I stopped him. "Don't go, Dad. You know I've been wronged for many years. Since I've already let go, a clean divorce is best for everyone. If we have a falling out, it won't be good for our family. It's not worth paying such a high price for this."
I was being very rational because I had already been through this once before.
After some persuasion, my dad chose to respect my decision. I breathed a sigh of relief. Indeed, making the right request at the right time yields the best results.
If I had proposed a divorce before the affair between Hugh Pei and Lila Wei was exposed, both sets of parents would surely have advised me to reconsider.
It was as if heaven was on my side. This happened when very few people knew I had filed for divorce.
After ending the call, I hesitated for a moment and then chose to call Evan Yu back.
"Where are you?" Evan Yu's voice sounded a little worried. "Do you know that your mother-in-law went to talk to Lila Wei?"
"I know. Hugh Pei called me and said that if anything happens to Lila Wei, I won't get off easy either." I picked at the food in my bowl, continuing calmly, "Do you also think I'm the one who told my mother-in-law?"
Evan Yu was Hugh Pei's good friend, so of course he would side with Hugh Pei.
In their minds, I had always been a resentful woman who would do anything to get Hugh Pei.
Evan Yu answered quickly, "No, I know it wasn't you."
I was surprised. "You believe me?"
"Yes. You want a divorce, don't you? Telling your mother-in-law before that would just be asking for trouble," Evan Yu replied.
"I didn't expect you to believe me. Thank you," I said, feeling a sense of relief.
"What are you going to do now?" Evan Yu asked.
I told Evan Yu that I had already filed for divorce. There was a brief silence on the other end of the line, followed by some rustling sounds, as if he were turning over in bed. He asked, "Really?"
I laughed. "Could this be fake? Hugh Pei should receive the court notice in a few days. As his best friend, he'll definitely tell you. But this might be bad news for you."
Once Hugh Pei and I were divorced, he could be with Lila Wei openly. It would be even harder for Evan Yu to win her over.
"It's not bad news. It's good," Evan Yu said lazily. "I wish you a successful divorce."
"Are you sleeping?" I changed the subject abruptly.
"Yes, it's my day off," Evan Yu replied meaningfully. "As you know, I'm a single man with no one to date and nothing to do."
I could hear the deep loneliness in Evan Yu's voice, and my gossip-loving heart began to burn. "You could find a girlfriend. Isn't there a woman you like?"
Evan Yu wasn't the type to open up to others, so I was prepared for him to hang up on me. To my surprise, he didn't.
"There is," he answered softly.
"Then go after her!" I was inexplicably excited. Was the famous scene of two men fighting over one woman from my past life about to begin?
"It's not appropriate," Evan Yu replied flatly.
This answer made me even more certain that the woman he liked was Lila Wei. Because of Hugh Pei, it wasn't appropriate for him to pursue her.
I gathered my thoughts and tried to persuade him with reason and emotion. "What's not appropriate about it? As long as she's not married, you still have a chance. But if you don't try, you're destined to miss out on her. Don't you want to marry the woman you love? Do you want to watch her marry another man?"
Since I was getting a divorce anyway, and Hugh Pei thought I had tattled to his mother, I might as well play the villain to the end.
Perhaps my words struck a chord with Evan Yu. He was silent for a long time, then finally laughed. "You're right. I understand."
"Go for it!" I encouraged him, feeling very gratified.
After hanging up, I felt much better, but I still didn't want to call Hugh Pei back, so I went straight to take a nap.
It wasn't until dusk that I woke up groggily. I pulled my phone from under my pillow and scrolled through it randomly.
Out of curiosity, I clicked on Lila Wei's social media to see if she had posted anything. It turned out she had blocked me.
It seemed my mother-in-law had said some very harsh things. Otherwise, Lila Wei wouldn't have even deleted me. Why not just delete Hugh Pei?!
Just as I was wondering what my mother-in-law had said, I noticed Lila Wei had sent me a friend request again. After I accepted, she sent me a message:
*Sis Zoe, I'm sorry. Nothing actually happened between Hugh Pei and me. He helped me a lot, so I thought of him as a good friend. Maybe I was too careless with our boundaries, which caused you to misunderstand. I've thought a lot these past two days and reflected on myself. I don't have the face to see anyone anymore. My parents probably don't know about this yet. If they find out, they will definitely be devastated. So I've chosen to disappear and not cause you any more trouble. I hope you won't take your anger out on my parents. Thank you.*
Then there was a location pin, right at the docks where I was kidnapped last time.
Alarm bells went off in my head. Was Lila Wei planning to do something drastic?
It wasn't impossible. She had probably never been so humiliated in her life, and she was still young and impulsive.
Although I didn't like her, I didn't want her to die, especially since I wanted to divorce Hugh Pei, not win him back.
I immediately called Hugh Pei, but the call was disconnected.
After that, Hugh Pei's phone was off. I didn't know what had happened. It wasn't until the next day that I heard from Evan Yu that Lila Wei had tried to commit suicide at the docks last night. Hugh Pei had arrived in time to stop her, and they were now at the hospital.
I was silent for a few seconds. "Okay, I understand. Thank you for telling me."
"He will take his anger out on you. Can you handle it?" Evan Yu asked casually.
"What does it matter if I can handle it or not?" I joked. "It would be perfect if he beat me up. I could use it as evidence for the divorce."
Evan Yu laughed at my dark humor. "Haha, good idea."
After a brief chat, I hung up. Now all I had to do was wait for Hugh Pei to come looking for trouble.
But after waiting for two or three days, I didn't get a single call. It was as if Hugh Pei had forgotten I existed. Instead, the news exploded. He had always been linked to various female celebrities, so in a way, he was a semi-celebrity himself.
But this time, the rumor wasn't about him and a celebrity, but about his socially unacceptable love affair with a college student.
The headlines were filled with the scent of romance: *Playboy Falls for College Student, a Real-Life Cinderella Story!*