“He wasn’t wrong,” Hannah thought, a bitter taste in her mouth. “I was the one who was wrong to come here.”
The image of Sandra at the hospital earlier that day flashed through her mind—the necklace she was wearing, the same one Lionel had described to her once. Her heart gave a painful twitch.
The weather had turned without warning. What had been a perfectly fine day was now overcast, and a light, drizzling rain began to streak down the restaurant window.
“Lionel, I told you before,” Hannah said, her voice laced with exhaustion. “Even though we’re getting a divorce, I’ll still play my part in front of your grandmother. So please, I’m begging you, stop torturing me like this.”
She let out a heavy sigh. “I’m a person, too. I get tired, you know? You love her, and I never tried to stop you. I’ve already stepped aside. What more do you want from me?”
Her shoulders slumped, and she leaned back heavily against the cushioned booth, her gaze lost in the gray sky outside.
“Is that it? Are you so afraid of the family shunning you for a divorce that you want to stay married to me while you carry on with Sandra? Not even a saint could manage that! You can’t just trample all over my feelings because I loved you. Besides,” she added, her voice dropping to a flat, even tone, “I don’t love you anymore.”
I don’t love you anymore.
She no longer had to brace herself to say those words. The courage she once needed to summon was gone, replaced by a calm certainty. She had finally let go.
She couldn’t understand why Lionel refused to leave her in peace, why he seemed so determined to torment her.
Lionel’s expression darkened.
“I’ve told you, there’s nothing going on between Sandra and me. You’re the one who keeps misunderstanding.” He picked up his glass of red wine and downed it in one go. “Owen made a mistake with the reservation tonight. That’s all. I just wanted to have a nice dinner with you and go home together. You’re reading too much into it.”
Hannah closed her eyes in despair, unwilling to listen to any more of his excuses. The sound of cheerful music and the chatter of other diners only highlighted how out of place they were, trapped in their own silent war.
His casual selfishness made her chest tighten with a suffocating anger. She grabbed her own wine glass and began to gulp it down.

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