"Divorce? What are you saying?"
My brother David's eyes bulged when he saw the divorce papers in my hand the next day.
I should tell him first since our marriage had strengthened the cooperation between our families.
"He may have married you reluctantly, but I thought you two were happy. Charles treated you well..."
He swung a golf club as he spoke.
"What do you mean, reluctantly?"
"..."
"Brother?"
"Well,"
he sighed, regretting his slip of the tongue,
"Charles needed a lot of money five years ago. I knew you liked him and followed him everywhere, so I hinted to him..."
I stared at him in disbelief.
"What did you hint?"
He shifted uneasily.
"That, if we became relatives, I would help him with the funds..."
I felt numb.
The blood in my veins turned to ice.
"Sister?"
He looked at me anxiously.
"And?"
I clenched my fists.
"What else don't I know?"
He hesitated.
"Brother, I'm divorcing him. What are you hiding from me?"
"It's nothing big, just that... on your wedding day, Charles' ex-girlfriend came... here."
I froze and looked at him.
"She wanted to see Charles, but I didn't want any trouble, so I told her you two were madly in love and Charles wouldn't want to see her. I sent her away..."
He touched his head.
"There were some of Charles' relatives there too, so I'm unsure if he knew about this or not..."
So that's how it was.
That's why he asked me to marry him.
I thought he proposed because he had some feelings for me.
But this marriage was a humiliation he endured for his company and Charles's family.
That's what he meant by that snowy night five years ago.
Dagny, do you like me that much?
So much that you forced me into this marriage?
So he married me but kept a distance between us.
He never let me cross the line.
When we first married, I constantly texted him, asking
when he would come home, if he wanted to go out on weekends, and sharing everything in my life with him.
But he rarely replied and only let his secretary contact me if something happened.
Slowly, I stopped talking so much and stopped bothering him. Even the primary contact became his secretary.
We had an everyday married life, and he would whisper "Honey" in my ear repeatedly.
I always thought that was a proof of our love.
But whenever I mentioned having a child, he never agreed. He always took precautions carefully.
Now I realize he never wanted to have children with me.
After all, I was only "his wife".
That's all.
Last night, he asked me, he promised to cut ties with Betty, what else did I want?
Yeah, they could have gotten back together on our wedding day.
Because of me, they missed their chance again, maybe forever.
What more do I, the 'culprit,' want?
But that's not what I wanted when I first liked him.
I envied her when he was with Betty but never wanted to be the third wheel or break them up.
I liked him because I wanted him to be happy.
But he punished me like this for five long years.