Chapter 12
Serene’s sobs were soft and sorrowful. Jason remained stoic, his voice calm as he said, “I’ll send Drew over to help you out.” With that, he ended the call and promptly dialed Drew, instructing him to make a trip over.
Meanwhile, Estrella’s breathing had settled into a quieter rhythm. Estrella had thought for sure that Jason would leave her side that evening.
After hanging up, Jason glanced over at Estrella with an expression that didn’t betray thoughts, “If you’re up, you can get out of the car yourself. I’m not carrying you.”
his
Estrella, however, didn’t open her eyes.
Seeing this, Jason unbuckled his seat belt, opened the car door, and walked toward the house without looking back.
Realizing Jason was serious about leaving her in the car, Estrella swiftly unbuckled. herself and hurried out after him. She caught up and looped her arms through Jason’s. He glanced down at her with a frosty look, but Estrella maintained her usual cheery demeanor-an utter contrast to Serene’s tearful episode.
Their eyes met, and Jason quickened his pace. Estrella kept up, her voice light, “Jason, let’s have a baby.”
Jason’s answer was brief and to the point, “No.” Despite his words, he didn’t remove her hands from his arm.
Soon, they entered the house together, and Marie, seeing them return side by side, smiled dinner. more brilliantly than the garden flowers, bustling off to have the kitchen prepare Estrella seemed in unusually high spirits that day, spending more time watching Jason and talking to him than usual.
After dinner, when they retired to their upstairs bedroom, Jason reminded her not to get her hopes up, “Estrella, don’t get too excited.” He had agreed to come home once a week, but nothing more.
Estrella brushed off his remark, “I’m off to shower.”
When Estrella emerged from the shower, Jason was already on the bed, deeply engrossed in a book, his nose still framed by those gold-rimmed glasses.
Approaching the bed, Estrella knelt down, but before she could speak, Jason raised his hand, pressing a finger to her forehead to maintain a distance between them.
As Estrella’s brow lifted, about to speak, her phone rang from her pocket, a call from a client.
Cho glanced at Jason, stood up from the bed, and quickly answered, “Hey! Jo.” Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.
15:21
The voice of a middle-aged woman, laced with indignant sobbing, filled the air, “Ms. Estrella, why are men such heartless creatures? When I married him, he didn’t even have decent clothes to his name.”
“I’ve been through so much hardship with him, managed our home and children so well, and after all that, he just flips a switch and wants a divorce. Doesn’t he realize what those girls out there are after? How can he treat me like this without fearing karma?” Her voice broke into tears at the end.
Estrella sighed, already knowing from the conversation that Jo had fought with her husband about the divorce again. Holding the phone in one hand and pouring herself a glass of water with the other, Estrella consoled her, “Jo, we’ve done all we could at this point. We’ve tried, we’ve given, and we’ve attempted to salvage this marriage. If your husband is still unwilling to continue, then we must approach the matter rationally. We need to fight for your financial rights, considering all the years of effort you’ve put in.”
At Estrella’s words, Jason looked up from his book, his gaze falling on her.