Julian never expected her to come back.

Luckily, Gabe had just arrived. Julian forced down his panic, pointed at his friend, and said, "Gabe. He's the one getting divorced."

Gabe glanced between the two of them and, ever the quick thinker, nodded along.

"Uh... yeah. It's me. I'm getting a divorce. We're already in the process."

Helena wasn't close to Julian, so she didn't know his friends well.

She'd only met Gabe a couple of times and didn't know anything about his personal life. Hearing this, she frowned.

"If you're getting a divorce, why didn't you come to me first?"

Gabe couldn't think of a lie fast enough and just stammered.

Julian saw his friend struggling and quickly jumped in.

"You were so busy with your 'brother's' divorce case back then. I was afraid you'd be overwhelmed, so I didn't want to bother you."

The mention of Milo Cross was enough to fluster Helena. She dropped the subject.

"Well, if you run into any problems later, you can come to me."

Although they had covered it up, Julian didn't feel relieved.

Given Helena's professional habits and sharp instincts, she should have noticed something was off about this string of events.

But whenever Milo was involved, it was like she lost all reason and judgment, pushing everything else aside.

They say love is blind. Julian finally understood what that meant.

He watched Helena's fingers fly across her phone screen, her restlessness obvious. He mentally counted down the seconds until she would leave.

He counted from ten down to one, and right on cue, she stood up with an excuse.

"Julian, something's come up at the firm. I have to go for a bit. What day are you being discharged? I'll come pick you up."

Julian knew she was lying, but he didn't care anymore.

"Five days."

On the day of his discharge, Julian waited from morning till night. Helena never showed up.

He opened his social media and saw Milo had posted a picture of himself in swim trunks at the beach. Julian felt a sense of premonition and gave her a call.

Before he could even speak, the sound of crashing waves from her end of the line betrayed everything.

But Helena, completely oblivious, just gave him another excuse.

"Julian, I'm out of town on a business trip right now. Is everything okay?"

She had forgotten about picking him up.

It was always Milo. No matter how many times it happened, Milo was always more important.

And he was always the second choice, the backup plan for her unrequited love.

But he was awake now. He was done waiting foolishly in the wings for her.

Julian didn't remind her, nor did he call out her lie. He just spoke with his usual tone of concern.

"When did you leave? How long will you be gone?"

"Got here the day before yesterday. Probably coming back tomorrow."

Julian murmured an "okay," told her to take care of herself, and hung up.

He called a cab for himself. Standing by the side of the road, he pulled out his calendar and counted down the days.

Divorce countdown: ten days.

Ten more days, and he would be completely free.

Then the world would be his oyster, free and unattached.

No one to pick him up from the hospital? What did a small thing like that matter now?

Why should he even care?