One Goodbye Is Enough

“I want to give Uncle Parker three more chances. If... he really doesn’t love us, then we’ll leave him forever.”

Closing my eyes, I agreed to my son’s request.

“Alright.”

Henry, my son and I would give you another three chances.

After that, you will never have a place in our lives again.

…

It was Friday, the day Henry’s first love returned to the country.

They were college sweethearts and got engaged right after graduation.

Just a month before their wedding, Evelyn fell in love at first sight with a foreigner.

She abandoned Henry and went abroad in pursuit of her true love.

From that moment, their lives deviated, their paths never crossing again.

Henry was devastated for a long time.

That was when I became his assistant.

One night, after too many drinks, we conceived a child.

Just like that, I became his secret wife—the woman he barely acknowledged and the mother of a child he never wanted.

After printing out the divorce agreement I finalized yesterday, I started preparing my resignation letter.

Unlike my son, I had long grown used to Henry’s coldness. I was not foolish enough to keep waiting for a man like him to change.

Seven years was more than enough to shatter any naive, romantic illusions I once had.

“Serena, are you really resigning?”

A colleague caught a glimpse of my screen and asked in a hushed voice.

I smiled, already prepared with my excuse.

“Yeah. My son’s father is overseas. I’m planning to take him and move there so we can finally be together as a family.”

She nodded.

“That makes sense. Raising a kid alone here must be exhausting for you.

“Honestly, we all kind of assumed you were a single mom.”

I could not help but laugh when I heard that, but it was bitter.

I was not a single mother, yet I was treated worse than one.

My eyes started to sting, but I quickly masked it with a practiced smile, unwilling to let anyone notice.

Just as I submitted my resignation, Henry walked in with Evelyn.

She walked ahead of him with a gentle smile on her face.

He followed behind her, his gaze clinging to her every move. He was unwilling to look away for even a second.

A colleague nudged me and whispered,

“Serena, do you see that? Our CEO is finally showing some emotion for once.”

I forced a smile, but it felt like a storm was raging inside.

All it had taken was waiting a decade for this stony man to show his soft side.

Still, Henry…

Even if I waited a lifetime, he would never look at me the way he was looking at her now.

As they passed by, I could not stop myself. I called out to him.

“Hen—”

Before I could even finish saying his name, he shot me a cold, warning glance.

“Miss Clarke, do you need something?”

His cold words carried an unspoken warning, a command for me to swallow my words.

A reminder to remember my place.

I lowered my gaze, forcing myself to hold back the tears welling in my eyes.

“Sorry, Mr. Parker.”

He gave a slight nod, then immediately looked away.

He kept his focus fixed on Evelyn as though she were his entire world.

He was my husband.

The father of my child.

However, he made no effort to hide his love for another woman in front of me.

It was ironic yet sobering.

A bitter laugh escaped my lips before I could stop it.

Initially, I had wanted to tell him I was resigning.

It seemed like there was no need to do so now.

He did not care about me, after all.

He did not care about my feelings or our child.

Certainly not about this marriage.

Back at my desk, my son called from his smartwatch.

“Mommy, there’s a meeting at school tonight, so we got out early today. Uncle Cooper brought me to you.”