Chapter 5
Lignored the vibration of my phone and turned it off directly.
From this moment on, my five–year marriage with Edwin came to a complete end.
In the hotel, Edwin started crazily replying to my message after he sawit.
Divorce? Come on, don’t be ridiculous. How could we possibly run out of so many Forgiveness Passes so quickly?
Didn’t you like the gift I gave you? Shall I choose another one for you then?
“Ashlee, you answered the phone, let’s have a good talk.”
“Why did you turn off? Are you really angry?”
Edwin never believed that I would ignore him, and he persistently dialed my phone over and over
again.
After hearing the 39th cold beep, Edwin finally started to panic.
“It’s impossible… It can’t be… Just a moment ago, everything was fine before leaving…”
In his mind, the image of me mentioning Forgiveness Pass started to appear, and it was so calm.
Calmness… as if already resigned.
With this in mind, Edwin quickly picked up his clothes and put them on.
Lena wrapped her arms around Edwin’s neck and playfully snuggled into his embrace, saying, “Mr.
Gore, you promised to spend the whole evening with me…”
Edwin impatiently pushed her aside, without explanation, and hurriedly ran out.
He kept calling my phone all the way, over and over again, but I never answered once.
The moment Edwin entered, he accidentally stepped on the broken glass on the ground because he
was in a hurry.
The glass scraped against the ground, emitting a sharp sound, and only then did Edwin notice the
object beneath his feet.
Our wedding photos.
The shattered glass on the ground distorted the appearance of the two people in the photo, much like our broken marriage.
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He slowly squatted down and picked up the wedding photo from the ground.
Carefully wiped the glass shards clean again.
As Edwin looked at the photo, the two young men and women were gazing at each other, smiling so sweetly. The corners of Edwin’s eyes began to turn red.
After putting the photo back in its original place, Edwin began searching the whole house for my
figure.
After seeing the empty wardrobe, he finally believed my departure.
Edwin sat slumped in the living room, his gaze fixed on the television screen in front of him, remaining silent for a long time.
On the television, the looping proposal video was the last thing about me in this house.
Edwin hung his head low, his fingers deeply buried in his hair, carefully pondering the possible
destinations I could choose.
As the gaze wandered, it suddenly fell on the trash can beside.
That pile of pink fragments was so familiar.
Familiar with them, I felt suffocated at first sight.
He slowly squatted down, disregarding the cream stains that dirtied his sleeves.
Picking up
those fragments bit by bit from the trash can.
With great care, they pieced them together bit by bit.
Not more, not less, exactly 99 Forgiveness Passes.
He remembered five years ago when he watched Forgiveness Pass sincerely assure me, “Ashlee, don’t worry, I will never give you a chance to use it.”
I remembered again, those scenes where he casually suggested to me to use the Forgiveness Pas
time and time again.
The emotions he had painstakingly accumulated were recklessly squandered by him during the two years Lena appeared, until they were completely depleted.
Being always sensitive to numbers, he lost all concept of the number 99 as soon as he saw Lena.
Time and time again, my expectations were erased with Forgiveness Pass, and time and time again,
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my debts were compensated with gifts.
But he never felt that there was anything wrong with doing so.
Every time he stood me up, he would buy me a gift to apologize. What more could I ask for?
With this in mind, his gaze fell upon the display cabinet in the living room.
Then he stood still in the same place again.
The full wall of shop windows was filled with the gifts he had given me.
Just by looking closely, it can be noticed that there are three identical sets of jewelry displayed right
in the middle of the cabinet.
The date on one set of invoices was exactly yesterday.
He casually remembered the shawl he had given Lena yesterday.
After seeing Lena’s slender figure, he immediately sent someone to fly abroad for customization.
It was delivered to the front that evening.
Both in terms of value and sentiment, it far exceeds the jewelry in front of the cabinet.
At that moment, he fell into deep contemplation: since when did his unique love for me turn into repetitive and cheap perfunctory gestures?
That evening, he sat in the living room and drank all the alcohol in the liquor cabinet, but he didn’t
find the answer he was looking for.
