Unfortunately, this wasn't the response Alfred wanted. He hadn't come to Clara's room to share the good news when he told her about it. He'd come to test her. He wanted Clara to pout in frustration, then cling to him sweetly because she didn't want to part with him.
“Sweetheart, do you really want me to leave?” Alfred still couldn't believe the woman standing before him.
In the blink of an eye, everything had changed. That morning, before he left for work, everything had still been fine. They'd hugged each other, and he'd kissed her forehead, receiving a kiss on the cheek in return, just like any other day. Even at lunchtime, they'd video-called affectionately because Clara had the day off. But when night fell, the woman handed him divorce papers.
To this very moment, Alfred was still asking himself the same questions. Why? Why did this have to happen?
“Being a photographer is your dream. You have a talent for it, and now you have a wonderful opportunity. Why should I hold you back?” Clara still looked calm. She sincerely wanted the man she loved to go find the part of himself he'd lost over the past six years. “Go. Do your best.”
Though the words were so positive and full of support, they felt like a dagger slicing into Alfred's heart. He immediately turned and walked away, his hands clenched tightly.
Only after the man disappeared from view did Clara draw a deep breath and say, “Yes. That's right. What you did was the right thing, Clara. Alfred really does need to pursue his dream again.”
Two days later, Alfred truly left to work on the major project. Clara learned about it from Damian, Alfred's assistant.
“Who do you think you are, Clara? Weren't you the one who told him to leave? Why are you disappointed now that he hasn't messaged you?” Clara spoke to herself after looking at her chat thread with Alfred, which had no new messages at all.
She tried to smile and continued, “He'll definitely succeed, and you have no reason to be sad.”
Day after day passed. Before she knew it, three months had gone by since Alfred left the country without a word, leaving Clara overwhelmed by loneliness. Only now did she realize that they really had separated.
She had initially been happy that Alfred had taken the project, but for the first time, sadness washed over her. She felt as though she'd lost something. And this hurt far more than when she'd decided to get divorced.
“Isn't that the risk of separating? You'll lose each other and become strangers.” Louisa Margaret, Clara's best friend, spoke casually from the sofa.
Clara heard her and silently agreed. But she chose to remain quiet, staring at her eerily silent phone, with none of the barrage of messages from Alfred she'd once received.
“Just send him a message. Simply ask how he's doing,” Louisa suggested.
“Can I?” Clara asked, looking at her uncertainly, making Louisa burst out laughing.
“What do you mean, can you or can't you? Is there some rule against messaging him? Just think of him as a business partner,” Louisa replied with a giggle.
Clara fell silent for a moment, then picked up her phone. She opened her chat thread with Alfred, which still had the same name—‘my love’—and typed out a message. But she quickly deleted it and typed it again. She repeated the process over and over.
Louisa seemed to understand her friend's hesitation. She got up, walked over, snatched the phone from her, and sent a message asking how Alfred was doing.
“Louisa.” Clara stood up in a panic and grabbed her phone back.
“Are you actually trying to ask how he's doing, or are you trying to confess that you regret divorcing him?” Louisa teased.
Clara ignored her and focused on her phone. She felt anxious, but she couldn't deny that her heart was pounding.