Chapter 3My husband's kidney failure was successfully matched. I deliberately told my husband that I was the one with kidney failure, but he reacted like this.

Not long after. My phone buzzed. A new SnapChat group chat invitation popped up.

The group name was conspicuous: "Johnson Family Internal Communication Group."

Initiated by sister-in-law Lydia. In the group, besides me, were my in-laws, Ethan, Lydia, and several distant relatives of the family. Lydia’s message popped up: "Brother, you must not be foolish! That woman is bad luck, a jinx!"

"She can’t even have children, and now she wants to drag you down!"

Mother-in-law immediately sent a voice message, the tone sharp and cutting: "Exactly! Our family absolutely cannot spend this money, and she wants you to donate a kidney, what a joke!"

"If she really can’t make it, just let her go back to her family!

Don’t drag down our family!" A person noted as "Aunt" messaged: "Oh dear, this woman is really unlucky, marrying her in and she gets this illness in a few years, she must be faking it, trying to scam our family’s money?"

Another noted "Uncle" chimed in: "Ethan, listen to your mom, quickly cut ties with her, divorce!" "Otherwise, there will be endless trouble in the future!"

I looked at those unbearable words without any expression.

Saved the chat records as screenshots. The last bit of warmth in my heart. Extinguished completely at that moment. Ethan began avoiding me like the plague.

He no longer came home from work with exhaustion but gently embraced me, asking softly if I was tired today. Now, he always came home late.

Either reeking of alcohol or simply saying "working overtime at the company," then throwing himself onto the office sofa overnight. Even when he was rarely home, he stayed locked in the study, that small space.

I didn’t hysterically question him. I just watched coldly, with a kind of cruel calmness. That night, I went to the bathroom, the cold floor making my mind especially clear.

Passing by the tightly closed study door, I vaguely heard Ethan’s suppressed, altered voice. "Mom, I know… I really know…

Please stop pushing me, okay?" His voice carried a fatigue on the verge of collapse. "Adeline, she… her health is already like that, how can I at this time…"

"What do you mean I’m foolish?! Should I just watch her… watch her die?!" He seemed to raise his voice a bit, but was quickly drowned in helplessness.

"I don’t mean that… but… donating a kidney… Mom, it’s a kidney! I…"

Then, from the other end, mother-in-law’s sharp, cutting, highly penetrating voice, even through the thick door, pierced my eardrums like ice spikes, word by word.

"Die? What kind of illness does she have?

It’s a bottomless pit! It’s an incurable disease! She wasn’t going to live long anyway!" "Even if you donate a kidney to her, can you save her? Don’t be foolish, son!"

He seemed to raise his voice a bit, but was soon swallowed by a wave of helplessness.

"I don't mean that... but... kidney donation... Mom, it's a kidney! I..."

Then, from the other end of the phone, my mother-in-law's sharp and biting voice cut through the thick door, piercing my ears with each word, like a needle.

"Die? What kind of illness does she have? It's a black hole! A terminal illness! She wouldn't live long anyway!"

"Even if you give her a kidney, can you save her? Don't be foolish, son!"

"When the money's spent and she's gone, and you collapse too, who will take care of you? Who will look after us in our old age? Who will carry on our Johnson family name?"

"Ethan, I'm telling you now! If you dare to think about donating a kidney, I'll die before you do!"

"Now! Immediately! Go ask her for a divorce!"

"Tell her you love her, that you're afraid of dragging her down! That you don't want to hold her back! Make her go back to Adeline's family to rest!"

"Better a short pain than a long one! Our Johnson family can't be dragged down by this jinx!"

In the study, Ethan's breathing became heavy. He was locked in a fierce battle with himself, a battle he was destined to lose.

For a long time, long enough for the air to feel like it was frozen.

"...I understand, Mom."

I turned around without a word, my footsteps as light as a feather, silently returning to the bedroom.

Sure enough, what had to happen couldn't be avoided.

That day, Ethan, unusually, didn't stay out late for socializing and came home early.

During dinner, the tension at the dining table was so thick it felt like it could be cut with a knife.

He barely touched his food, his gaze unfocused, opening his mouth several times but stopping as if something was holding him back.

After dinner, I quietly cleaned the dishes as usual.

Then he suddenly called out to me, "Adeline."

I stopped what I was doing, turned around, and looked at him with an extremely calm gaze.

"Let's... get a divorce."

Finally, the Sword of Damocles hanging over our heads fell.

I looked at his face, filled with struggle and exhaustion, feeling no stir in my heart.

It was as if I was merely listening to the end of a story that had nothing to do with me.

"Adeline, don't misunderstand... It's not because you're sick that I'm rejecting you..."

"On the contrary, it's because I... I love you too much, I don't want to drag you down."

Ethan began his clumsy and hollow performance.

"Look at me now... The work pressure is so high, I feel worse every day, I'm really afraid... afraid that if I collapse too, who will take care of you then?"

"So... while we can... let's part ways. You go back to Adeline's family, the environment is better, you can rest and maybe... maybe find better treatment..."

His reasons were incoherent, each one as fake as a plastic flower, glaringly false.

"Afraid of dragging me down?" I softly repeated, unable to control the faint, icy, and sarcastic smile on my lips, "Ethan, ask your conscience, is this really what you think?"

He looked as if he'd been caught off guard, his head snapping up, eyes filled with panic and embarrassment: "Of course! Adeline, you have to believe me! I mean it! I'm really doing this for you!"

"Fine."

"I agree to the divorce."

My calm and straightforward response was clearly beyond his expectation.

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"Did you... agree?" His voice was filled with disbelief.

"What else?" I replied indifferently, my tone emotionless. "Should we wait for your mom to hold a knife to your throat, forcing you to sig