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Forget My Heart, Forget You, Forget the Beginning
NovelShort
Completed
Seven years into our marriage, my husband suddenly took up working out, and he was always fussing with his hair in front of the mirror. I leaned against the doorframe and asked, half joking, "Honey, why so worried about how you look all of a sudden? Don't tell me you've fallen for someone." Dana spritzed cologne on his wrist. "Don't be ridiculous. There've been a lot of events lately. I represent the company's image."
Chapters (4)
第1章
After seven years of marriage, my husband suddenly started working out, and he often fussed over his hair in front of the mirror.
I leaned against the doorway and asked, half-jokingly:
"Honey, you're suddenly so focused on your appearance—could it be you've fallen in love?"
Dana sprayed cologne on his wrist. "Don't imagine things. I've had a lot of events lately, and I represent the company's image."
"Do you remember what day it is today?"
Dana paused. "What day?"
I smiled. "Never mind."
After my husband left, I looked at the "No Schedule" glaring on his calendar.
I went back into the bedroom and picked up my daughter. "If Daddy and Mommy got divorced, who would you go with?"
My daughter wrapped her arms around my neck. "Mom, of course."
...
Today is the anniversary of my father's death. Since Dana didn't want to go, I took my daughter Yaya along with me.
I bought a bunch of peonies and placed them in front of my mother's headstone beside his.
My daughter took the candy from her pocket and set it in front of her grandparents' graves.
"Grandpa, Grandma, these are Yaya's favorite candies. They're for you. Be happy, okay?"
After we sat in front of the headstones for a while, I took Yaya home first, and then, as if something possessed me, I pulled up the location of the other car in our household.
The location showed a restaurant—a well-known date spot in Glenport City, with a five-star hotel right next door.
And Dana, who'd told me he was going to an event, was having a candlelit dinner with a young girl.
Dana gentlemanly cut the steak into small pieces and offered them to the girl.
The girl smiled and gave him a kiss as thanks.
I clenched my fists, and only when the manicured nails stung my palms did I notice and loosen my grip.
So it was a date. No wonder he had to dress himself up so nicely.
I've never been the type to hold back, so I went to the front desk, ordered a bottle of red wine, and slowly poured it over Dana's head.
Dana shot to his feet, furious and about to erupt, but the moment he saw me the fire went out.
"Nadia, what are you doing here?"
"Oh? Did I, your wife, interrupt your date with your mistress?"
The young girl's smile froze, and she stared at him in disbelief.
"Mr. Swanson, you're married?"
Dana quickly explained, "Millie, I have no feelings for her."
"I felt sorry for her because she was an orphan, so I gave her a home."
Something twisted in my chest, and my thoughts drifted back to the winter I was twenty.
Dad had gone out to buy things for the holiday season, and on his way home he found that a household in the neighborhood had caught fire.
My father was a firefighter—he dropped the holiday shopping and rushed off to save people.
Dana's whole family was pulled out, but my father was left in that fire forever.
When my mother heard the news, her heart gave out; she was gone before she could even be loaded into the ambulance.
Back then, Dana's eyes were rimmed red as he held my hand and said:
"Nadia, believe me, I will give you a home."
Dana did give me a home—but now he wanted to give another woman one too!
Millie recovered her tone. "So it turns out Dana was just being kind."
"Really, you should be ashamed. Dana already gave you a home—don't repay kindness with spite."
"As for me and Dana, we're truly in love. You can step aside now."
Me, repaying kindness with spite? Dana really knows how to dodge what matters.
Dana sent a message to my phone:
Millie is a young girl with a hot temper. Just bear with her.
I turned off my phone with a cold laugh.
"And how did I become an orphan in the first place? My dad died trying to save him!"
I'd assumed Millie was just some kept woman and hadn't wanted to stoop to her level.
I never expected her to be this shameless even after learning the truth.
I slapped her hard across the face. "You knew he was married and became the mistress anyway—and you're lecturing me about true love?"
Dana quickly pulled Millie behind him and instinctively raised his hand to swing at me.
But just before it touched me, it stopped.
My eyes were red. "Dana, you want to hit me?"
Dana pulled his hand back. "Nadia Larson, that's enough!"
"How many more years do you plan to chain me with this debt of gratitude? Your father was a firefighter—saving people was his job!"
"Even if he hadn't died that time, he'd have died on some future call anyway!"
第2章
I was shaking with rage. My dad had meant to go back to his unit for backup, but the moment he saw it was Dana's family, he threw a wet quilt over himself and charged in.
If there had been proper protective gear, my father wouldn't have died.
Millie leaned against Dana's chest, a flicker of malice in her eyes.
"Dana, my heart aches for you."
"You've taken care of her all these years, and she isn't grateful in the least. She won't even let you chase after true love."
I let out a cold laugh. The girl was still too young to know there's no such thing as true love between a middle-aged couple. In the end, love comes down to conscience.
And Dana clearly had none.
Noticing the stares around us, Dana wrapped an arm around Millie and said to me in a low voice:
"Don't embarrass us out here. Let's talk at home."
I didn't feel right about leaving Yaya home alone either, so I followed him back.
Dana and I sat down in the living room. "Since you've got someone on the side, let's just get divorced."
But Dana hesitated. "Millie and I are only dating. It hasn't gone that far."
"I haven't gotten my abs in shape yet, and she isn't willing."
I let out a cold laugh. So he couldn't bear to give up his cozy family, but he couldn't let go of the wildflower outside either.
"The moment you cheated, there was no turning back."
Yaya poked her head out of the bedroom. "Mommy, will you tell me a bedtime story?"
I reined in my emotions and answered gently.
Before she fell asleep, my daughter asked me in her soft, babyish voice:
"Mommy, what's a kid without a daddy?"
"There's a kid in our kindergarten who doesn't have a daddy. The other kids all say his daddy doesn't want him anymore, and they call him a bastard."
I froze, my eyes stinging. "Yaya, it's not polite to talk about other people like that."
Yaya nodded obediently and drifted off hugging her doll.
I looked at the side of Yaya's face. For my child's sake, I had to endure this.
I walked wearily out of the bedroom and laid out my terms to Dana:
"Fine, we won't divorce. We'll sleep in separate rooms, and I won't interfere in your private life, but don't let her show up in front of Yaya."
"Once Yaya is grown, we'll get divorced."
"You don't have to love me, but you have to take on a father's responsibility to Yaya, or don't blame me for not being nice about it!"
Dana was silent for a long time, then nodded.
"By the way, do you know what today is?"
Dana looked blank. I curled my lips into a bitter smile.
"Today is the anniversary of my father's death."
I went back to the bedroom, and the instant I closed the door I crumpled to the floor.
Dana and I had been a college romance, and after my parents died, he cherished me even more.
He came over to my place every day to cook and do laundry for me, even washing my underthings spotless.
He went shopping and traveling with me, and anything I looked at twice, he'd buy.
Back then he said that if my parents were still alive, they'd surely dote on me just like this.
The hollow place my parents left behind—he filled it for me.
It would be a lie to say I wasn't sad. I once believed we were the exception, but in the end all love turns out the same.
I lay awake all night, and at dawn I took Yaya to school.
After being found out, Dana didn't come home for several days, staying at Millie's place instead.
Come Sunday, just as I was about to take Yaya to the amusement park by myself, Dana came back—and he brought Millie with him.
I shot Dana a glare and dropped Yaya off at my best friend Chloe Sinclair's house.
Millie strutted in through the door, blinked at me, and said:
"Nadia, Dana says your cooking is delicious. You don't mind if I come over to mooch a meal, do you?"
第3章
I said coldly, "You're not welcome in my home. Leave now!"
Dana frowned. "Millie is a guest. How can you be so rude?"
Millie wasn't the least bit upset. She got up and started wandering around, sizing up the house, every word laced with barbs:
"This cabinet looks so dated. Why hasn't it been thrown out yet?"
"This sweater's all stretched out. It should've been in the trash ages ago."
"Oh my, what kind of ugly jar is this? Why is it sitting on the table?"
As she spoke, Millie reached out to pick it up, and then it slipped from her hand.
I lunged to catch it, tripped over the chair, and fell to the floor.
The urn shattered right beside my ear, shards of porcelain flying and cutting my face.
I hadn't wanted to look weak in front of Millie, but I couldn't stop the tears no matter what.
So close, just a hair more...
I scrambled up, knelt down, and gathered the ashes together with my hands.
The porcelain shards sliced my palm, and blood stained the ashes, impossible to clean off.
Dana walked over, and Millie clutched at her chest:
"Dana, I accidentally broke a jar."
Dana's eyes were only on the unharmed Millie. "Millie, are you alright?"
"It's just a broken jar. So it broke, no big deal."
Dana pulled Millie into his arms to comfort her, and the two of them stepped on the ashes.
My eyes went red, and I stood up and slapped Millie hard across the face.
Dana shielded her in his arms. "Nadia, what's gotten into you?"
"If you're angry, come at me! What does it have to do with Millie?"
I slapped Dana across the face and cried out, choking:
"Get out of the way!"
Dana looked down, saw the ashes and bloodstains all over the floor, and understood in an instant.
He paused for a moment, then fetched iodine and gauze and bent down to tend to my wound:
"Nadia, Millie surely didn't do it on purpose."
A flicker of jealousy crossed Millie's eyes as she chimed in:
"Nadia, I really didn't mean to."
"But who keeps an urn out in such an obvious spot? That's not really appropriate."
Prompted by Millie's words, Dana frowned at me:
"You put the urn right under my nose just to remind me, didn't you?"
"I already married you and gave you a home. What more do you want?"
"Dana, I never forced you to marry me!"
"I want the two of you to kneel and apologize to my father!"
Millie tugged at the hem of Dana's shirt, and Dana's eyes were full of disgust:
"Nadia! Haven't you made enough of a scene? Are the dead more important than the living?"
"The reason you didn't want a divorce before was that you had nowhere to go, wasn't it?"
"Your parents are both dead. Where else could you go?"
I couldn't hold it in any longer and screamed:
"Dana, do you have any conscience at all? My father died because of you!"
"You once promised me you'd give me a home!"
"Why did you change? Why did you bring this bitch into our home?!"
A smug glint flashed in Millie's eyes, while Dana wore nothing but disgust on his face:
"Nadia, look at the state of you. You're like a madwoman."
Millie toyed with her hair. "Nadia's terrifying when she loses it. No wonder she can't hold on to a man."
Dana wrapped an arm around Millie. "Take a good look at yourself and think it over. Millie and I are going out to eat."
Their words stung me, and I hurried to the mirror to look at myself.
Hair a mess, face still streaked with drying tears and blood—wasn't that exactly a crazy woman?
My parents surely wouldn't want to see me like this, and Yaya couldn't have a mother like this either.
A home in this state would hurt Yaya sooner or later.
Maybe divorce was the best choice after all.
I contacted a lawyer to draft a divorce agreement and forwarded it to Dana.
I printed another copy and tucked it into my bag.
Over the next few days, Dana devoted himself to his little girlfriend and didn't reply to any messages.
I ignored him too. I'd already made up my mind to divorce, so whatever he did had nothing to do with me.
Until one day, when I went to pick Yaya up from school as usual, the preschool teacher told me Yaya had already been picked up.
A chill shot through me in an instant, and with trembling hands I called Dana:
"Did you take Yaya?"
第4章
Dana said, "No, haven't you been the one picking Yaya up and dropping her off this whole time?"
"Yaya is missing!"
I hung up, called the police, and frantically shouted Yaya's name in every place she might be.
After my parents died, Yaya was the only person left in the world tied to me by blood.
If something happened to her, I honestly couldn't think of a single reason to keep living.
I searched all day, until my voice went hoarse from shouting and I twisted my ankle, but I still couldn't find Yaya.
The police called and said, "Ms. Larson, we found on the surveillance footage that your daughter was taken away by a young woman."
"Judging by the way she was dressed, she doesn't look like a trafficker."
"Think back—did someone else in your family pick Yaya up?"
I gripped my phone tightly, and Millie's figure immediately came to mind.
And thinking back on Dana's tone, he hadn't been worried at all, as if he'd already known I would call.
Fine. Just fine!
I wiped away my tears, bought a kitchen knife at the supermarket, and rushed into the little apartment Dana had bought for Millie.
Yaya was my last line. They'd crossed it, so there was no reason for me to hold back anymore!
The moment I reached the door, I heard Yaya crying and screaming.
My heart was frantic. As soon as the door opened, I slapped Dana across the face:
"Dana, what did you promise me before?"
Millie put on her act. "Let's talk this out. How can you go around hitting people?"
I slapped Millie twice more. "If anything happens to Yaya, I'll never let this go!"
Millie covered her face and looked at Dana.
Dana said coldly, "Nadia, didn't you want a divorce? Shouldn't I let our daughter get used to her new mother?"
My eyes went red with rage, and Yaya ran crying into my arms:
"Yaya already has a mommy, she doesn't want a new mommy!"
I stared hard at Dana and pulled out the kitchen knife:
"Don't even think about taking custody of my daughter!"
Dana was startled when he saw the kitchen knife:
"Nadia! In front of our child, what are you trying to do?"
Yaya clung to my leg, her little eyes glaring at Dana:
"Daddy's bad! Just now Daddy forced me to call that strange lady 'Mommy'!"
"Mommy, take them down!"
Dana's face went bright red. He'd wanted to use Yaya as a shield, but Yaya wasn't having it.
No wonder—Dana was always busy, either with work or off secretly meeting his little lover, and never cared about how Yaya was growing up, so of course she wasn't close to him.
I took the divorce papers out of my bag and pointed the kitchen knife at Dana.
"Sign the divorce papers, and after this we'll have nothing to do with each other."
"The property gets split down the middle, and Yaya stays with me."
Anxiety flashed in Dana's eyes as he stepped forward to grab my hand, but Millie pulled him back.
Millie was full of delight. "Dana, since Nadia's finally come around, just sign it."
"Or do you plan to never make things official with me for the rest of your life?"
But Dana ignored her and walked straight up to me:
"Nadia, stop making a scene. Let's talk this out."
"Think about it carefully—a divorce wouldn't be good for Yaya's upbringing either."
A flash of venom crossed Millie's eyes, and she said scornfully:
"An old woman really will do anything to hold on to a man."
Just as we were locked in a standoff, the door was kicked open from outside, and a group of two-meter-tall bodyguards rushed in.
A voice I knew all too well rang out: "Who says a divorce is bad for Yaya's upbringing? Isn't she still got me?"
