Chapter 1

I had been in the hospital for a week due to a miscarriage caused by dieting, leaving me weak.

That day, I overheard him on the phone, mocking, "She wasn't attractive anymore, and now she's fat. She's just a fat slob."

I didn't want to believe he would be so mean to me, but when he entered the hospital room and saw me, he frowned in disgust. "How much do you weigh now? You're so fat."

I unconsciously clenched my hands and stammered, "I...I haven't gained any weight recently..."

For half a month, I had been on a diet.

Later, I fainted by the roadside. A passerby called an ambulance, and I was taken to the hospital, where I found out I was pregnant.

But my body was too weak to sustain it, and during my hospital stay, I lost even more weight.

I touched my waist and legs. Clearly, I'd lost a lot of weight, probably down to less than 120 pounds. But to Neil, I was still fat.

His mockery hurt me deeply.

On the day of my discharge, he was too busy to answer my calls.

I didn't expect him to remember when I was getting out anyway.

When I got home, the place was a mess.

He never did chores but had a cleanliness obsession.

I still felt very weak but habitually picked up the clothes and cleaned everything up.

My whole body hurt. I felt dizzy and nauseous. There were still many places left to clean.

Unable to hold back my tears, I cried.

Everything went black as I collapsed to the floor.

When I woke up, it was already dark outside.

He still hadn't come home.

I lay there for hours, numb and freezing.

My heart felt even colder.

Suddenly, I remembered a wedding we had attended together.

The couple was very much in love. The bride boasted for ten minutes during the wedding about how the groom always did the housework and took care of everything for her.

Later, we visited their home. She cut her hand, and her husband immediately came with a band-aid, took the fruit from her hand, and sliced it into pieces for her.

I envied them so much back then and talked about it with Neil.

He nonchalantly said, "That guy chased that girl for years. Of course he treasures her."

I fell silent immediately.

I understood then that I wasn't his treasure and deserved everything I got.

Even though he had earnestly promised during our wedding to love and take care of me, those were just words for show at the wedding, and they couldn't be taken seriously.

I looked at the room I had carefully decorated, kneeling on the floor amidst half-cleaned trash, unable to move.

I recalled the past.

Once, when I had a high fever and he was too busy with work to take care of me, I was alone at home.

In the middle of the night when I felt slightly better, I took some medicine with cold water.

When he came back, he scolded me without caring about my condition. "What do you do all day at home? The dishes are left unwashed, and the floor hasn't yet been swept! You don't even prepare dinner for me."

Even though my fever hadn't gone down yet, I forced myself to cook for him.

He wasn't satisfied with what I made and ordered takeout instead. He even threw the food I cooked into the trash can.

Looking at the trash can made my stomach ache.

I hadn't eaten all day. Taking medicine on an empty stomach made my stomach hurt so much that I wanted to cry.

When he came back, he never cared about how I felt or why I was lying on the floor.

He only blamed me for not keeping the house clean enough.

Suddenly, I wondered if this was how I'd live for the rest of my life.

"Let's get a divorce."

After much internal struggle, I finally dialed his number and said those words.