Chapter 571: The Distance

With that thought, Yunice opened her eyes. No—she couldn't just assume things. Even if they were going to get divorced, it had to be on her terms, with full clarity. She wasn't going to slink away quietly, branded as the third party.

The night Nora regained consciousness, no one in the house slept peacefully. Yunice lay on the edge of the bed, her back to Wyatt, her small frame occupying barely a corner. Wyatt's phone buzzed nonstop; it sounded like someone was bombarding him with messages. Yunice kept her eyes closed, pretending to sleep, but her mind was filled with restless images. After a while, she heard Wyatt sit up.

Then, a few seconds later, his voice came from behind her. "It's just a group chat," he said.

Yunice opened her eyes. "Nora posted something in her Moments. Everyone in the old friend group is talking about it."

She couldn't help turning around, confused as to why he was telling her this. If he'd kept it to himself, she wouldn't have known at all. Wyatt tossed her his phone. "See for yourself."

Yunice frowned. Her pride told her not to look, but her curiosity eventually won. It was a chat group of Wyatt's friends—Yunice wasn't a part of it. Someone named Bale had posted a screenshot: a photo Nora had just posted.

She lay in a hospital bed, oxygen tubes still on her face, smiling weakly at the camera while flashing a peace sign. Her caption read: "...I can see the world again, but I'm not happy..."

Bale didn't say a word after posting the image, but the silent members in the group lit up like firecrackers. "Nora's awake?" "Holy crap, she really is! That's a medical miracle!" "I heard only patients with a deep obsession even have a chance of waking up from something like that..." Someone posted a drooping emoji. Another followed with a dust-covered, haggard one.

Then five minutes passed with no one saying anything. Finally, a new message popped up—from Maine. She didn't say anything either. Just tagged Wyatt.

Yunice felt a tight squeeze in her chest. No one had said anything pointed, but anyone who knew the story could tell—they were trying to test Wyatt's reaction to Nora waking up. They kept posting to make sure he'd see it. When he didn't respond, someone finally tagged him outright. If he kept ignoring it, it would look deliberate.

Yunice hesitated before handing the phone back to Wyatt. At the end of the day, she was just a bystander. She couldn't make choices for anyone. Wyatt took the phone with one hand—and with the other, pulled Yunice, who had been curled up on the edge of the bed, straight into his arms. Because of their positioning, she had no choice but to rest her head on his shoulder—and that let her see his phone screen too.

With one hand, Wyatt typed out a single word in the chat: "Congratulations."

Yunice's eyes flickered with surprise. That single word said everything about where he stood. It carried distance. It wasn't something you'd say to your girlfriend.

After he hit send, the chat went dead—like the entire group had lost connection. Then a voice message popped up from Maine, full of rage: "Wyatt, say that again!" But it cut off halfway through—like someone had stopped her mid-sentence. Another message followed: "Thank you."

Yunice froze when she saw the sender's name: Nora. So Nora was in the group chat. That meant she'd seen everything their mutual friends had said—and Wyatt's cold reply too? Even from outside the screen, Yunice felt the secondhand embarrassment and pain. Wyatt had been merciless; polite, but barely.

He looked down at her lashes and said, "What? You think stringing her along would've been better?"

Yunice hadn't said a word. She had just...empathized. Empathized with a woman who had loved too deeply. Nora had been willing to die for Wyatt. Yunice could never match that kind of love.

Right then, Yunice's phone buzzed. She glanced at it—and immediately shot upright. Wyatt had added her to the group chat. New members were always highlighted. And to make it worse, Wyatt had tagged Nora directly: "This is my wife, Yunice."

Her brain went blank. It felt like her entire body had been thrown into a fire.

Maine's voice cut through the air like a siren. "Wyatt, you bastard!"

Nora lay in the hospital bed, surrounded by flowers, their mutual friends crowding the room. When she woke up, the first person she saw was Maine. Maine had been overjoyed, quickly spreading the news. All their old friends came to visit—except Wyatt. Everyone could see the disappointment in Nora's eyes. That's why they'd tried to nudge him in the group chat, hoping he'd respond. But it had backfired, leaving Nora even more humiliated.