My Wife Wants a Divorce by Red Little Fruit

"Is it true? I have never heard about it." Brandon was surprised and stopped eating.

Mrs. Madden nodded and looked worried. "It has lasted for a period. I didn't tell you because you have been unwell. I was afraid that you would be worried after you knew it, so I hid it from you. I thought that Clarice would recover gradually, but she still hasn't recovered for so long. What's worse, she has lost a lot of weight."

'As a mother, I should have felt heartache when I see my daughter be like that.

'However, I have never felt slightly heartache when I see that she is unhappy and loses weight every day. It's strange.

'I know that it's wrong to have such thoughts as a mother.

'But it's the fact that I don't have much affection for her.

'No matter how I feel, I'm still her mother and need to care about her.

'Even though I still don't have much affection for her up to now, I have hoped to reunite with her for more than twenty years.

'I will take responsibility as her mother.

'It's strange indeed. When I face her, I really don't have much affection for her. I had missed her and owed her a lot all the time. After she comes back to me, I should have loved her more. My sense also tells me that I should do so.

'But I can't make it. It's the fact that I don't have much affection for her. However, every time I see photos of little Clarice, my heart is filled with affection.

'I don't know why.

'Does it mean that I only love little Clarice?

'How can it be possible?

'It's unreasonable!

'No matter when she is a little kid or an adult, she is all my daughter.

'Does my affection for my daughter disappear as she grows up?

'It's not scientific at all. I don't know why and can't figure it out.

'Thus, I have deeply suppressed my strange emotions in my heart all the time and have never expressed it in case Clarice feels sad after she knows that I don't have much affection for her as her mother.' For a moment, Mrs. Madden was lost in thought.

Brandon didn't know his wife's thoughts. He said, "I guess that Clarice has become like that because of what happened in the ward last time."

Mrs. Madden fell into a trance. "Do you refer to what I said in your ward on the day when Sydney had a news conference?"

Brandon nodded. "That's it. That day, we suspected that Sydney was the real Clarice. You said that you didn't have much affection for Clarice after she came back. When she heard that, she ran away sadly. She didn't cheer up until we comforted her for a long time. I guess that she still minds it though she looks fine on the surface. Thus, she has had nightmares."

Mrs. Madden frowned. "But it happened long ago. I thought that she had let it go. Unexpectedly, she still remembers it."

Brandon patted the back of her hand. "It's understandable. She has separated from us for more than twenty years. However, after she reunites with us with difficulty, we suspect that she is our daughter. Besides, as her mother, you don't have much affection for her. Of course, she minds it. She may think that she shouldn't have come back."

Hearing that, Mrs. Madden knew that she was wrong. She sighed. "Need I to go to see a psychiatrist? I don't know why I don't have much affection for her. Before she came back, I anxiously hoped that she was still alive. However, after she comes back, I..."

Mrs. Madden looked at her hands and doubted herself. "Am I sick?"

Brandon looked at her.

To be honest, he didn't understand his wife's thoughts either.

But he knew his wife well and was sure that she wasn't sick.

As for why she treated Clarice like that, he thought that it was because she hadn't gotten used to getting along with Clarice.

Thinking of that, he comforted his wife.

Mrs. Madden forced a smile and fell silent. No one knew her thoughts.

In the diagonally opposite private room, Sydney didn't know that the arrival of Julien and her influenced the Maddens and Clarice so much.

She took the menu from the waiter and leafed through it carefully to decide on the dishes for tonight.

She ordered six dishes. Three of them were her favorite dishes. The other three were for Julien, which weren't like South Lake cuisine but like Port City cuisine. After all, South Lake adjoined Port City. It was natural that they had some dishes with similar tastes.

"It will be enough." Sydney glanced at Julien. After he nodded, she smiled and returned the menu to the waiter.

"OK. Just a moment, please." The waiter took the menu and left.

Not long after the waiter left, Sydney suddenly put down her bag and stood up.

Julien was pouring juice for her. Seeing that, he put down the juice pot and asked, "Where are you going?"

"The restroom." She pushed the chair to its original position.

He nodded. "I will wait for you here."

"OK." She smiled and walked out.

The restroom was not far away. After she walked out, she went straight, turned a corner and arrived at the restroom.

There were few people in the private rooms on the second floor. Thus, there were few people in the restroom.

When Sydney walked into the restroom, it was quiet inside. However, in the next second, she heard a woman violently vomiting in a stall.

Sydney trembled because of the sound. It sounded like the woman inside almost vomited her bile. It made Sydney's hair stand on end and even made her feel sick. Sydney held back the impulse to vomit. She walked into a stall and pretended not to hear the voice. She would like to return to the private room as soon as possible. When Sydney was in the stall, the woman stopped vomiting and flushed the toilet.

After a while, the sound of water stopped. The woman opened the door of the stall and walked out in heels.

The sound of the woman's footsteps was unrhythmic. Obviously, the woman was too weak to walk steadily.

'The woman must have run out of her strength because of vomiting.'

Sydney thought as she tidied up her clothes and flushed the toilet. Then she opened the door of the stall and walked out.

When she saw the woman who stood in front of the sink, she was surprised.

'It's her!

'What a coincidence. The woman who vomited in the stall is Clarice.'

Clarice was standing in front of the sink and rinsing her mouth. When she felt that someone was looking at her, she raised her head and looked in the mirror.

When she saw Sydney in the mirror, she fell into a trance. She turned around suddenly and looked at Sydney who stood outside the stall. Her face was filled with surprise. "Ms. Raines."

Now that Clarice had noticed her, she walked towards another sink that was next to Clarice's. Then she turned on the tap and started to wash her hands as she replied tonelessly, "Ms. Madden." Clarice forced a smile. "It's so coincidental that I meet you here. Do you also come here to have dinner?"

Sydney rolled her eyes.

'Am I crazy to have dinner in the restroom?

'It's you, Denna, who comes here to eat, not me.'