The Last Time I Loved Him (Autumn and Ryan)

Chapter 5

From the beginning, I was wrong.

Ethan and I can never go back.

Love is a scale; wherever it falls, it tilts toward that end.

Between Grace and me, I was never his first choice.

Once Ethan left, I let go of the façade I had been maintaining. A sharp pain shot through my lower back.

At that moment, the laptop on the desk suddenly rang.

Ethan had left in a hurry, and had forgotten to log off from WhatsApp on the computer.

I went through all his chat history, and with every message, my heart grew colder.

From his conversations with his friends, I learned that Ethan had never really thought much of me.

In his eyes, my looks, my body, my education measured up to Grace.

-none of these He had married me simply because he thought I was a suitable choice for domestic life, an obedient woman.

He referred to Grace as his "white moonlight," while I was nothing more than a compromise.

To him, I was more of a tool, managing the household and contributing financially when his business was struggling.

Grace, on the other hand, was now working as his secretary because her family had gone bankrupt in recent years.

And the years she spent abroad were mostly filled with distractions, without much academic success. It was during this time that Ethan had stepped in to help her. They hadn't been cheating for long- the last time I caught them was their first time together.

But Grace knew all about me. In their messages, she even threw a tantrum, expressing that she didn't want to play the role of the other woman anymore.

She wanted to marry Ethan, to have a legitimate place in his life.

Ethan, naturally, never hesitated, but just hadn't found the right moment to tell me.

Suddenly, something came to mind. I opened the drawer beside me.

Inside, there was a divorce agreement that had already been prepared.

I wiped away my tears, and in that moment, my emotions were completely calm.

I recorded all the evidence of Ethan's infidelity.

Before leaving the office, I sent their chat history and some private photos to the group of their classmates.

A lot of Ethan's friends had attended our wedding, so they all knew he was married.

If we're going to face each other openly, then no one will come out of this looking good.

Sure enough, not long after I sent it, Ethan's call came in.

I sneered and blocked him.

At this point, it was nearly impossible for us to have a peaceful divorce.

So, I chose to file for divorce directly, demanding that Ethan leave the house.

By the time I left the law office, it was already evening. I planned to pack a few clothes and head to a hotel.

But just as I was packing, Ethan came back.

His eyes were bloodshot, his anger palpable. Before I could react, he slapped me hard across the face.

"Autumn, you bitch! Are you satisfied now, forcing Grace to death?"

"Do you know what she's been through because of your actions?

Everyone is accusing her of being a mistress, and you're only happy if she carries all the blame?"

I slowly lifted my head to look at the man in front of me, so close to losing control.

He suddenly felt so unfamiliar to me.

I shouted at him, desperately.

"Ethan, what did I ever do wrong to deserve this? When you were starting your business and had no

side jobs to support you. Every penny Dearned went to you! In these five years, I gave you everything- how can I not be clear about my conscience with you? And you -what have you done!"

money, I worked endlessly, et

I rushed at him, punching and kicking, hysterical.

"Did you ever think of me when you were with someone else?

Did you ever think of our family? What right do you have to accuse me? Let me tell you, Grace deserves whatever she gets..

she should have thought about this day when she chose to be a mistress!"

"What's she afraid of after doing something so shameless? So fragile, she might as well go die!"

Ethan's face turned ashen, and after I spoke those words, he kicked me in the lower abdomen.

I was thrown to the ground by the force of the kick, my lower abdomen burning with excruciating pain. "The baby....."

Ethan slowly stepped forward, looking down at me from above, his voice as cold as ice.

"I won't allow you to speak like that about Grace."

His figure completely loomed over me.

He pressed his weight down on me, his hand delivering slap after slap.

I fought with every ounce of strength, but the overwhelming disparity in strength between us made resistance futile.

The beating went on for what felt

like an

to Stoernity, long enough for met

fighting back, long enough

for him to tire of hitting me

I could clearly feel warm liquid trickling from my lower body, and the faint metallic scent of blood filled my nostrils.

It was only when the blood stained my pants that Ethan seemed to freeze for a moment.

He stared at the blood for a long time, but his eyes showed no remorse or guilt.

He said, "Autumn, someone as cruel as you will never be given the chance to be a mother."

After he left, I struggled to call an ambulance for myself.

On the way to the hospital, it

suddenly dawned on me that the most painful part of domestic violence wasn't the physical pain, but the repeated slaps and kicks that shattered every perfect image I had of him, destroying everything I thought I knew and loved about him for so long.

I couldn't avoid facing the painful truth that the person I had once loved, the one I had been so proud of, was a monster.

The person I had known and loved collapsed entirely in my mind.

This utter, complete sense of unfamiliarity terrified me.