Keith scheduled Olivia’s first round of chemo for the day after tomorrow to prevent her condition from
deteriorating.
The chemo would come with a plethora of side effects. In the first two weeks, the patient would feel
weak and experience hair loss.
That was why Olivia would have to get everything sorted out before the session.
Although Jeff was still in a coma, at least Olivia didn’t need to worry about paying off his medical bills.
She made a payment at the hospital before heading back to the home that she used to share with
Ethan.
She was worried that she might be too weak after chemo. Hence, she booked the services of a moving
company before starting chemo. She was planning to move out of this place anyway.
Olivia’s best friend, Everly Hilton, showed up in office wear. She strutted around in heels while clutching
a crossbody. At the same time, she happened to be carrying two bags of chips as well.
Olivia immediately heard her friend’s loud voice from afar. “Liv, you are finally free of suffering! I just
received the commission from my property sale last month, so let me treat you to a fun night at the
Dark Horse Clubhouse today! There are so many guys out there for you!”
Everly did not know about Olivia’s diagnosis because she went abroad to visit her boyfriend in the
same week Olivia hid away. She simply thought that Olivia had given it a good thought and decided to
go for a divorce.
Olivia chuckled in response. “No, that won’t work. I’m scared that your beau might show up and knock
on my door right away when he hears about that.”
“Oh, drop it. I will never believe in long-distance relationships anymore. I wanted to show up and
surprise him, but guess what? That fucker took my hard-earned commissions and spent it all on
another bitch!”
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtEverly looked vicious, yet her eyes were filled with pain. Her seven-year relationship was over, all
because they went long-distance.
Olivia wanted to offer words of comfort, but at the thought of her messy marriage, she felt that she
didn’t have the right to reassure others.
Instead, she remarked, “Knowing you, you must have caused quite a scene.”
Everly led Olivia over to the bench by the flower garden and took a seat. She gave Olivia a bag of chips
while she started eating out of the other.
“My temper has long mellowed after all these years of a long-distance relationship. I had a bad feeling
about this whole thing anyway. You can fall in love for many reasons, but you only need one to fall out
of it.”
She stared into the misty sky and went on. “At the beginning, he’d fly across the globe just to see me
on Valentine’s Day, even if he only had a few days off. Now, he hasn’t come home once in three years.
“He’d wished me good morning before he went to bed, but he didn’t text me as much in the last few
years. I thought he was busy with his Ph.D. studies, so I started working part-time as a property agent
just to support him financially, all while studying full-time.”
Everly’s sadness intensified. “What haven’t I done for money? And with the money from my
commissions, I even bought him a house abroad.”
“Liv, this storyline is right out of a soap opera.” She continued to lament. “At one point, I thought I’d go
mad. It was quite ridiculous, catching him cheating in the boxers that I bought for him.”
Everly was grinning, but tears rolled off her cheeks onto the bag of chips in her hand.
“I had to think twice before buying coffee. I lived so frugally just to support him. But what did I get in the
end? I’m a prestigious med school student who was rushing between apartment viewings just to
support a traitor. He might have even bought the condoms with my card.”
Olivia reached out to hug her best friend. “Oh, please don’t cry. He isn’t worth your time.”
“That’s what I think too. Do you know how nice I was to him? I did not make a scene. I lit a cigarette
and started calculating the money he had to pay me back. Thank God I put the house under my name.
I evicted him and that bitch that same night.”
Olivia was rather taken aback by Everly’s decisiveness. “So, did he agree to everything?”
“Of course not. He immediately fell to his knees and wanted me to forgive him when I asked for the
house and money back. When I saw him crying in front of me, I wondered what made me fall for him in
the first place.
“Anyway, I stayed around for a couple of days to sell off the house and cut all ties with him before I
came home.”
Everly quickly wiped away her tears and continued, “Liv, we’re long past the age of believing in
romantic love. We have to choose between love and bread, right? You didn’t like it when I told you to
get a divorce a year ago, so I’m glad that you finally thought it through. Just from your divorce
settlement with Ethan Miller alone, you would be able to last for a few lifetimes and then some.”
Everly smiled once she finished her last chip. “Look, even if you lost your man, you could spend his
hard-earned wealth on ten different smoking hot dudes. Isn’t that awesome?”
Olivia coughed awkwardly. “Um, I only got ten million dollars from Ethan.”
“What? The audacity of that cheating bastard to offer you only ten million …” Everly gasped in disbelief.
“Wasn’t he very generous to you? Since when did he become so stingy? It’s not like he’s short of
money.”
Olivia didn’t explain further. “When a man’s in love, he’ll give you the moon. When he’s no longer into
you, you’re worse than trash. Let’s not talk about him. I wanted you here to help me with moving out.”
“Sure. I’ll treat you to a nice dinner after this.”
Olivia smiled. “Okay.”
Almost everything in the villa belonged to Ethan, so there wasn’t much for her to pack. It was less of a
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmmove-out and more of a dropping by to pick up her belongings.
A wedding photo was hung on the wall. Olivia could be seen smiling brightly in the photo. Even Ethan,
who always looked serious, managed to crack a smile too.
The thought of Ethan and his affair pissed Everly off. “How are you going to deal with these wedding
photos? I mean, you can always recycle them in exchange for some money for chips. Or maybe set
them on fire.”
Olivia shook her head. “It’s okay. Everything should be split into half in a divorce.” She ordered a
housekeeper to take out all the photos from their frames, cut out her images, and put the photos back.
The only room that she was reluctant to leave behind was her self-designed nursery that Ethan helped
decorate. She didn’t want Marina’s child to move into that nursery.
One year after setting up the nursery, she finally decided to move the cot out and had the movers
remove all the decorations in there.
Surprisingly enough, it only took a few hours to remove the things that took countless days and
sleepless nights to create. The memories that had accumulated over the entire year went into the trash
can alongside those things as well.
Standing at the entrance to the villa, she recalled the excitement when she had first moved in. Her
sorrows were a vast contrast to the joy on her move-in day. She probably hadn’t imagined her marriage
headed toward destruction.
Taking a final look, she bid goodbye to her past self and left. She then walked up to Everly. “Eve, come
with me to the salon.”
Everly patted her on the shoulder. “Great! Let’s celebrate your new start with new hair! Time to put
those bastards behind us! I’m going to dye my hair a nice shade of pink! What about you, Liv?”
Olivia replied without hesitation, “I want it short.”
“Liv, you look good either way, but don’t cut it too short. I’m worried that you might regret it.”
Little did Everly know that Olivia wanted the short hair because she was worried about the extensive
hair loss post-chemo.
Olivia smiled. “No, I won’t regret it.”