The stupidest thing a woman believed was that she could win a man's heart by giving him unconditionally.
A bitter smile curved on Ivory's lips as she looked down at the photo on her cell phone. On the night of their fifth wedding anniversary and her birthday, her husband was dating another woman in an upscale restaurant.
A tear fell on the screen, blurring Gadreel's happy face. He had never given her that smile, even though she had sacrificed five years to guard him by his hospital bed. When most believed Gadreel would remain in his vegetative state for the rest of his life, she was the one who refused to give up any hope. Finally, God heard her prayer, and a few months ago, Gadreel finally awakened like a miracle.
Ivory thought it would be the start of their happy life but now looking at these photos, she only felt herself a huge joke.
This was probably a prank, right? She tried to convince herself, but more pictures flooded her phone.
Each one was like a stab to her heart, a brutal reminder of the reality she had always avoided.
When the last picture was sent, it was sent along with an address and a caption along with it.
‘Don’t fool yourself any longer. The position of Mrs. Ødegaar does not belong to you.’
“If you don't believe it, come here and you'll see your failure.”
That succeeded in setting a flare in Ivory’s body. She wouldn't tolerate such a provocation. She slipped on her coat, grabbed her keys, and sat in the car, heading toward the address in the message. She had to see what bitch was playing the little trick with her!
However, her determined step froze when she finally saw the face sitting the opposite of her husband. His date was exactly her stepsister and his ex-girlfriend, Evangeline.
By the ceiling-to-floor window, sat Gadreel, effortlessly looking like the elite he had been bred and raised to be. His hair, soft to the eyes and yellow under the warm light, resting just below his neck, complimenting the paleness of his skin that went well with those sharp blue eyes of his.
He leaned slightly forward, his hand resting on the table as he listened to Evangeline with a kind of intensity that made her chest ache. And the others at the same table were right her father and stepmother.
Ivory felt the ground caving in under her feet. Watching them together like a happy family, she felt abandoned. On this special day, none of them even remembered her. Once again she realized she was only an outsider, no matter how much she tried to please them.
How could they be so cruel? She still remembered how earnestly they had begged her to marry Gadreel five years ago. As if she was their only savior.
It was supposed to be Evangeline who married Gadreel. They were in a sweet relationship but a terrible accident happened when Gadreel was about to propose. Gadreel survived but was in a vegetative state. No one knew when he would wake up. His family wanted to fulfill his last wish to marry his love but Evangeline flinched.
Under the guise of following her operatic dreams, Evangeline fled to study abroad. Her parents, not wanting to offend the powerful Ødegaar family, plead with Ivory to marry Gadreel instead. Ivory could have rejected it, but looking at the pale Gadreel in the hospital bed and the pleading light in her father's eyes, she finally nodded and agreed.
She once thought it could be her chance. Her father hadn't given her that caring look in a long time since her stepmother and stepsister joined the family. She missed it so much, and she couldn't bear to watch Gadreel perish in his hospital bed either. Though he no longer remembered it, they used to be best childhood companions. He even swore to marry her one day but after Evangeline came, everything changed.
Five years and more than 1,800 days and nights, she did dream that Gadreel would love her when he woke up and saw her at his bedside. But the reality was cold. He just looked at her emotionlessly asking where Evangeline was. Her heart dropped. She thought he would ask for a divorce but he didn't. He never mentioned Evangeline again during the following rehabilitation, nor did he reject her assistance. She thought there was hope for their marriage.
But now, it all turned out a delusion on her part.
All the pain converged and exploded like a bomb in her heart, and then the wreckage dissolved into tears that flowed down her cheeks. She had to bite her hand hard to keep from crying out. Nothing needed to be validated. She lost badly.
After a long, painful cry, she wiped away her tears and took out her cell phone to send him a message.
[If you don't want to celebrate the anniversary with me, you can just tell me. Then I don't have to waste my time and the food.]
She could see him frown as he received her message and left when he found her direction.
When she returned home, the house was just as she had left it, shrouded in darkness.
She didn’t bother turning on the light as she made her way towards the table - several dishes now having gone cold - and sat in front of the cake.
For what felt like forever, all she did was stare at the cake before a self-deprecating laugh left her lips.
This, all this, it was all a big joke.
All the effort she had put into nursing Gadreel back to health, the body clean she made him every day, the essays she read late every night, the countless experiments she failed and tried again, was nothing to him.
As soon as Evangeline returned, his heart flew away.
Drawing in a shaky breath and doing her best to ignore the ache in her chest, Ivory picked up a matches packet and lit the candle on her cake.
She watched it burn and never felt so lonely.
“Happy birthday, Ivory. And happy every day from now on.” She whispered to herself.
As the candle slowly melted, a thought crossed her mind and she leaned down and blew out her birthday candle, marking it as the start of her new age and the end of her anniversary with Gadreel.
Being a convenient substitute was not her.
She shouldn't continue the wrong path that would only ruin her.
Suddenly, the door opened and like the high prince of the aristocratic world he was, Gadreel Ødegaar walked in. He switched on the lights, chasing away the darkness that had swallowed up the entire house.
He spotted Ivory almost immediately, seating like a statue in the dining room. His gaze moved from her, to the food she had prepared, and back to her again.
She expected him to say something, but the displeasure in those blue eyes of his said enough and without another word, he began heading towards the stairs.
Before she could stop herself, Ivory had stood up in a challenging manner, causing her chair to screech against the floor.
“Aren’t you going to say anything to me?”
He turned to look at her and his gaze narrowed.
“What’s there to say to you?” His tone was cold. He had spotted her earlier at the restaurant actually but he didn't think he needed to explain. There was no ounce of guilt in his eyes. Their marriage had been just a convenience. He had no love for her.
Swallowing the bitterness, Iovry tried her best not to show her voice shivering, “It's our anniversary...and my birthday.”
Gadreel looked back at the food, then at her, and with the most indifferent and coldest look, asked. “So?”
So?
At that moment, Ivory felt another sharp knife stapping into her heart. So sharp that she needed to strain to keep from fainting by pinching herself. She should have expected it. She was nothing to him.
Gadreel was unaware of her inner tumor at all and continued coldly, “I don’t have time for this. Or you should learn not to make a move without asking me first.” Then, he began his journey up the stairs.
"Wait!" Ivory called out.
“It seems I won’t be receiving a birthday present from you today,” she squeezed a smile on her face as she said bitterly.
That made Gadreel wrinkle deeper. He hated that look on her face as if she suffered a lot for him. No one forced her. It was her own choice to step into this loveless marriage. He had given her the title of Lady Ødegaar and the black card with no limits. She had earned enough from this deal, what was there not to be satisfied with?
“So, how about letting me give you a gift?” Ivory looked at him, her face calmed now.
“Don't bother,” Gadreel said impatiently. He was tired enough tonight and he just wanted a good sleep.
“Listen, Gadreel Ødegaar," she didn't hesitate this time. "It's my anniversary present for you. Let's divorce."