We Are Officially Divorced – “Hello, I’m looking to get a divorce.” In my third year of marriage, and I finally decided to divorce Julian—without him knowing. Lewis Fitzroy, the lawyer across from me, listened closely. “To get divorced, both spouses have to sign the papers. Then there’s a 30-day waiting period. Why isn’t your husband here?” I was silent for a while before replying, “I’ll make sure he signs it.” “I’ll draft the divorce agreement, then.” After waiting a while, I got the agreement. As I walked downstairs with my head down, I replayed everything that happened lately in my head. Just as I reached the front desk, a familiar voice stopped me. “Lia? What are you doing here?” When I looked up and met Julian’s deep, knowing eyes that could see through every lie, my heart skipped a beat. The lawyer handling my divorce turned out to be Julian’s colleague. But he would never find out anyway.
After all, he never cared about me. With that thought, I drew in a deep breath, trying to hide the nervous shake in my voice. “I’m here for a consultation. Oh, and remember that property transfer agreement I told you about? It’s ready—I need your signature.”” As I spoke, I took out the divorce agreement, flipped straight to the last page, pressed it onto the counter, and handed him a pen. The last page contained nothing but a signature line. Julian, being a lawyer, instinctively frowned. He was about to read it through carefully when he caught sight of the his first love Elizabeth near the elevator. He hesitated briefly and grabbed the pen to sign the document. “Done. If that’s all, you should go home first. I still have work to do.” The heavy weight in my chest finally lifted—only to be replaced by a wave of crushing disappointment. If he had looked closer, he would have realized it was not a property transfer but a divorce agreement. Instead, his attention had shifted to Elizabeth Osborne, who had just walked in.
Looking at that beautiful face, I felt all kinds of things twist in my chest. I squeezed my bag tight and turned to leave. As the automatic glass doors slid shut, I heard bits of their conversation. “Who was that, Jules?” “A new client who came to inquire about a divorce,” Julian replied shortly, but his voice was soft. “You’re early. Give me a few minutes, and we’ll grab lunch, okay?” Hearing his gentle voice and seeing the signed divorce agreement in my hands, I smiled bitterly to myself. Indeed, I came here for divorce. In a month, Julian would finally get what he wanted. In truth, Julian and I had gotten married in secret. No one knew we were married except our families—not even Elizabeth, the girl Julian could never forget. He was the one who had insisted on keeping the marriage a secret. We were college classmates. On the first day of school, I fell for him at first sight. I pursued him throughout our four years of college, but he never cared about me. But I wasn’t heartbroken about it. Even though he turned me down, he never liked anyone else either. I just thought he wasn’t into dating. After graduation, I got busy with work and he went to grad school. We lost touch, but I never forgot him.
We went our separate ways, but three years later, we met on a blind date. On our very first meeting, Julian went straight to the point and asked if I wanted to marry him. I didn’t know why he was in such a rush to marry, but my long-time dream was finally coming true—I was overjoyed. I just thought his family was pushing him, so I said yes without thinking twice. I only found out his secret little by little after the wedding. Turns out he did like women—he was just in love with someone he could never have. It was his best friend’s younger sister, Elizabeth. Julian was five years older than Elizabeth, so she had always treated him like an older brother. His love was destined to be one-sided and impossible. And Elizabeth never knew how he felt. She married her three-year boyfriend right after graduation. Julian was crushed. He wanted to get over it fast, and with his parents pressuring him, he married me on impulse. I was heartbroken when I found out the truth. But I pulled myself together anyway. After all, I had plenty of time. If I tried hard enough, I was sure I could make him see me.
But during our three years of marriage, Julian stayed cold and distant toward me. I lost all my confidence when I found his photo album. The album was full of photos of Elizabeth from age six all the way to 25. It shouldn’t have hurt me that much. But what if that girl was the love of my husband’s life? And worse—he kept adding to the album even after we got married! There was no way I could just act like it didn’t bother me. The very next night, Julian—who never drank—got completely wasted. His normally calm eyes lit up with a weird happiness. After asking around, I found out Elizabeth had gotten divorced. I laughed bitterly, and decided I was ending this hopeless marriage for good. Maybe because of the signed divorce agreement, I felt this weird knot in my chest when I went back to the house we’d shared for three years. As I looked at the warm home I’d built all by myself, a flood of memories hit me. My gaze fell on the wedding portrait in the living room, one I had always kept meticulously clean. Seeing Julian’s forced smile in the photo stung so badly. I couldn’t help but take it down and throw it in the trash. I spent the rest of the night sorting out our shared assets.
Julian noticed the portrait was gone as soon as he got home. He looked at me, busy writing, frowned, and asked, “Where’s our wedding portrait?” “The nail came loose. I was afraid it might fall on someone, so I took it down.” Julian didn’t ask further. He placed some late-night snacks next to me, then entered the study. Smelling the strong scent, I stopped what I was doing. I opened the bag and saw the spicy snacks inside, and my nose stung. I ate bland food every day for three years because of my stomach problems. But Julian never noticed. Before, I would eat it all just to make him happy, no matter how spicy it was. But now, I just took the bag downstairs and threw it away. Starting that day, I decided I washed away all the hurt and sadness from this marriage—and got Julian out of my life completely.