Chapter 90 Divorce Was Because of This
A debt of life should be repaid with endless gratitude.
If she had known this truth back then, she would have been deeply grateful to Alice.
But now she only felt it was ironic.
William's love for James and Michael was beyond question.
Yet just thinking about how he could promise Alice three things for saving Michael, while treating her—his wife who had hovered between life and death in the delivery room giving birth to James and Michael—with nothing but coldness.
Sophia felt her past self was so pathetic.
Seeing the tears in her eyes, William's heart clenched hard. He quickly reached out to wipe them, his voice carrying a barely noticeable panic.
"Sophia, I'm sorry, please don't cry..."
She dodged William's hand, stubbornly tilting her head back, refusing to let the tears fall.
"What about me?"
Sophia asked through gritted teeth, "William, what about me!"
"You only saw her desperate rescue, but what about those four hours when I was on the edge of life and death, giving birth?"
"For those five years, you were my husband..."
The tears Sophia had been holding back finally slid down.
She turned her face away, not wanting to show weakness in front of him, but her choked voice carried the pain that had settled over those years.
"You kept your three promises to her, but what about the promises you made to me?"
Each sentence turned into a sword, stabbing hard into William's body.
He didn't even think to grab tissues from the coffee table, frantically and messily wiping the unstoppable tears on her face with his fingertips.
Each drop was an accusation of those five years, hurting his heart with sharp, painful throbs.
"I'm sorry, Sophia. I didn't know it would bring you so much pain. I've never experienced such deep feelings. If I had known, I would never have done this."
He cupped Sophia's face, "I was wrong, terribly wrong."
His deep eyes churned with overwhelming waves of guilt, pulling William bit by bit into the depths of the ocean.
Sophia suddenly broke free from his grasp and pushed him.
William's lower back hit the coffee table, and the plate of delicate pastries made a clattering sound, breaking the heavy, oppressive atmosphere between them.
Roughly wiping the tears from the corners of her eyes with the back of her hand, Sophia closed her eyes and took several deep breaths before suppressing the uncontrollable urge to cry.
She looked at William with a mocking laugh, "How could the great head of the Smith family ever be wrong?"
Knowing that he helped Alice because of Michael brought Sophia no joy at all.
The voice full of obvious and subtle mockery lingered in his ears, but William could only see the sadness in her eyes.
He didn't know how things had developed this way. The reconciliation he had hoped for in his heart burst like a bubble from a fairy tale right before his eyes.
"You thought that even without telling me, just because I'm the children's mother, I would definitely be as grateful to her and help her as you did, right?"
Sophia's beautiful eyes were filled with sadness.
"William, oh William, I was married to you for five years, not five days, and you still don't understand me."
"I'm a mother, not some saint who helps people without limits!"
Pain and sorrow churned in Sophia's pupils as she got up to leave.
William grabbed her wrist again, with gentle force that wouldn't hurt her but wouldn't let her leave either.
William's deep gaze never left her.
He lowered his eyes, hiding the dimness in them.
So the protection he thought he was giving was never what Sophia wanted.
But was it too late to make up for it now?
He lowered his voice, "I'm sorry for the hurt I caused you those five years."
Just thinking about those nights licking her wounds alone, tears soaking the pillowcase again and again, the tears Sophia had barely suppressed threatened to return.
"Alice saved Michael, and regardless of her reasons, I'm very grateful."
"I can give her money, resources, and other help within my means, but I won't blur the boundaries of that help when I know I'm married."
William still maintained his kneeling position, his hand at his side clenched into a fist as he asked her, "Did you divorce me because of Alice?"
Sophia's gaze was cold as she looked down at him. This was actually the first time in seven years she had looked at William from such a superior angle.
"Actually, she was just the trigger. The real reason was you."
William opened his mouth but held back.
Since the topic had come to this, Sophia decided to speak frankly with him about the problems between them.
"William, from the moment you were born, you were already at the top of the pyramid, enjoying the best resources in the world. Your family obeyed you, servants followed your orders—probably no one ever went against your decisions, right?"
William fell silent. That was indeed the case.
Even his brothers and friends had always respected him in their youth. In his past life, everything had gone too smoothly.
"So even after getting married, you were still used to making decisions on your own."
"You're excellent, so excellent that you think every decision you make is the most correct. You think you can optimize everything."
These words seemed like praise, but William felt increasingly panicked, with a premonition of losing something precious.
"William, human emotions aren't something where a correct result can erase all the hurt."
"If you had told me right when Alice saved the child and discussed it with me, maybe none of what followed would have happened."
William tightened his grip on her hand, his voice hoarse, "Sophia, Alice is just someone insignificant."
"The help I gave her was just repaying a debt."
Those resources meant nothing to William, not even worth a moment's pause.
Sophia shook her head, no longer focusing on the topic of Alice. Instead, she bent down slightly, looking into his eyes with a bright smile.
"The first time I met you, I knew you were someone with coldness in your bones, but I thought it didn't matter."
"After all, you didn't love me, and I didn't love you either."
His heart filled with dense, intricate pain. William wanted to say something, but didn't know where to start.
"When I first married you, I wanted to make it work with you. You were cold by nature, so I thought I'd be a bit warmer. But after that, I guess I won't anymore."
Hearing this, a glimmer of hope rose in William's eyes. He hadn't expected to hear her say she liked him today!
But before the flame of joy could ignite, Sophia doused it completely.
She seemed to sink into memories.
Her slender fingers slowly caressed William's handsome face, from his deep eye corners to his high nose bridge, finally gently touching his cool, thin lips.
Sophia let out a slow sigh and said lightly, "William, if only I had never fallen for you after we got married."