Our Anniversary, You Chose Her – I Chose Divorce

The atmosphere in the study was tense. An hourglass sat on the desk, the faint sound of falling sand echoing softly. The distorted light reflecting through the glass cast a warped image of Judith Pierce’s face.

The sour look on her face gradually softened.

She sighed and said, "Walker, I just don’t want to see you get in any deeper. The two of you are no longer right for each other."

"It’s too late," Walker Grant said calmly. "Chloe Reed and I have been together for almost nine years. She’s seeped into every part of me. Loving her is like code etched into the depths of my soul. I can’t change it."

A complicated look entered Judith Pierce’s eyes. "But she doesn’t love you anymore."

"She still loves me."

But Walker Grant stated it with absolute certainty.

"Walker, you..."

Judith Pierce found him utterly unreasonable.

’Chloe Reed loves him?’

’If Chloe loved him, why would she be so insistent on a divorce?’

’How could she possibly watch him get hurt and do nothing?’

’She stopped loving him a long time ago!’

"It’s precisely because she loves me that she can’t forgive me for hurting her. That’s why she’s so set on divorce, on getting away from me. Only by staying away from me can she escape the pain." Walker Grant’s voice was strained. He lowered his head slightly, his hands clenching into fists on his knees as he recalled the past.

"Mom, if she really didn’t love me anymore, she would be indifferent. She wouldn’t be hung up on the past. Nothing I do would get any emotional reaction out of her." He faced her, his voice trembling slightly.

But Judith Pierce still found it absurd. "Walker," she said, "you’re just deluding yourself."

Walker Grant’s lips thinned into a hard line. After a long moment, he finally spoke. "Mom, I’ll make my own decisions about my life. If you want to stay and take care of me and Noah, then please focus on just us. Chloe is my wife, and I won’t have anyone bullying her."

Judith Pierce: "..."

’He was warning her.’

’Of course, he’d already warned her many times before.’

’But seeing him get hurt because of Chloe, she just couldn’t help herself.’

Judith Pierce sighed. "I’ll try."

Walker Grant stood up. "It’s late. I’m going to rest."

"I’ll take you to your room," Judith Pierce said, getting up as well.

Walker Grant said, "I want Chloe."

Judith Pierce: "..."

’This was just too much.’

She turned and left the study, just in time to see Chloe Reed returning with the old lady. "Chloe," she said, "Walker is looking for you."

Chloe Reed nodded, let go of the old lady’s arm, and headed upstairs.

When she entered the study, she saw Walker Grant fumbling for something. He bumped a water glass on the desk, and it fell to the floor, instantly shattering.

Chloe Reed’s pupils constricted. She rushed forward and pulled him two steps back.

She had to stop him from stepping on the broken glass and hurting himself.

"Chloe, your hands are so cold."

Walker Grant squeezed her hand, his voice low. "What took you so long?"

Chloe Reed ignored him, simply pulling him out of the study and into the master bedroom.

The moment the door closed, she pulled her hand free and typed out a question: "What are you trying to do?"

Walker Grant stood there with his hands by his sides, his head slightly bowed, looking like a schoolboy who’d been caught misbehaving.

"You’re being so mean."

Chloe Reed: "?"

’How was I mean?’

’I was just asking him a question!’

"You just shook my hand off. Chloe, you’re being so mean," Walker Grant explained again. Standing there with his eyes wrapped in bandages, he looked strangely pitiful.