No More Us, Ex-Husband

  According to him, I had to be grateful that he only cheated on one person. He turned to look at Susan and his tone softened instantly, "You go to rest first, don't be afraid, I will solve it." But Susan took a step forward, revealing a section of her neck with hickeys under her messy hair. "Madam, don't be angry with Mr. Douglas, it's all my fault." Of course, she was at fault for interfering in other people's marriages. Did she still want me to comfort her? Slap! Before Susan could finish her words, I slapped her hard on the face. "It's not your turn to speak here yet." Susan was stunned, covering her face, her eyes filled with tears. Maxime and Fabian outside the door were stunned at the same time. Because they had long been accustomed to my calm and self-possessed appearance no matter how cruel the patient was. After reacting, Susan's body softened and she fell into Maxime's arms. She cried regardless, letting her foundation and lipstick rub against Maxime's shirt. Although Maxime was a little uncomfortable, he patiently comforted her, his eyes full of heartache. Seeing this scene, I remembered. Because Maxime thought it was dirty, I stayed anonymous for six years, even the wedding was no exception. "Are you crazy? Do you know what you are doing?" I met his furious gaze and smiled ferociously. "I just do what Mrs. Douglas should do." "The Douglas Family does not allow third parties to enter the house." Maxime didn't even read the divorce agreement and asked Fabian to throw it into the shredder. Since he refused to leave, I would force him to leave. No one knew better than me how to break him. I kicked all the shoes at home and poured the loach I just bought into the bathtub, even spilled the soup on the pure white carpet. The entire villa was instantly filled with a fishy and greasy smell. In the past, Maxime would have changed everything in the entire house. Then soak himself in disinfectant water and rub for three hours. I sneered and sat in the messy living room waiting for him, waiting for him to throw the divorce agreement in my face unbearably. But until twelve o'clock in the morning, there was no movement at the door. The phone screen lit up and Susan sent a photo from Maxime's phone. Maxime sat on the greasy plastic stool at the roadside stall and shared a bowl of snail noodles with Susan. [He said he was willing to give it a try for my sake.] My stomach was churning. That year, he vomited all night just because I was smeared with the scent of fireworks from a roadside stall. So I ate white food with him for six years, until the sight of red oil made me want to vomit. But it turned out that he could sit in the night market with paper towels and plastic spoons all over the floor for Susan. I sat there all night until my tears ran dry and then I called the group’s Human Resources phone number. "As a Director, I ask you to fire Susan immediately." There was silence on the other end of the phone for a few seconds before he hesitated and said, "Mr. Douglas specifically stated that any personnel transfer made by Miss Mason must be approved by him." My fingers holding the phone were cold. The next second, Maxime's call came in. "Amber, how long will you continue to make trouble?" "What, as a shareholder, I can't fire a front office guy?" "She's the only one who can't. So, Amber, please reflect on this." They were the ones having fun, but he thought it was me who needed to reflect. But I had never been an obedient person. Early the next morning, I posted intimate photos of Maxime and Susan all over the headquarters building. The passionate kiss in the car, the entanglement in the office and the feeding at the roadside stall.  

  When Maxime came to the company, it was already too late. "Let me just say that this receptionist has an unusual relationship with Mr. Douglas. I have seen them go out together several times." "You're not old, but you have a lot of tricks. It's a pity that you went astray." "Why is Mr. Douglas such a person? I really misjudged him. Isn't he a germophobe? Don't you mind being dirty?" Maxime suddenly tore off the photos from the wall and looked at me with eyes that were tearing apart. "Amber, what's the difference between you and an angry mad woman now?" It turned out that he also knew that such a thing was disgraceful. If he knew that, why would he do it? Everyone's eyes were on Susan's face and she covered her face and hid behind Maxime. "Maxime, I'm too embarrassed to see anyone. Let's break up in the future." I thought Maxime would clarify it for her, but he didn't. In front of everyone, he took off his suit jacket and put it on Susan. His eyes scanned the whole place with a sinister look. "Have you seen enough?" He roared, "Starting today, Susan will be promoted from assistant to the president, with a salary increase of three times." "She is mine. If anyone dares to say anything in the company, get out immediately." No one dared to speak, they also had to eat. While Maxime was someone they couldn't afford to offend. I lost. The outcome of this matter, as Maxime said, “I became an incompetent and angry mad woman.” When walking out of the company, Susan, who had been crying, spoke in my ear for a rare moment, "Thank you, otherwise Mr. Douglas wouldn't know how long he would hide me." I returned to the most authoritative hospital in Valenzuela in despair. The psychological clinic inside was the only place that belonged to me. "Dr. Amber, that..." My assistant stopped me and the nurse beside me was also whispering. Although I was mentally prepared, when I opened the door, the sight in front of me still made my breath hitch. The sofa was torn, the bookshelf had collapsed, broken glass and papers were strewn across the floor. Maxime once spent a lot of money to buy the entire hospital because I was here to treat patients. Now, he could also destroy it with his own hands because of my disobedience. I slowly knelt down and picked up the medical records scattered on the floor. A familiar photo emerged from the bottom folder. In the photo, Maxime's eyes were timid and empty and his lips were pursed tightly. At that time, he was severely mysophobic and would howl even if someone passed within two or three meters of him. Even his parents planned to send him abroad to die. I treated him for two years, helped him regain basic social skills and made him, already smart, the heir to the family. The Douglas Family's parents immediately decided on our marriage. But why? I was going to be a victim of their family's stability. The dean called me to the office. "Although experts have confirmed that you are in a normal condition and can work normally, our hospital can't just deal with it with Mr. Douglas." "You should take some time off from work to recuperate." I understood his dilemma. Without arguing, I took the newly prescribed medicine and went home. Opening the door, I saw women's shoes that didn't belong to me neatly arranged in the shoe cabinet. I laughed to myself. At Maxime's request, no one else had set foot in this villa except me and the cleaning lady who came regularly, including me and his children. When I first got married, I got pregnant unexpectedly. But Maxime would not allow me to give birth no matter what. "I can't stand having something covered in amniotic fluid and blood in my house." "And I've never liked children, you know."    

  Seeing that he was breathing rapidly and trembling all over, I tried my best to comfort him, but he still fell downstairs due to the tug. The fetus' heartbeat stopped and I was bleeding heavily on the operating table and almost died. From then on, he would watch me swallow the contraceptive pill after every monthly routine. Susan heard the door and walked over.  She stroked her flat belly and said proudly, “Amber, I'm pregnant, you should know. I don't want my child to be born illegitimate." She leaned closer to me, her voice brisk, "So, Amber, you and I are on a united front." "I want to be in power, you want to get divorced and we each get what we want." I snorted, "You're wrong. Just because I want a divorce doesn't mean I agree with you taking over." "The third party is always the third party." Maybe my words stung her. The smile on her face disappeared instantly and was replaced by anger. “Who do you think you are? Can’t you even keep a man?” “Do you really think Maxime doesn’t want a divorce because of you? He’s just not ready yet.” “Men will have children with whoever they love and he doesn’t even want your child, even though you’re pregnant.” She laughed like crazy and I froze in place. The Douglas family kept this matter secret. Because that was my eternal pain and they didn't want their heirs to have this kind of scandal. But Maxime told this woman so easily. When I was stunned, the medicine bottle fell out of my pocket. Susan picked up the medicine bottle and looked at the label on it, the mockery on her face getting even worse. "What is this? An aphrodisiac? Have you not given up on Maxime yet?" "It's so pitiful for a woman to use aphrodisiacs to keep a man." I stared at her, unable to control the hatred in my heart. The next second, I was hysterical, unscrewing the cap of the bottle and pouring it into her mouth. "This was an abortion pill, specially prepared for you." "Do you want to have a baby? I want to see if you can." She turned pale with shock and struggled desperately. Suddenly there was a sound of opening the door behind her and she broke away from my hand. "Maxime, Amber, she… I don't know what medicine she gave me." "Our child...my stomach hurts." Maxime threw me to the ground and yelled, "What did you do to her?" Susan was crying so hard that she was out of breath. Only I knew that she didn't swallow a piece of it. Maxime glanced at the pills on the ground and was shocked. After all, they had been married for six years and Maxime knew what kind of medicine it was. Fluoxetine was contraindicated in pregnant women. He hurriedly carried her into the bathroom and helped her pick her throat to induce vomiting. The filth was vomited all over the polished sink. The man who used to frown for a long time even if my hair fell to the ground. At this moment, he was cleaning the dirt around her mouth with his bare hands and he didn't feel disgusted at all. After confirming that she was okay, he walked out with a pair of eyes that seemed to eat me alive. “Amber, are you really so unable to tolerate a child?” He could accept her child—but who would ever accept mine? I stared blankly at the pills on the ground. It was so ironic that as a psychiatrist, I suffered from depression. But I knew exactly what I was doing, I wasn't out of control, I was just hating. I sat feebly on the bed, but habitually remembered that I hadn't changed into home clothes yet. It turned out that I had been trained by Maxime to think of his needs all the time.

  But he was not afraid now, was he? In a daze, Maxime entered the room. After seeing my clothes, he stopped two meters away from me. It wasn’t that he no longer felt afraid, Susan was simply the exception. "Are you sick? When did it happen?" It must have been a long time, under the high pressure that he asked me to give a report every month and wash off a layer of skin. In the pain of losing a child, helpless in sensing his desertion. I thought that since he came to ask, he should be a little concerned, but he thought to himself and said, "What you just did is no longer suitable for being a doctor." "Quit your job. You've always wanted a child, haven't you? I've thought about Susan's child." "You just need to announce at the press conference that she is your distant cousin who got pregnant out of wedlock." "And if you are infertile, you will adopt her child in the future and record it in our name." "We will live together from now on and you will take care of the children together." I clenched my fists and even thought I heard wrongly, how could he have the nerve to say such a shameless request? "What if I don't want to?" I chewed the soft meat in my mouth. "Amber, can you be more sensible? That's my child too." I sneered, "With divorce, she and her children will be able to live happily ever after." Maxime didn't speak for a long time and then he sighed, "If you don't agree, I will ask the hospital to stop your mother's treatment and you can decide on your own." "Don't even think about finding my parents. They have gone to meditate and you can't contact them." My mother's kidney disease could only be cured by that special hospital in the country. He was trying to kill my mother. I compromised. On the day of the press conference, I was sitting in the main seat. The staff in the audience whispered, "Look, the main wife can't beat the mistress after all." "What about the fierce quarrels they had in the company before? I thought there was something different. She didn't agree to anything just for money." "Who is willing to give up the position of a wealthy wife?" Susan sat next to me, her face full of ridicule. "In the final analysis, it's not about occupying Mrs. Douglas's position. I'm ashamed of you for being such a shameless woman." The press conference had begun. Maxime pushed a speech in front of me and showed me a satisfied smile. "Just read it accordingly." I picked up the manuscript and tear it to pieces in front of all the reporters. Maxime's face was filled with astonishment as he asked, "What are you doing?" I sneered and pulled the microphone to my mouth. "Dear friends from the media." "The purpose of this press conference is to announce that there is a problem in my marriage with Maxime." "After negotiation, we decided to divorce."