My Ex-Husband's Betrayal, My New Beginning Chapter 1

After my chemotherapy, my husband Daniel took me to a party.

There, his childhood friend pointed at my bald head and sneered, "You look disgusting. Doesn't he find you repulsive?"

I waited for my husband's defense. It never came.

"Look at you," he said, his voice dripping with disgust. "You're an embarrassment."

Even my own son, Leo, screamed, "Ugly hag! Get out!"

I had just finished chemotherapy. My hair was gone. I never imagined my husband and son would treat me with such contempt.

But he forgot how he'd begged me to marry him on his knees.

I filed for divorce.

And adopted the son of his greatest rival.

"You're sure about this? You know who his father is."

"It's fine. Daniel won't care."

The director's expression shifted from doubt to pure delight. Since she hadn't seen Daniel with me recently, she asked no further questions.

"Alright, I'll process the paperwork immediately. You can expect him within days."

I walked out of the orphanage into a heavy downpour.

The throbbing pain from my abdomen, a lingering reminder of the surgery, tried to pull me under, but I clung to consciousness, making my way back home.

The living room was ablaze with light when I opened the door.

Daniel sat on the sofa, eyes closed, seemingly resting. At the sound of my entrance, his eyes opened and locked with mine.

"Where were you?"

Clutching my stomach, I barely had the strength to speak. I tried to walk past him and head upstairs.

But he grabbed my wrist, and immediately, the potent smell of alcohol enveloped me.

"What's your problem now? Making a scene in front of everyone!"

"Skylar was just joking. Don't be so petty."

Petty.

He knew the chemo took my hair, yet he let her wield it as a weapon against me.

He always took her side, making me an outsider in my own marriage.

How dare he tell me not to be petty?

"Yeah, Skylar's just telling the truth.Why are you so sensitive, Mon? You embarrassed Dad in front of everyone."

Leo stood nearby, glaring at me with pure disapproval.

In that moment, I felt like the entire world was pointing fingers at me, branding me the worst kind of villain.

I clenched my fists until my knuckles turned white. I used to fight back, desperate for them to see me.

Now, I finally understood. Their hearts belonged elsewhere.

I was done. The fight left me.

His grip left a throbbing, swollen bracelet of pain around my wrist.

I went still after a brief, silent struggle.

Daniel mistook it for surrender, a smug eyebrow lifting in triumph.

"Go make me some hangover soup."With that, he collapsed onto the sofa.

A wave of nausea hit me, remembering him toasting with Skylar while I was humiliated.

Why should he rest while I, just out of surgery, served him?

My decision was final. I bypassed the kitchen and went upstairs.

When I opened the bedroom door, Skylar was stepping from the bathroom, draped in Daniel's shirt.

Steam glistened on her skin, the fabric doing little to cover her

My bed was buried under her clothes, a suitcase barring the entrance.

She gasped and clutched her chest when she saw me.

She asked, full of feigned shock and in a sickly sweet voice, "Eliza, what are you doing back?"

I scoffed. "Am I interrupting?"

I turned on Daniel as he mounted the stairs, his pace unbearably casual. "Daniel. An explanation. Now."

He met my stare, his tone deliberately reasonable.

"Skylar has no one else in the city. Letting her stay a few days is nothing. Are you seriously making a scene about this?"

Leo puffed out his chest beside him. "She's pregnant. She can't stay in the cold guest room."

Skylar was just out of a divorce and pregnant. Offering help was one thing.

But I was recovering from surgery and couldn't risk a chill.

Why was she sleeping in my room?

As if sensing my thoughts, Skylar feigned alarm. "Eliza, Daniel said the guest room was too cold for me, and it wouldn't be good for the baby, so he let me stay in the master bedroom. You don't mind, do you?"

Her words twisted a knife to my heart.

I was the one fresh from surgery, yet his concern was all for Skylar.

To excuse her public humiliation of me was one betrayal. To install her in our home was another entirely.

A hot, suffocating rage burned in my chest. My fists clenched. The disappointment was absolute, final.

I packed a bag and moved toward the guest room. Daniel followed me inside before the door could close.

His arm snaked around my waist, his face nuzzling into my neck.

"I'm sorry I didn't ask you first. Does your incision still hurt?"

"You're just so stubborn.Making a public scene like that... think of my image. I lost my temper, I admit it. Forgive me?"

As he spoke, his hand groped for the light switch, leaning in to kiss me.

And I understood. He couldn't bear the sight of me.

I wouldn't let him. My hand shot out and flipped the switch, flooding the room with harsh, unforgiving light.

Daniel recoiled, scrambling back from me on the bed.

He was already stuttering an apology when a knock cut him off.

"Daniel... I'm a little scared. Could you come out and be with me?"

I yanked the door open without hesitation, glaring at Skylar, who stood there in a thin nightgown, crying dramatically. "If you're scared, then get out!"

Skylar immediately looked like she'd been grievously wronged. "I'm so sorry, Eliza, I didn't mean to disturb you two, I... I... If you don't like me, I'll leave right now!"

With that, she wiped her tears and started to walk downstairs.

Daniel immediately panicked. He pushed me aside.

The violent shove sent me crashing against the wall, making me gasp in pain.

Daniel spun around, roaring at me, "What the hell is wrong with you?! Skylar's pregnant, how can you be so vicious, trying to force her out?!"

"If anything happens to her, you'll regret it!"

He then rushed after her.

I struggled to my feet from the cold floor, feeling blood seeping from my incision.

The pain made it impossible to stand straight.

I hastily cleaned myself up in the bathroom, hoping that with him gone, I could finally get some rest.

But in a hazy dream-like state, I was suddenly yanked from my bed.

A chilling cold enveloped my entire body.

Daniel snarled through gritted teeth, "How dare you sleep?! Don't you know Skylar's in the hospital?!"

I was dragged to the hospital by Daniel, where Skylar lay in her room surrounded by an array of treats. Seeing us enter, she put on a pathetic, innocent act.

"Eliza, I didn't mean it, please don't be angry..."

I hadn't even said a word, and Skylar was already offering tearful apologies.

But this wasn't an apology at all. It was clearly her trying to pull the same old trick, making Daniel feel sorry for her again.

Her acting was so clumsy, anyone with eyes could see through it.

But Daniel, once again, fell for it. He grabbed my arm, his voice sharp and severe. "Apologize to Skylar."

"If you hadn't upset her and made her leave, how would she have tripped on the stairs?"

I was so infuriated by his baseless accusations that I laughed. "What does that have to do with me? You yourself said she fell, didn't you?"

"Daniel, you know perfectly well that I've just had surgery and shouldn't be running around, yet you've repeatedly humiliated me. Have you forgotten how I got this illness in the first place?"

At my words, Daniel froze. Others might not know, but he knew the truth all too well.

Back when he was starting his business, I accompanied him to client meetings.

I drank so much every day that I'd vomit blood from my stomach.

I was rushed to the emergency room multiple times.

It was from that time that my kidneys started having problems.

Until this year, when it escalated, and I was diagnosed with early-stage kidney cancer.

"I..."

Before Daniel could reply, Skylar sat up from her hospital bed.

She knelt on the floor, bowing her head repeatedly.

"I'm so sorry, Eliza, it's all my fault, please don't blame Daniel..."

I didn't understand what she was playing at.

The slight regret in Daniel's eyes flickered and then vanished.

He then spoke to me in a cold tone. "Even so, you can't bully Skylar. She's innocent."

"You're just jealous of her beauty, aren't you? You're acting like such a shrew..."

I couldn't bear to hear him berate me any longer. The pain in my abdomen started up again.

I clutched my stomach and crouched down, sweat beading on my forehead.

"Eliza, stop faking it. You see Skylar apologizing to you, so now you're trying to act pitiful? Get up and apologize to her."

Daniel frowned, showing no concern for my distress.

Then, my vision blurred, and I collapsed.