Morning Dew Loves the Dawn, Twilight Snow Fails the Returning One

I had just blown out the candles on my twenty-eighth birthday, alone, and picked up my fork.

Then John Sanchez sat down across from me.

He ignored the shock on my face and slid a property deed toward me.

For you. Happy birthday.

The fork slipped out of my hand and clattered onto the table.

The deed was for a downtown mansion. Five thousand square feet. Twenty million dollars.

Today was the fifth birthday I'd had since marrying John.

It was the first one he'd ever shown up for, and the first gift he'd ever given me.

Before I could get out the word "why," he pushed a second document across the table. A divorce agreement.

"Yola's back. Her child needs a father."

So we were getting divorced.

It took me one second to accept it. I nodded, calm.

"Fine. I'll sign right now."

John had never let go of his first love, the one waiting overseas. I knew that.

What he didn't know was this.

I hadn't let go either.

I pushed the birthday cake aside, picked up the pen, and wrote my name.

Clean, unhesitating, done in one stroke.

I'd barely let out a breath.

Then John's hand came down on top of mine, his eyes studying me.

"Agreeing this easily?"

"April Finch, think it through. Once you sign, there's no taking it back."

"You'll never be the envied Mrs. Sanchez again."

I turned those last words over in my head, and I laughed.

So that was what he thought.

That for five years I'd been the envied Mrs. Sanchez.

He had no idea. In all those party corners he never saw.

How many people had thrown wine in my face.

Called me the shameless bitch who'd stolen another woman's first love.

Even though that first love had walked out on him first, gone abroad, married someone else, had a child.

Even though John and I were husband and wife, married in full public view.

He had never once set the record straight.

He had never even known.

I glanced at the deed on the table. A mansion worth twenty million. Wasn't that enough to make me sign without a fuss?

"If I'm not mistaken, you must be very busy today."

I capped the pen and looked down at my watch.

"Hurry up. Sign, and you can go sooner. This whole table of food's going cold."

Even as I said it, I hadn't forgotten to tuck the deed into my bag.

He caught the lightness in my voice.

John's face darkened a few shades.

"Our marriage means less to you than a table of food?"

I blinked. "Doesn't it?"

I had only agreed to the marriage in the first place to get the two million dollars from old Mrs. Sanchez.

After all, a gentle, obedient wife who took good care of her husband.

That was what earned Cindy Sanchez's ten thousand a month in living expenses.

So from where John stood.

Five years of marriage, and I'd been meek, submissive, swallowing everything, even throwing myself at him.

But I didn't love him.

So it never bothered me that he'd never come to a single one of my birthdays.

I didn't care that he'd never given me a gift.

John didn't see it that way.

He thought the divorce had rattled me, that my brain just hadn't caught up.

Or that I was faking calm out of spite.

"April Finch, you"

He stared at me, livid, wanting to say more.

But I'd already gone back to cutting my cake, eating, taking pretty selfies, like he wasn't even there.

He stood beside me with no sign of leaving.

He sat on it a while before he managed to force out one line.

"Is this how you spend every birthday? Alone? With a sad little cake like this?"

Sad little cake?

This year's cake was the nicest one I'd had in five years.

John had never cared, so of course he had no idea what my birthdays looked like.

I was about to answer when a soft woman's voice came from behind me.

"John!"

Yolanda Reyes was holding a little girl. "It's the baby's birthday today. She says she wants the cotton candy her daddy makes with his own hands."

John went straight over, crouched down, and tweaked the little girl's nose.

"Okay. Daddy will make it for you, all right, my little sweet tooth?"

Yolanda lifted her head and gave me a taunting little smile.

Then, deliberately, "John, these past five years you were always giving her million-dollar birthday gifts. It's too extravagant."

"Now that we're back home, let's keep everything simple this year."

I froze, and cake smeared onto my chin. No wonder that in five years, John, my husband, had never once come to my birthday.

Only because my birthday fell on the same day as Yolanda's child's.

"That won't do. Her birthday gift is already all set."

Yolanda was curious. "What is it?"

John held up the divorce agreement and gave it a little shake.

"I'm giving the baby a father."

I let out a scoff. So much for a nice birthday. I'd lost my appetite entirely.

I just called the waiter over to box up the food.

John was still cozying up to the two of them and didn't notice me turn and walk out.

I'd just stepped out of the restaurant when my phone rang. A courier.

"Is this Miss April Finch?"

"There's a delivery here for you. The note says 'birthday gift.'"

My heart nearly skipped a beat.

"Please leave it at the door. I'll be back right away."

Even though the sender had left no name, I knew exactly who it was.

My ex-boyfriend, Rolf Gilbert.

Leaning back in the taxi seat, I let the memories from five years ago flicker through my mind.

That was the poorest year of my life.

My ex-boyfriend, Rolf Gilbert, had come down with a serious illness and couldn't cover the medical fees.

He was an orphan to begin with, and even his foster mother had given up on him.

But I didn't want to give up.

Back then, to scrape the money together, I worked five jobs a day. I washed dishes until my hands were raw and split open.

I even played an NPC in a haunted house, and slept overnight in so-called haunted homes as a test tenant.

Until there was nowhere left to turn.

To raise the two million dollars, I agreed to the marriage Mrs. Sanchez had arranged.

The day I paid off the medical fees, I watched Rolf look up at me with bright eyes and say,

"Snowy, once my surgery is done, let's go traveling together. We'll go to the Rocky Mountains, take our wedding photos. Okay?"

I only slipped my hand out of his, quietly.

"I can't."

"What?"

"I'm marrying someone else. The wedding's in three days."

And that day, it turned out, was the very day of Rolf's surgery.

Later I got married, and after he came off the operating table, he came looking for me a few times.

Seeing me and John Sanchez appear everywhere as a couple, in full view of everyone,

he vanished from my world completely.

The only thing that remained was a necklace that arrived in my hands every year on my birthday.

This year was no exception.

I'd thought the two of us were simply meant to miss each other for good.

I never expected John's first love, Yolanda Reyes, to come back home, making a scene about needing to find her child a father.

And what I expected even less,

was that John agreed to it without a second thought.

God only knows how thrilled I was in that moment.

It was as though the rope that had bound me for five years had suddenly snapped.

My eyes flew open, and with trembling hands I dug through my contacts to that number, sealed away for five years yet still pinned to the top.

"Free to meet up?"

A dozen or so seconds later, a reply came.

"Sure."

I stared at that single word, my heart pounding.

Thinking to myself that heaven had been so good to me.

Once I got home I turned my whole closet inside out.

I swore I'd find the best outfit I owned to wear when we met.

I was in the middle of tearing everything apart when the door was pushed open.

"Looking for something?"

John leaned against the door frame, watching me lazily.

"Even though we've signed the divorce papers, there's still a one-month cooling-off period."

"You really don't need to be in such a rush to move out."

I didn't answer, still carefully pairing outfits with shoes.

John stayed leaning against the door frame, watching me in silence.

No sign of leaving.

"Isn't Mr. Sanchez a very busy man?"

"How come you're so free today?"

Normally, every time he came home from work, John didn't even have time to say a word to me before he shut himself in the study.

He'd be busy holding a two-hour video call with Yolanda overseas.

Oh, right. Yolanda and her daughter were back home now, so he could visit them in person.

John ignored my dig.

He suddenly tossed a few small booklets my way and said he had one more piece of compensation for me.

"These five storefronts are in excellent locations. The rent adds up to over a hundred thousand a month."

I looked up, stunned. "Didn't you already give me a mansion?"

"I told you, that was a birthday gift."

John frowned slightly.

"You've been Mrs. Sanchez for five years. How is your outlook still this small?"

So it was because he'd seen how shabby my birthday had been, and it had stirred some pity in him.

I lowered my head. Mrs. Sanchez for five years. He assumed it was all glamour.

But the truth was, apart from the hundred thousand a month Mrs. Sanchez paid me as an allowance,

I'd gotten nothing at all.

Meanwhile his first love, Yolanda, even after marrying someone else and bearing that man's child,

received millions in living expenses from John every single month.

More than once I'd stumbled across John's transfer records, with notes attached:

"In case it's not enough for you."

"Don't go without."

Things like that.

But none of it had ever belonged to me, and I'd never coveted any of it.

I smiled and took the five certificates.

"Very generous of you, Mr. Sanchez. Thank you."

Only a fool turns down money, and besides, over five years of marriage I'd given up my youth and my energy.

This was compensation I was owed.

But right then, my face suddenly changed.

A violent wave of nausea surged up.

I bolted out the door, rushed to the bathroom, and hunched over the toilet, retching.

"John? Can you do me a favor?"

By the time I came out of the bathroom, my face had gone pale.

No answer.

I looked around. John was nowhere in sight.

So I just changed my clothes and hurried downstairs, and when I came back there was a pregnancy test in my hand.

I walked into the bathroom, uneasy.

When I came out, my face was worse.

Two lines.

John came back with a bag of medicine in his hand.

He saw me sitting on the couch, dazed.

"Why do you look so awful?"

He frowned and came over quickly, pressing a hand to my forehead.

"Do you have a fever?"

I shook my head.

"You looked like you were about to throw up earlier. I thought you'd caught a chill, so I went and bought diarrhea medicine, cold medicine"

His voice cut off.

John's eyes were locked on the pregnancy test in the trash can.

Instinctively I moved to cover it, but it was too late.

He saw the two lines.

His face went cold in an instant.

"April Finch, don't tell me you're faking a pregnancy to save this marriage."

The unopened bag of medicine hit the floor at my feet.

Then came John's voice, full of fury.

"I've already given you more than enough compensation. What else do you want?"

"You'd better not try anything clever. Don't think being pregnant means you can tie me down with a kid."

"Don't make me look down on you."

I already knew he'd say something like that.

I stood up. "You don't have to worry. I'll go to the hospital tomorrow and get rid of it."

I steadied my breathing and gave him a composed smile.

"Don't worry, I definitely won't interrupt your reunion with Miss Reyes."

Such a perfect answer.

Maybe John would even be so satisfied he'd throw in another reward.

But instead he suddenly gripped my wrist, hard, and ground the words out through his teeth. "Don't you dare."

"What is there that I wouldn't dare do?"

I turned and looked into his eyes and said lightly, with a faint smile.

"You weren't looking forward to this child anyway, were you?"

"So let's just pretend it never came."

John didn't like children, and he didn't like me, which is why in five years of marriage he'd touched me only a handful of times.

The first time, he'd heard that Yolanda had given birth to someone else's child abroad.

He was blind drunk and mistook me for Yolanda.

The second time, he'd developed a taste for it.

He said I should fulfill my duties as a wife.

And he said, "Don't think this means you get to have a baby and chain me down. April Finch, don't even dream of having a child with me."

The last time.

He wasn't drunk, and he didn't mistake me for anyone.

He just saw me in a fitted fishtail dress and dragged me back to the bedroom.

Afterward, his voice was hoarse:

"From now on you're not to wear that kind of thing out where everyone can see."

"If you want to wear it, you can only wear it at home, for me."

Then he pressed down on me again.

It happened to be a little over a month ago.

And that day we happened to use no protection at all.

Thinking of it left me miserable. I'd have given anything to just sleep myself into the next life.

The next second, John actually changed into his sleepwear too and walked into the bedroom.

I looked up at him. He looked at me.

"What?"

"We're already getting divorced. Is it really appropriate for you to come sleep in here?"

John stared at me in silence for a long moment.

"Are you trying to throw me out?"

This time, it was my turn to fall silent.

"How is it me throwing you out? We're getting divorced."

"By any normal logic, your first love, Miss Reyes, is back. Shouldn't you be off keeping her and her daughter warm company right now?"

I turned it over carefully for a while. There was nothing wrong with what I'd said.

But John got angry.

He slammed the pillow down hard on the floor.

"Fine. You're really something."

"April Finch, I really didn't realize you were this heartless."

"So all these years you've just been waiting for me to bring up divorce, is that it?"

I shrugged, more baffled than ever.

"Your first love's child needs a father. I can't very well stop the kid from claiming his own dad, right? I'm not some vicious side character."

In the end, John lost his temper for no reason I could see and left, slamming the door hard behind him.

And I let out a breath.

The world was finally quiet.

I needed to get a good night's sleep. After all, tomorrow I had to go have the abortion.

John didn't come home all night, just as I expected.

Early the next morning I took a cab straight to the hospital for the abortion.

The doctor looked at me, surprised.

You're at a good age to have a child. Are you sure you want to end it?

A miscarriage is hard on the body

The doctor tried her best to talk me out of it, to get me to keep the baby.

I'm sure.

I gave a bitter little smile. He was never supposed to happen anyway.

Mom and Dad were getting divorced. Dad was going to be someone else's dad.

And Mom was heading toward a whole new future.

He shouldn't come.

After I came out of the operating room, I went straight to the old Sanchez estate to find Cindy Sanchez.

We've already signed the divorce papers. Please let me go, Grandma.

You promised me back then. If this marriage ended, no matter whether it was because our feelings broke down.

As long as it was John who asked for it, you'd give me another sum of money.

Cindy sighed, again and again.

I tried so hard to keep the two of you together.

I never thought you'd still end up here.

What I wanted to say was that you can't force a thing that isn't meant to be.

His heart had never been with me.

Even if he played the good husband where everyone could see, that fact didn't change.

After all my coaxing, the old woman finally gave in.

All right. Take this five million as compensation for these five years.

April, you're a good girl. I truly loved having you as my grandson's wife.

I took the card. Thank you, Grandma.

I loved you too. We just weren't meant to be.

Cindy looked at me, reluctant to let go.

Are you really leaving this afternoon? There's a family dinner later. Why not stay and eat first?

No, Grandma.

I refused politely. In another city, someone's waiting for me.

I had just turned to go when John arrived with Yolanda and her daughter.

His face went furious the moment he saw me. April Finch, you followed me here.

I had no intention of explaining. I just noticed how glaringly the earrings on Yolanda stood out.

Those earrings were worth two million.

I'd seen them long ago on the vanity, sitting there for a whole year.

More than once I had actually believed John had come to feel something for me.

That he meant to give them to me on our wedding anniversary.

Who would have thought that, after all the going around, Yolanda got them the moment she came back to the country.

It was true after all. You shouldn't set your heart on things that aren't yours.

Nice earrings.

I turned and smiled at Yolanda.

Miss Reyes, I didn't follow anyone. I only came to say goodbye to Grandma.

I'm leaving now. I wish you both happiness.

Sensing the awkwardness, Yolanda quickly had the baby in her arms call out to Grandma.

The moment Cindy saw Yolanda her face soured. A perfectly fine man, turned inside out by this little schemer until he's lost every scrap of sense.

A good family dinner, and you bring someone like this? What bad luck.

John's tone turned humble as he pleaded with Cindy to accept her.

Grandma, Yola did nothing wrong back then.

She wasn't two-timing anyone. She was tricked by that man too, tricked into going abroad to have the child.

Now she knows she was wrong, and she's willing to come back to me.

For the sake of your grandson, just accept her, all right?

Cindy gave me a pitying look.

A wife this good, and he throws her away, all for a little schemer.

John did turn to look at me, but his eyes were frighteningly cold.

April Finch, putting on this big show of grace, then running off behind my back to badmouth me to Grandma?

We've already signed the divorce papers. What are you still doing here? Get out.

Every extra second I stayed would be an insult to the five million on that card.

So I left without looking back.

Walking out of the old Sanchez estate, I felt nothing but lightness.

I pulled out my phone and sent Rolf a message.

Was that location you sent me yesterday accurate?

It's accurate.

A pause, then another message popped up.

Snowy, you said you were coming to me. Is that true?

When I heard you were coming, I couldn't sleep all night. I kept worrying you were only joking with me

It's true.

I smiled and gripped the plane ticket in my hand, going to Rolf.

To another city.

Toward the future that belongs to us.