain outside. I didn't call him again. I didn't call a tow truck either. I just opened the door and walked into the rain. The rain completely soaked me through in a flash. I then slowly waded through ankle-deep water alone as I made my way toward the only light I could see ahead. I walked for nearly five miles before finally reaching a convenience store, where I managed to hail a cab to bring me home. It was 10:00 pm by the time I got home. The place was pitch-dark, but I didn't bother turning on the lights. I headed straight to the bedroom, opened the wardrobe, and took out a suitcase. I packed a few of my most-worn outfits into it, along with some toiletries and daily essentials. I didn't touch a single one of the jewelry or purses that Levi gave me and just left them in their places. After I was done packing, I went into the study, turned on the computer, and printed out a document. Then, I sat down at the desk, grabbed my pen, and signed my name on the last page of the document. Anastasia Evans. My signature was neat and signed with a flourish without a single tremor. Then, I placed the document on the coffee table in the living room, where it couldn't be missed. I also left the spare keys Levi had given me right beside it. When I was done, I dragged my suitcase out of the door and walked out of the home that I had lived in for seven years. The moment the door closed behind me, my heart felt utterly empty. … Early the next morning, Levi dragged his exhausted body home and opened the door. He'd only just managed to calm Belinda and send her back to her apartment. "I'm back, Anna," he called out, changing into his indoor slippers. Nobody responded. He frowned and flipped on the light in the living room. Almost immediately, he saw the document I'd left on the coffee table. He crossed the room, picked it up, and flipped through a couple of pages. However, the moment he realized what it was, his breath caught in his throat, and he couldn't breathe. He glared at the divorce agreement for a long time, his eyes boring holes into the signature I had signed onto the document in black ink. Panic rose in his chest. Right at that moment, the number above his head that was originally fewer than 100 days suddenly flashed eerily, and the number jumped from [89 days, 12 hours, 5 minutes] to [125 days, 7 hours, 30 minutes]. This was the first time the number had actually gone up.