In late October, the school organized a small art class of over a dozen students and appointed me as the
instructor.
In December, they’d be participating in the town’s elementary school art competition for the first time.
Hardly any of the kids had ever been to the town center before.
All the students who made it into the art class were over the moon.
When the first class ended at dismissal, several children still clung to me, begging to stay and draw a little longer.
A little girl looked at me expectantly and asked, “Ms. Stewart, the principal said you were the first among us to go to college–and to a top university at that!
“If we win prizes at the county competition, will we become as exceptional as you someday?”
I gazed into her sparkling eyes, momentarily lost in thought.
It had been so many years since I’d last heard someone call me “exceptional.”
After marrying Caleb, I attended my first party as his wife.
The society ladies had asked me with feigned curiosity, “Mrs. Burns, which university did you attend?”
Back then, I had replied, not without pride, “Ockmery Institute of the Arts.”
My answer was met with awkward, bewildered glances exchanged among them.
“Is that in our country? Never heard of it,” one said.
“Ockmery? Where on earth is that?” another asked.
It had been so many years.
I’d almost forgotten that I wasn’t actually that worthless after all.
I gently patted the little girl on the head and smiled at her. “Of course you will.”
The kids were incredibly eager to learn.
By the time I left the school, dusk had already fallen.
I walked out of the school gate with Maxic, the dog I’d brought along as a model for our art class.
The late autumn dusk carried a biting chill.
A gust of wind hit me, and I instinctively hunched my shoulders against the cold.
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🙂))
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A kid came running up behind me, holding a cookie, and shouted, “Ms. Stewart, this is for Maxie!”
Maxie turned around, wagging its tail excitedly and panting with delight.
After finishing the cookie, Maxie gently licked the kid’s palm.
The kid burst into delighted laughter, which in turn made me smile.
Suddenly, a man’s voice came from nearby. “It’s getting colder. You should dress warmer.”
I glanced over, the smile still lingering on my lips.
Caleb looked at me, momentarily stunned.
After a long pause, he suddenly blurted out, “So you do know how to smile.”
What a strange thing to say.
Everyone in this world knew how to smile.
No one enjoyed forcing a smile at someone they knew full well disliked them.
I didn’t respond, simply leading Maxie away without a backward glance.
Behind me, Caleb suddenly caught up and grabbed my arm.
I stopped in my tracks and turned to look at him, only to see him hastily withdraw his hand.
A car sat not far away, its rear window open.
I noticed Spencer’s head occasionally peeking out from the car window.
The father and son had been tiptoeing around me with such caution that it was laughable.
Caleb wore a conflicted expression, his words caught in his throat.
After a long, heavy silence, he finally steeled himself to speak. “Isadora has left the country… with her daughter.”
I couldn’t understand. “And your point is?”
I no longer cared about what happened between Caleb and Isadora. It was none of my business.
I’d never forget that first night with him when he called me “Izzy” in the darkness.
Years later, when Isadora returned to the country with her daughter, I finally met her face to face and, for the first time, learned about her history with Caleb.
That was the first time I’d seen Caleb lose his composure. He’d rushed to the airport in the dead of night to pick them up, then personally arranged accommodations for them.
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I’d watched as he openly defied the Burns family, declaring that no one was ever to harass Isadora again.
Only then did I finally begin to understand.
He was the one who called me “Izzy” that night and showed me such tenderness.
Yet he was also the one who changed so suddenly until everything about me seemed to irritate him.
So perhaps from the very beginning, that “Izzy” was never meant for me at all.
After everything, Caleb’s sudden humility and affection felt especially ironic.
His face gradually drained of color.
As if struggling to voice the unthinkable, he made several aborted attempts before finally speaking in a barely audible voice. “So… could we… not get divorced?”
I couldn’t help but let out a soft, bitter laugh.
I looked away, my eyes falling on the ground now carpeted with withered leaves.
After holding it in for 15 years, I finally asked, “That night, 15 years ago… were you really that out of it?”
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Caleb’s hand hanging at his side. It suddenly trembled violently.
In this world, there existed no third person besides Caleb and me who knew what truly happened that night.
Everyone simply assumed that I was the one who got Caleb drunk and took advantage of his vulnerable state.
That I’d used dirty tricks and baby–trapped him into marriage.
But no one ever knew it was Caleb who had grabbed my wrist after drinking that night and said, “Izzy, could you take me home?”
Remembering how Caleb had been the one who helped me when I was at my lowest, I couldn’t possibly turn down his request.
After we arrived at his place, he was still sober enough to remember the door code.
Once inside, he even ordered me to get him stomach medicine from the drawer in the bedroom.
He was the one who had first pulled me into an embrace and murmured, “Izzy, stay with me tonight.”
Caleb’s hand at his side trembled more and more violently.
After what felt like an eternity, he said in a quavering voice, “That night, I…”
I looked at him and calmly finished what he couldn’t bring himself to say. “You just can’t bring yourself to
admit it.”
He couldn’t bring himself to admit that he’d lost control that night, betraying Isadora, who’d been exiled by
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:
He’d lost control and gotten tangled up with someone as worthless as me.
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When the paparazzi snapped photos of us, he had no choice but to marry me under mounting public
pressure.
Later, when the Burns family and everyone else kept accusing me, time and again, of taking advantage of Caleb’s vulnerable state to seduce him, he’d chosen silence. He’d chosen to let it all stand.
Eventually, even Caleb started to believe what everyone else was saying. Losing all restraint, he lashed out at me, “How could someone as worthless as you ever compare to Isadora?”
That was what they all said.
Even Spencer had come to believe it too.
I didn’t say another word.
With Maxie’s leash in hand, I walked past him without a second glance.
Caleb seized my arm once more, refusing to let go.
His voice cracked with anguish. “You’ve got it all wrong. The truth is, I love you.”
My hand froze for a split second.
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